Page 9 - SREENARAYANAGURU OPEN UNIVERSITY

Curiosity extends above and beyond its perceived potential contributions to
usefulness or benefits. It has shown itself to be an unstoppable drive. There are
many stories of efforts that humans have invested in exploring and attempting
to decipher the world around them. It seems that we are an insatiably curi-
ous species, some of us even compulsively so. The great Roman orator and
philosopher Cicero interpreted Ulysses’s sailing past the island of the Sirens
as an effort to resist epistemic curiosity’s lure: “It was not the sweetness of
their voices, nor the novelty and diversity of their songs, but their professions
of knowledge that used to attract the passing voyagers, it was the passion for
learning that kept men rooted to the Sirens’ rocky shores.” Welcome to the unit
“Foundations of Inquiry-Based Learning.”

Keywords

Inquiry, Research, Formal inquiry, Informal inquiry

Discussion

1.1.1 Research and Inquiry

One of the most useful-and difficult things to teach
and to learn is the power of questions. Inquiry-based
approaches rest on wonder. These investigations often
begin with questions of fact-… The power of questions
fuels the critical mind and drives the research. (Ballenger
2018:xvii)

Mahakavi Kumaran Asan, the illustrious poet of Kerala,
has given us a simple short poem in Malayalam titled
Child's observation “Ip«nbpw XÅbpw” (“Mother and Child”) which is in the form
and mother's of a dialogue between a mother and her small child. Some of
response you may have read this poem; you may recall that although

simple, the poem is beautiful and philosophical. Those of
you unfamiliar with it might find it an interesting read. You
can reflect upon diverse interpretations that could be drawn

SGOU - SLM - Foundational Skills for Research and Writing 3