inquiry-based learning – Higher Education Teaching and Learning Guide

What are options for strengthening the role of research in my teaching?

There are several ways to engage students in research and in doing so promoting the development of students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes (for an overview see Van der Rijst, 2017). Engaging students in authentic research activities gives them the opportunity to develop essential disciplinary skills and a deeper understanding of fundamental concepts.

Getting started

Not all modes of integrating research into teaching are experienced as equally effective. It depends on the desirable student learning outcomes, specifically when teaching large groups of students. The initial consideration is: what do you want student to learn about and/or from (doing) research?

The following questions are a starting point.

For teachers:

What student outcomes do you aim to promote in terms of skills, dispositions or knowledge and understanding?

For example, to promote problem solving skills it is recommended to let student work on wicked problems/cases, but to promote student understanding of research findings a lecture may be appropriate.

What student outcomes do you aim to promote in terms of student experiences of research in teaching?

For example, to promote student motivation for research showing advanced theoretical or methodological models may work, yet to promote students confidence in their own research skills it may be more appropriate to let them conduct small parts of a study.

For programs:

What is already being done to integrate research into teaching?

For example, are students informed about the departments’ research? Is critical reflection on research findings and methods a regular part of lectures and workgroups?

What steps need to be taken to integrate research and teaching more firmly?

For example, here first-year students’ research vivid experience contributes to their understanding of what it means to create knowledge (example research-based teaching)

Concept(s) & typologies	Characteristics	Further reading
Inquiry-based learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, case-based learning	Authentic (professional) problems/cases drive learning; student-centred teaching approach; (interdisciplinary) subject matter focus;	Aditomo et al. (2013)
Research-led; research-oriented; research-based; research-informed teaching	Teaching concerns research findings or research processes; students can be positioned as audience or participate in the role of researchers	Griffiths (2004); Healey (2005)
Tangible and intangible aspects of research in teaching	Teacher acts as role model for research(er); student experience is central	Neumann (1992)
(Under)graduate research	Apprenticeship model; student conducts research project under supervision	Brew (2003, 2010); Zimbardi & Myatt (2014)

Aditomo et al. (2013). Inquiry-based learning in higher education: Principle forms, educational objectives, and disciplinary variations. Studies in Higher Education, 38, 1239-1258.
Brew, A. (2003). Teaching and Research: New relationships and their implications for inquiry-based teaching and learning in higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 22(1).
Brew, A. (2010). Imperatives and challenges in integrating teaching and research. Higher Education Research & Development, 29(2), 139-150.
Griffiths, R. (2004). Knowledge production and the research–teaching nexus: The case of the built environment disciplines. Studies in Higher Education, 29(6), 709-726.
Healey, M. (2005). Linking research and teaching: Exploring disciplinary spaces and the role of inquiry-based learning. In R. Barnett (Ed.). Maidenhead: The Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Hu, Y., van der Rijst, R. M., van Veen, K., & Verloop, N. (2019). Integrating research into language teaching: Beliefs and perceptions of university teachers. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 56(5), 594-604.
Hu, Y., van der Rijst, R. M., van Veen, K., & Verloop, N. (2015). The role of research in teaching: A comparison of teachers from research universities and those from universities of applied sciences. Higher Education Policy, 28, 535-554.
Neumann, R. (1992). Perceptions of the teaching-research nexus: a framework for analysis. Higher Education, 23(2), 159-171.
Van der Rijst, R. M. (2017). The transformative nature of research-based education: A thematic overview of the literature. In: Bastiaens, E., van Tilburg, J., & van Merriënboer, J. (Eds.), Research-based learning: Case studies from Maastricht University (pp. 3-21). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
van der Rijst, R. M., Visser-Wijnveen, G. J., Verloop, N., & van Driel, J. H. (2013). Undergraduate science coursework: Teachers’ goal statements and how students experience research. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 50(2), 178-190.
Vereijken, M. W. C., van der Rijst, R. M., De Beaufort, A. J., van Driel, J. H., & Dekker, F. W. (2018). Fostering first-year student learning through research integration into teaching: Student perceptions, beliefs about the value of research and student achievement. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 55(4), 425-432.
Vereijken, M. W. C., van der Rijst, R. M., Dekker, F. W., & van Driel, J. H. (2018). Student perceptions, beliefs and learning outcomes in the context of strengthening research integration into teaching in the first year of medical school. Advances in Health Sciences, 23, 371–385.
Visser-Wijnveen, G. J., van der Rijst, R. M., & van Driel, J. H. (2016). A questionnaire to capture students’ perceptions of research integration in their courses. Higher Education, 71,473-488.
Visser-Wijnveen, G. J., van Driel, J. H., van der Rijst, R. M., Visser, A., & Verloop, N. (2012). Relating academics’ ways of integrating research and teaching to their students’ perceptions. Studies in Higher Education, 37(2), 219-234.
Zimbardi, K., & Myatt, P. (2014). Embedding undergraduate research experiences within the curriculum: A cross-disciplinary study of the key characteristics guiding implementation. Studies in Higher Education, 39(2), 233-250.

