5

Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND RESEARCH PARADIGM

This chapter presents Review of Related Literature, Theoretical Framework,
Conceptual Framework, Statement of Hypothesis and Definition of Terms.

CONSTRUCTIVISM
Inquiry-based learning stems from a wide range of research and has its roots in
constructivism. In constructivism, the key tenet is that an individual learner must actively
construct knowledge and skills (Bruner, 1990). Despite whether or not there is an
objective reality, it is the individual who constructs their own reality through their
experience and interaction with the environment. As an individual experiences
something new, he or she filters this information through mental structures (schemata)
that incorporate prior knowledge, beliefs and preconceptions to make sense of the
information (Prince & Felder, 2006). This theory of learning goes back many centuries,
but in more recent times the research of John Dewey, Jerome Bruner and Lev
Vygotsky, together with Jean Piagets work on developmental psychology, has resulted
in the broad approach of constructivism. There are two main forms of constructivism:
cognitive and social. Cognitive constructivism draws mainly on Piagets theory of
cognitive development. Piaget proposed that individuals must construct their own
knowledge and that they build knowledge through experience. These experiences allow
creation of schemas or mental modes and thus lead to learning. In contrast to cognitive
constructivism, social constructivists place more emphasis on the social context of
6

learning. Vygotsky is the main proponent of social constructivism and suggested that
cultural history, social context and language play an important role in the pattern and
rate of development of children. Vygotskys concept of the zone of proximal
development argues that individuals can, with the help of a more experienced peer,
master concepts and ideas that they cannot understand on their own (Vygotsky, 1978).
(Add more related studies on this one, some are theories which could be
redundant or repeating in your Theoretical framework. Focus on related studies
here )

IBL DEFINITION, HISTORY
PBL DEFINITION, HISTORY
COMPARISON OF PBL AND IBL

Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL)
Inquiry-based learning is a pedagogy which best enables students to experience
the processes of knowledge creation (Spronken-Smith, 2008). The key attributes
include learning stimulated by inquiry, a student or learning centered approach in which
the role of the teacher is to act as a facilitator, a move to self-directed learning, and an
active approach to learning. This is also a process where students are involved in their
learning, formulate questions, investigate widely and then build new understandings,
meanings and knowledge (Alberta Education, 2004). That knowledge is new to the
students and may be used to answer a question, to develop a solution or to support a
7

position or point of view. The knowledge is usually presented to others and may result in
some sort of action.
(Add more related studies on this one )
Constructivism

IBL and Constructivism
The power of an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning is its potential
to increase intellectual engagement and foster deep understanding through the
development of a hands-on, minds-on and research-based disposition towards
teaching and learning. Inquiry honours the complex, interconnected nature of
knowledge construction, striving to provide opportunities for both teachers and students
to collaboratively build,test and reflect on their learning. According to the constructivist
theory of learning, effective teaching must offer experiences that: build on what students
already know so they can make connections to their existing knowledge structures;
encourage students to become active, self-directed learners; provide authentic learning
opportunities; involve students working together in small groups (i.e. in collaborative or
cooperative learning). Rather than being the sage on the stage in a transmission mode
of teaching, constructivist teachers should act as guides on the side, providing
opportunities to test the adequacy of students current understandings (Hoover, 1996).
Hoover also argues that because new knowledge has to be actively built, it takes time to
do so. This means that any constructivist courses should allow ample time for student
reflection about new experiences and how these fit or not with current understandings.

8

IBL as an Inductive Approach
Inquiry-based learning falls under the realm of inductive approaches to teaching
and learning. Inductive approaches to teaching and learning begin with a set of
observations or data to interpret, or a complex real-world problem, and as the students
study the data or problem they generate a need for facts, procedures and guiding
principles. Inductive teaching encompasses a range of teaching methods including
inquiry-based learning (IBL), problem-based learning (PBL), project-based learning,
case-based teaching, and discovery learning(Prince and Felder, 2006). They classify
the teaching methods by considering the context for learning and other features, such
as the amount of student responsibility for their learning and the use of group work.
Common to all these inductive methods of teaching are (a) a student- or learner-
centered approach (Kember, 1997) in which the focus of the teaching is on student
learning rather than on communicating defined bodies of content or knowledge; (b)
active learning is about learning by doing (Gibbs, 1988, Healey & Roberts, 2004) and
may involve, for example, students discussing questions and solving problems (Prince
& Felder, 2006); (c) the development of self-directed learning skills in which students
take more responsibility for their own learning; (d) a constructivist theoretical basis
which proposes that students construct their own meaning of reality; it is the students
who create knowledge rather than knowledge being imposed or transmitted by direct
instruction.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
9

