The inquiry approach aims to develop which set of skills?

• A. Following prescribed steps exactly.
• B. Memorize facts quickly.
• C. Predicting, observing, gathering information, inferring, generalizing, and analyzing data to acquire inquiry skills and form hypotheses.
• D. Rote repetition of tasks.

Answer: (C)

This item focuses on investigative thinking and using evidence to reason about ideas. The inquiry approach aims to develop skills such as predicting what might happen, carefully observing outcomes, gathering information from experiences or experiments, inferring meaning from what’s observed, generalizing those findings to broader ideas, and analyzing data to form and test hypotheses. These steps reflect a hands-on, questions-asks, evidence-driven way of learning rather than just performing tasks or reciting facts.

In early childhood, cultivating these inquiry skills helps children become active problem solvers who can justify their ideas with observations, discuss what the data suggests, and adjust their thinking based on new information. A teacher supports this by asking open-ended questions, providing materials to explore, guiding students to collect observable data, and prompting reflection on what the results mean and what to investigate next.