Integration of research and teaching

Research and teaching should be closely integrated, in any teaching and learning setting in higher education and we regard it as a core value that higher education students and their teachers are inspired by research. Research-based and inquiry-based learning bring this a step closer by requiring students to adopt an active, inquisitive attitude. Students are no longer merely observers; they become participants of research and learning. As a consequence, research is not just the basis of teaching, but is actually the very core of teaching and learning.

Not all students aspire a career in research, however it is important that all students have the opportunity to acquire sound skills in research methodologies and learn about the latest research insights. Furthermore, the inquiry skills that students gain can be applied to question, analyse and tackle the important challenges that our society is facing today (See also  Transferable skills).

Objectives

Students adopt an proactive, inquisitive attitude;
Students learn to assess the value of different sources of information;
Students are familiarised with the important research themes within their disciplines;
Students learn to articulate critical research questions with appropriate academic standard;
Researchers train students in the most important discipline-related research methods;
Programmes stimulate the connection between different disciplines and demonstrate how different knowledge domains and approaches could enhance each other.

What are the key aspects?

Research-based and inquiry-based learning are approaches to integrate research into teaching and learning; they are closely related but have a different focus. Whilst research-based learning could be understood as involving students directly in current research projects, it is often employed to familiarise students with research and research methods in the context of their discipline. Inquiry-based learning could be understood as an approach to teaching and learning in which the student is stimulated to develop a proactive attitude to fact-finding and problem-solving, rather than depending on presented facts or established knowledge. Inquiry-based learning is often employed to explore societal issues or dilemmas and is usually applied in an interdisciplinary context.  (See teaching examples below).

In this context there are roughly three options to research-based and inquiry-based learning to consider:

Focus on research content or processes and problems;
The students as audience or participants;
Focus on disciplinary research or interdisciplinary (often societal) inquiries.

Approaches 1 and 2 are reflected in The Higher Education Academy  (2005, 70) matrix that distinguishes four main ways of engaging undergraduates with research. It distinguishes clearly between students as participants and students as audience:

Students as participants

Research-practice

Here students are directly involved in research projects. This could vary from micro-research projects that can be completed in a day to major assignments or theses.

Research-tutored

By engaging students in discussions around current research topics, students learn to appreciate and recognise different vantage points in academic debates. This could be done, for example, through involving students in the organisation of seminars or through organising classroom debates.

Students as audience

Research-led

This involves teaching current research in the discipline. For example, by referring to current research in lectures and sharing up-to-date research-finding in reading materials.

Research-oriented

Here the focus is teaching students research skills and techniques. For example, through teaching about different research methodologies, including laboratory skills, writing papers and fieldwork.

