Effects of Inquiry Based Learning on the Performance of students’ At Elementary Level in Rawalpindi City: An Experimental Study

This study was planned to conduct an experiment to find out the effect of inquiry based learning on the performance of students at elementary level in Rawalpindi city. The objectives of study were, to find out effect of inquiry based learning on performance of students in science, to find out effect of lecture method on students’ performance in science and to compare the effectiveness of inquiry based learning and lecture method on performance of students in science. This study would help the teachers to choose innovative teaching methods which not only improve their teaching skills but also help their students to perform better academically, increase their critical thinking, make them feel more confident and make their learning more interesting and creative. Pre-test post-test control group design was used for this experimental research. Science Students of 6th class of SLS School Rawalpindi district were the population. 50 students of grade 6 from a randomly selected SLS school were the sample of the study. A simple random sampling technique was used. Students’ were pre-tested, provided treatment (5E learning model-IBL) to experimental group and post tested. Questionnaire was developed as an instrument of study. Data collected was analyzed by using t-test. Results and findings have shown that inquiry based learning was more effective as compared to traditional lecture method. It was concluded that students of elementary level should be taught by innovative teaching methods like IBL for better learning of scientific concepts. This method was strongly recommended for better learning.