“So what makes the Prime Minister’s speech so reliable?” - Secondary social studies teachers’ pragmatic approach to inquiry

Abstract

An inquiry-based approach in the classroom equips students with discipline based skills, thus facilitating knowledge construction (Kidman & Casinader, 2017). In view of the curricular focus in Singapore on developing students' critical and reflective thinking skills via inquiry (MOE, 2016a), this article illustrates teachers' enactment of inquiry processes in secondary Social Studies lessons, drawing on data from a baseline study. Analysis of teacher interviews and student focus group discussions yields insights into the possibilities and challenges of employing inquiry-based learning. The article spotlights teacher-student interactions in one particular lesson as students ascertain the reliability of the given sources. The analysis reveals teachers' pragmatic, fit-for purpose approach to selecting key aspects of inquiry-based learning, which is largely driven by time constraints and concerns about syllabus coverage and students' assessment outcomes. These findings suggest the need for greater student agency in the inquiry process as well as more opportunities for students' critical and reflective thinking, and domain-specific understandings.