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Inquiry Courses
Click on the headings below to find out more information.
What is Inquiry?
Inquiry 1SS3 (Inquiry in the Social Sciences) is a first year course open to all students registered in level one Social Sciences. Provided in small classes, this course is available in either the fall or winter term.
Inquiry is the process of discovering knowledge. The objective of the inquiry course in Social Sciences is to teach students how to systematically research an issue. Any investigation should lead to the formulation of questions about which data can be collected and evaluated and from which conclusions can be drawn.
Inquiry is a question-driven form of learning. Inquiry courses are skill-driven, rather than content-driven. They focus on the skills required to succeed at university. Students can take these transferrable skills into other courses, throughout their university career, and beyond!
Why take Inquiry?
The evidence from studying the results of literally hundreds of students who have taken first year inquiry and comparing those results to students who have not taken inquiry is:
- inquiry students earn higher grades;
- inquiry students are more likely to earn Dean’s Honour List standing; and,
- inquiry students are more likely to complete their degree.
Students tell us a number of positive things about inquiry:
- “I learned how to think about something in different ways not just how my teachers told me to think.”
- “I learned to question what is in books and on the net!”
- “I finally know what profs want when they ask me to analyze something.”