Problem-based learning is based on research in the cognitive sciences on how
we learn. PBL improves learning (Spence, 2010).Problem-based approaches to
learning have a long history. They are one of many instructional approaches that situate
learning in a meaningful task, such as case-based instruction and project-based
learning. In the traditions of Kilpatrick and Dewey, these approaches argue for the
importance of practical experience in learning. Problem-based learning is part of this
tradition of meaningful, experiential learning.In PBL, students learn by solving problems
and reflecting on their experiences(Barrows and Tamblyn, 1980). PBL is well suited to
helping students become active learners because it situates learning in real-world
problems and makes students responsible for their learning. It has a dual emphasis on
helping learners develop strategies and construct knowledge (Cognition and
Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1997; Collins et al., 1989; Hmelo and Ferrari, 1997;
Kolodneret al., 1996).PBL is focused, experiential learning organized around the
investigation, explanation, and resolution of meaningful problems (Barrows, 2000;Torp
and Sage, 2002).
The focus of PBL is in organizing thecurricular content around problem scenarios
rather than subjects or disciplines.Students work in groups or teams to solve or manage
these situationsbut they are not expected to acquire a predetermined series of
rightanswers. Instead they are expected to engage with the complex
situationpresented to them and decide what information they need to learn andwhat
skills they need to gain in order to manage the situation effectively (Savin-Baden,
2000).There are many different ways of implementing problem-based learningbut the
underlying philosophies associated with it as an approach are broadlymore student-
10

centred than those underpinning problem-solving learning.This is because students are
offered opportunities, through problem-basedlearning, to explore a wide range of
information, to link the learning withtheir own needs as learners and to develop
independence in inquiry. Problem-based learning is thus an approach to learning that is
characterized byflexibility and diversity in the sense that it can be implemented in a
varietyof ways in and across different subjects and disciplines in diverse contexts.As
such it can therefore look very different to different people at differenttimes depending
on the staff and students involved in the programmesutilizing it. However, what will be
similar will be the focus of learningaround problem scenarios rather than discrete
subjects.
The notion of learning through solving or managing problems is not new.
However, the emergence of problem-based learningas a specific concept and approach
emanated from the work of Barrows,who discovered through his research into medical
education that medicalstudents and residents for the most part did not seem to think at
all.Some gathered data ritualistically and then tried to add it up afterwards,while others
came up with a diagnosis based on some symptom or sign,never considering possible
alternatives (Barrows and Tamblyn, 1980).Problem-based learning was developed at
McMaster University in Canadawhere Barrows set out to design a medical school
curriculum based solelyon small group, student-centred learning. The rationale for
problem-basedlearning stemmed from years of observing experts engaged in clinical
reasoning,resulting in Barrows and Tamblyn (1980) claiming that problem-
basedlearning was based on two assumptions. The first was that learningthrough
problem situations was much more effective than memory-basedlearning for creating a
11

usable body of knowledge. The second was that themedical skills that were most
important for treating patients were problem-solvingskills, rather than memorization. Yet,
what was important about theapproach adopted at McMaster was that the focus was not
on problem-solvinglearning whereby individual students were expected to answer
aseries of questions from information supplied by a lecturer. Instead theywere asked, in
small teams, to explore a problem situation. Through suchan exploration students were
expected to examine the gaps in their ownknowledge and skills in order to decide what
information they needed toacquire in order to resolve or manage the situation with
which they werepresented.
As Barrows and Tamblyns model was being developed during the early1970s
there was also increasing interest in the medical world in studentsability to develop
problem-solving skills. Other research indicated that medicalstudents were lacking in
problem-solving skills (McGuire,1972, 1985). In parallel, there was interest in
understanding studentsapproaches to problem-solving activities and with it came
criticism of theunnaturalness of much laboratory research in cognitive psychology
(Neisser,1982). This resulted in wide-ranging studies of students problem-
solvingabilities with a growing emphasis on the use of qualitative methods(Laurillard,
1979, 1984). This early research into problem-solving and clinicaldecision making
prompted interest and research within professionsallied to medicine (Higgs, 1990; Terry
and Higgs, 1993). Therewas, however, a shift away from focusing on the generation
and testing ofhypotheses as a means of arriving at a major clinical decision, and a
greateremphasis on clinical reasoning as a process occurring throughout
clinicalpractice. This work in part stemmed from some of the early studiesinto problem-
12

