An important student centered strategy practiced across the schools in USA is Inquiry Learning. However, inquiry involves the adoption of several complex procedures directed using scientific method and hence difficult to be practiced by an average learner unless he gets some external support. Students experiences in the process of Inquiry have been documented in a series of empirical studies. The Information Search Process model(ISP) of Kuhlthau describes seven stages as students proceed through their complex inquiry.However, students can be made to gain expertise in their inquiry learning when they are guided by teachers and experts. Scaffolding refers to supportive situations adults create to help learners extend current skills and knowledge to higher level of competence.The present study is an attempt to validate a new instructional strategy which combines the strong points of two differing strategies,viz.,the inquiry learning and scaffolding for teaching high school geography. Several studies by Bermingham (2016), Kukkonen (2014), Rae’s & Schellens report on the effectiveness of these two strategies. The efficacy of the innovative approach on cognitive achievement is tested by comparing the terminal behaviors of two groups, one exposed to the innovative teaching method and the other to the practicing classroom pedagogy. The results show significant positive results in all the seven cognitive variables tested.
An important student centered strategy practiced across the schools in USA is Inquiry Learning. However, inquiry involves the adoption of several complex procedures directed using scientific method and hence difficult to be practiced by an average learner unless he gets some external support. Students experiences in the process of Inquiry have been documented in a series of empirical studies. The Information Search Process model(ISP) of Kuhlthau describes seven stages as students proceed through their complex inquiry.However, students can be made to gain expertise in their inquiry learning when they are guided by teachers and experts. Scaffolding refers to supportive situations adults create to help learners extend current skills and knowledge to higher level of competence.The present study is an attempt to validate a new instructional strategy which combines the strong points of two differing strategies,viz.,the inquiry learning and scaffolding for teaching high school geography. Several studies by Bermingham (2016), Kukkonen (2014), Rae’s & Schellens report on the effectiveness of these two strategies. The efficacy of the innovative approach on cognitive achievement is tested by comparing the terminal behaviors of two groups, one exposed to the innovative teaching method and the other to the practicing classroom pedagogy. The results show significant positive results in all the seven cognitive variables tested.