It is important to note that the emphasis on the approaches described above to integrating research into teaching and learning should be seen as different strategies for students to acquire knowledge and skills as well as insight in research approaches. The production of valid research outcome is not necessarily the main objective. (see also Visser-Wijnveen, G. J. [2013])

What are important questions?

What are options for strengthening the role of research in my teaching?
How can I organise collaboration in teams of students?
How could students be engaged in the department’s research? [to follow]
What steps are involved in setting up a collaborative inquiry project? [to follow]
How could we promote an active and inquisitive attitude in students? [to follow]

How do you know you are on the right track?

Making progress comprises (re-)designing education to meet your objectivesas well as keeping track of results. But how can you know that you are making progress? Summarizing the general process of educational design and specific models for curriculum re-design we propose the following three-step approach:

Step 1. Reformulate your objectives into questions concerning the current situation (today) and  the desired situation in five years form now

Step 2. Make the answers to the questions measurable

Step 3. Use the answers as input for further (re-)design

For example:

To what extent do students adopt a proactive, inquisitive attitude today and in the future? Examples of measurable answers: (%) students ask critical questions during lectures; (%) students initiate own research (projects)
How do students learn to assess the value of different information sources today and in the future? Examples of measurable answers: by lectures/group work/assignments in (x) courses/minor
How are students familiarised with the important research themes within their discipline today and in the futre? Examples of measurable answers: by observing and/or participating in (x) research projects in (x) lectures/courses/minor
How are students trained in the most important discipline-related research-methods today and in the future? Examples of measurable answers: in (x) lectures/skills training/lab sessions/ demonstrations/ internships
How do researchers support students in learning to articulate critical research questions with appropriate academic standard today and in the future? Examples of measurable answers: in (x) courses; in a module on research ethics; in supervision
How do programmes demonstrate and stimulate the connection between different disciplines, knowledge domains and approaches today and in the future? Examples of measurable answers: by addressing societal issues/wicked problems in (x) lectures/ assignments/courses/minors/research projects

Example research-based learning (LUMC)

Academic Scientific Training at the LUMC

First-year undergraduates in Medicine

Lecturer: Prof. dr. F.W. Dekker

What is the teaching module about?

Epidemiology teachers have collaborated with primary care teachers in developing a first-year student research project. Students collect data about co-morbidity, medication, care dependency and cognition among three patients during an early clinical experience in nursing homes, right at the start of the students’ medical education in September. Students enter their data into an online database in order to establish a large dataset (300 x 3 = 900 patients). In December, the students return to the nursing homes for one day to repeat their data collection and to come up with their individual research questions ‘at the bedside’. In the new two-week course after this, basic knowledge and skills were taught to enable the students to answer their own research question. In two small group sessions, students have practiced formulating a research question and have learned to understand the structure of a research paper. Students had a few lectures on epidemiology, basic statistics and practice in simple data analysis. Then students spent two days analysing their data and answering their own research question. They wrote a two-page research report and presented their findings to their peers in a small group session. All students were actively involved as participants in research, doing their own research project as a learning activity (also see Vereijken et al. 2017).

What are the objectives?

Students have a lived experience, which contributes to their understanding of what it means to create medical knowledge in a real clinical setting
Students learn to reproduce parts of the research process, in particular the collection of patient data
Students learn to formulate a research question, to conduct statistical data analysis and to present research findings

Example inquiry-based learning (Governance and Global Affairs)

Tackling comlex societal changes: Before students go out to test their research questions with their stakeholders they explore their own personal values in small groups

Module Complex Societal Challenges

(Minor: Innovation, Co-Creation and Global Impact)

Location: Campus The Hague

Lecturers:. T. Baar MA, Dr H.Sjerps

What is the module about?

This interdisciplinary module asks students to tackle wicked problems and strategically work towards solutions. Working together in small multi-disciplinary teams, they analyse a local sustainability challenge and propose a social Innovation that could serve as a solution to a problem. As part of the assignment they need to collaborate with stakeholders in order to challenge assumptions about the societal challenge and research the stakeholders’ needs that are related to the challenge.