based learning where it was increasingly seen that learningproblem-solving abilities in
situations isolated from a relevant context didnot facilitate effective transference to the
clinical environment. What becameincreasingly apparent was that although problem-
solving skills were a usefulacquisition for students, it was the application of such skills to
a clinicalsituation that was vital. This was because problem-solving learning tendedin
the main to be seen as a step by step approach to solving a problem thatdenied the
complexities and difficulties of a clinical situation. In contrast,problem-based learning
confronts students with the challenge to manage aclinical situation, which requires them
to incorporate diverse resources suchas existing knowledge, data collection,
interpersonal skills, reflection andreasoning ability in order to meet that challenge.
The bulk of the literature in the late 1970s and 1980s argued for the useof
problem-based learning for four key reasons. These were,first, to develop students
reasoning skills; second, to enable learning to takeplace within a context that was
relevant to the students; third, to ensurethat learning was attuned to the world of work;
and finally to promotestudents self-directed learning abilities, that is, learning that
fostered independent inquiry. A number of articles at that time cited lists of
advantagesof problem-based learning over more traditional ways of learning
(Neame,1982; Coles, 1985) and others suggested that problem-based learning
wasfound to be more enjoyable and stimulating by staff and students involvedin such
programmes (Olson, 1987). However, few seemed to tackle manyof the underlying
assumptions of problem-based learning or relate suchassumptions to current trends in
the broader context of changes withinhigher and professional education.
13

There has been a shift in recent years away from literature that
describesproblem-based learning, and how it is working in particular courses,
towardscritical analyses of problem-based learning, which are more sensitive to
thecomplexities of this approach to learning and teaching. This demonstratesthe
increasing move away from the 1980s decade of evangelism (Boud andFeletti, 1997)
towards a deeper consideration of the emerging themes andissues. This can be seen in
particular through literature that has argued forproblem-based learning as being an
approach which can be responsive tothe needs of the age.
In practice, this can be seen in the increasing demandfor the development of
particular skills within curricula and with it therealization that problem-based learning is
a means of helping students developingsuch skills. Such skills are commonly termed
key skills and are thekinds of skills such as working with others, problem-solving and
improvingpersonal learning and performance. Key skills are being offered to
undergraduatesin order to both enhance their degrees and to produce graduateswith
well-developed personal and interpersonal skills. The development ofkey skills has
become increasingly important as higher education in the1990s is being encouraged to
produce graduates who are flexible and havemarket-related skills and abilities. At the
same time there is a growing awarenessthat a focus on skills development at the
expense of the developmentof abilities to research and critique information may result in
a performativeslide (Barnett, 1998). The concept of a performative slide is that in
thedesire to equip students for life and work there tends to be an increasingfocus on
what students are able to do. Higher education is sliding towardsencouraging students
to perform rather than to necessarily think and do.The result is that students are
14

equipped to undertake tasks, to carry outinstructions, and to work with others, but they
are not necessarily able to analyze or critique the situation in which they find
themselves or the informationwith which they have been presented. Yet what is on offer
throughproblem-based learning are opportunities for students to develop the
requiredkey skills but in a context where they are also encouraged to developthe ability
to critique issues and information, and to take up a positiontowards the situation with
which they have been presented.

PBL and the Learning Cycle
In PBL, students work in small collaborative groupsand learn what they need to
know in order to solve a problem. The teacher acts as a facilitator to guide student
learning through the learning cycle. In this cycle, also known as the PBL tutorial
process, the students are presented with a problem scenario. They formulate and
analyze the problem by identifying the relevant facts from the scenario. This fact-
identification step helps students represent the problem. As students understand the
problem better, they generate hypotheses about possible solutions. An important part of
this cycle is identifying knowledge deficiencies relative to the problem. These
knowledge deficiencies become what are known as the learning issues that students
research during their self-directed learning (SDL). Following SDL, students apply their
new knowledge and evaluate their hypotheses in light of what they have learned. At the
completion of each problem, students reflect on the abstract knowledge gained. The
teacher helps students learn the cognitive skills needed for problem solving and
collaboration. Because students are self-directed, managing their learning goals and
15

strategies to solve PBLs ill-structured problems (those without a single correct solution),
they also acquire the skills needed for lifelong learning.

