Inquiry learning is embedded in the New Zealand Curriculum. How do we make it to the ‘Problem Solving’ teaching that gives d=0.67 vs. inquiry at d=0.46?

Too often inquiry is content free; too often inquiry is considered best taught via constructivist, facilitator methods; too often inquiry is not enquired about itself. Carl Bereiter has found that inquiry is often taught more successfully using direct teaching methods, by teachers who consider they are change agents not facilitators, and through well planned even scripted lessons. We must not confuse the outcome (inquiry learners) with methods of teaching that abrogate responsibility by the teachers to actually make the difference. A much more effective mantra would be to adopt “problem solving” approaches as this emphasizes the problem, the problem clarification, the notion of success that comes from resolving problems and asks for a better balance between surface, deep, and conceptual understandings.