Self-Regulation and Inquiry-Based Learning in the Primary Classroom

Book excerpt: In this unique text, Dr. Brenda Jacobs brings together two important ideas that have become central to learning and development in education, demonstrating the core relationship between self-regulation and inquiry-based learning in primary classrooms. The author compellingly shows that inquiry-based learning can empower children and is vital to becoming self-regulated learners. Drawing on real-life classroom examples, the volume outlines four key insights: that children learn self-regulation during inquiry-based learning in the same way they do during play; that teachers can use scaffolding strategies to support this development; that inquiry-based learning promotes the positive emotions essential for the development of social and emotional learning; and, finally, that during inquiry-based learning, children use oral language as a self-regulatory tool. These insights are applied to the four components of emergent curriculum—inquiry design, classroom environment, conversation, and documentation—to show how educators can help children become self-regulated learners. Considering how COVID-19 has exacerbated children’s social, emotional, behavioural, physical, and mental health problems, this timely volume also provides guidance about how to do inquiry-based learning in virtual classrooms. Concise and practical, Self-Regulation and Inquiry-Based Learning in the Primary Classroom is an invaluable foundational text for students in Education and Early Childhood Education and for pre-service and in-service teachers alike.