IBL versus PBL
Defining the relationship between IBL and PBL has been fraught with difficulty.
Most researchers acknowledge an overlap in the approaches but there are conceptual
differences in distinguishing the two. Prince and Felder (2006) suggest that the major
difference between IBL and PBL lies in the type of question with PBL by definition
involving complex, ill-structured open-ended real world problems, while IBL may
possibly use such problems. This distinction is in contrast to many researchers such
asPlowright& Watkins (2004), Elton (2006); McMaster University (2007) who suggest
that PBL usually focuses on questions to which answers already exist, while IBL often
involves open-ended questions. A further difference postulated by McMaster University
is that PBL has a shorter timescale, while IBL can be for a sustained period. Kahn and
ORourke (2004) suggested that PBL was a subset of IBL, along with other pedagogies
such as project work and small scale investigations. Spronken-Smith, et al. (2008) used
the notion of collaboration to distinguish. While IBL can be done in collaborative groups,
PBL is usually done this way. In considering the debate Spronken-Smith, et al. (2007)
concluded that as a guide, it appears that PBL is a more prescriptive form of IBL, and
thus PBL is seen to be a subset of IBL, and both IBL and PBL are subsets of active
learning.

Theoretical Framework of the Study
16


Figure 1 shows different theories from various philosophers. The diagram
illustrates several theories that date back to the 18
th
century. Kilpatrick (1918, 1921) and
Dewey (1938) theorized that students learn through experience which becomes a
theoretical basis in the development of problem-based learning. Furthermore, due to the
emergence of experiential learning theory which was also strongly supported by
Deweys learning theory, Jerome Bruner (1990) worked on constructivism in which
individual learner must actively construct knowledge and skills. This resulted to the two
forms of constructivism: Lev Vygotskys Social Constructivism and Jean Piagets
Cognitive Development.Piaget proposed that individuals must construct their own
knowledge and that they build knowledge through experience. These experiences allow
creation of schemas or mental modes and thus lead to learning. Meanwhile,
Vygotskysuggested that cultural history, social context and language play an important
role in the pattern and rate of development of children. Moreover, his concept of the
zone of proximal development argues that individuals can, with the help of a more
experienced peer, master concepts and ideas that they cannot understand on their own.
These two approaches lead to the development of inquiry-based learning. Finally,
inquiry-based learning and problem-based learning are just subsets of active learning.
(Spronken-Smith, et al., 2007)
(Discuss thoroughly, you can add the items in the RRL which focus on theories. Place
your diagram in such a way, that you have to introduce theories then diagram then
additional discussion, so that the diagram will not be placed at the last part of the
Theoretical framework)



PBL
Kilpatricks
Experiential Learning
Theory
Active
Learning
17








Figure 1. Theoretical Framework of the Study
Research Paradigm

Figure 2 shows the paradigm of the study which includes the dependent and
independent variables as well as the moderating and intervening variables. The
independent variables or the causal variables in the study are the two approaches to be
tested: the IBL and PBL. The dependent variables of the study are the students level of
performance and their level of interest towards science. The teachers competence in
employing the two approaches is considered as the moderating variable because it
modifies the dependent and independent variables. On the other hand, the availability of
resources which will greatly help in the utilization of IBL and PBL is considered as the
intervening variable because this may surface upon the utilization of the two
approaches and therefore influence the dependent variable.



John Deweys
Theory of Learning
Lev Vygotskys
Social
Constructivism
Bruners Theory of
Constructivism
Jean Piagets
Cognitive
Development
IBL
Level of Students
Performance in
Science

Inquiry-based
Learning
18








Figure 2.Research Paradigm
(Do the same also, introduce the variables then the diagram to be followed by
thorough discussion. What is the role of Resourse availability? And what is the
supposed to be output of our study? Remember that Research paradigm is Input-
Process-Output. Include your desired output, may it be seminar, training, action
plan, monitoring device, etc)


Statement of Hypothesis

Ho
1
: There is no significant difference between the students performance using inquiry-
based learning (IBL) and problem-based learning (PBL) after the exposure of these
approaches.
Ho
2
: There is no significant difference between the students level of interest after
exposure of inquiry-based learning (IBL) and problem-based learning (PBL).

Definition of Terms

Students Level of
Interest towards
Science
Problem-based
Learning
Resource Availability
Teachers
Competence in
Employing IBL and
PBL

19

In order to have further understanding of this study, the following terms are
conceptually and operationally defined:

Students Performance. This is defined as the student achievement in relation to a
prescribed learning outcome (Mendoza, 2008). This also refers to students
achievement which is measured in terms of the results in the pre-test and post-test after
the exposure of IBL and PBL.

Students Interest. This refers to the students motivation in learning. This is also
defined as the students eagerness in learning science and is measured using the
Modified Attitudes towards Science Inventory (mATSI) by Weinburgh and Steele.

Resource Availability. This refers to the extent to which resources are made available
to achieve the aims and to implement something. (AMLR, 2013) This is also defined as
the extent to which resources necessary for teaching are made available in employing
IBL and PBL.


(Add more for the definition of terms, can we have it to atleast 8 or 10 terms to be
defined)