C. Justice et al. (2007), Inquiry in Higher Education: Reflections and Directions on Course Design and Teaching Methods

Short summary of the scope and focus in the article

The authors teach an undergraduate course at McMasters university in Canada called “Inquiry into the Social Sciences”. The course is in the field of social anthropology. The authors say that students in the course tend to do well in school (they are on the Honor List, have higher GPAs than other students, etc), and they argue that this is not merely association but that they believe taking the courses makes the course alumni better students. The paper presents the course structure and how they teach about forming a good research question, mustering evidence to support an answer, and presenting conclusions. The paper has lots of practical examples from the class. I found the course they described quite interesting and I would have loved to take it as a student.

Quote a statement that summarizes what the author claims they contribute to the field.

“This article offers what we believe is a useful recipe for designing inquiry-based courses.”

In your own words, compare the results/arguments presented in the article with the authors’ claim(s) you identified in question 1.

The paper delivers exactly what they promise.

Is the argument that the authors provide solid enough based on the evidence and/or theoretical considertaions to convince you of their claim(s)?

It could be that excellent students choose to take the course, so the course could have zero, or potentially even a negative effect, on the students. Their argument that the course causes higher GPAs is not well founded.

But the description of the course they give is still useful.

What is missing in the article?

Nothing. Maybe more quotes and real-life examples from the students; the text is a bit abstract.

What was most interesting for you?

Making a good research question:

• INTERESTING; the question is both relevant to the course theme and personally significant and compelling to the asker

• ANALYTICAL; the question leads to answers that cannot be descriptive but require balanced consideration of evidence and opinions. (Often we asked students to ask ‘Why’ questions)

• PROBLEMATIC; the question is based in a contradiction, puzzle or dilemma

• COMPLEX; the question has more than one realistic possible answer

• IMPORTANT; the question is either publicly argued (controversial) or its answer would have some real effect on the world

• GENUINE; the question is something that the asker really wants to answer but presently cannot, as opposed to a question which the asker assumes the answer to and wants to prove

• RESEARCHABLE; there is evidence that pertains to it (as opposed to, for example, “Why does God not answer prayers?”)

How does this article relate to your own teaching?

My course is an engineering course so there is usually just one right answer. It is not about critical discussion.

However I want to introduce more social-science elements into my course so I found the article interesting for that purpose. I want to add more writing and argumentation into my class.

What can you learn from it?

As stated, I want to add more writing and argumentation into my class so I will learn from this paper.