Education has many variables two of which are psychological structure and social environment. These two variables are organically associated with one another. Social and psychological dimensions are not superior to each other but psychological dimension provides a basis for education. Because of that education should be started by taking into account the capabilities, interests, and habits of the students (Dewey, 1974). Consideration of students' interests, needs, skills, and requirements can be possible with constructivist approach. In this view, knowledge is transformed by learners into learning by building upon their past learning. One of the methods included in the constructivist view is Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) (Yurdakul, 2005). IBL is implemented in many courses at every stage of education ranging from kindergarten to university education (Arslan, 2007). The fields of science, history, and engineering have used inquiry in different contexts. For instance, online inquiry that is a special type of inquiry is conducted with interconnected cognitive activities (Quintana, Zhang, & Krajcik, 2005). IBL has several different types which are open, guided, and structured inquiry (Tatar, 2006; Çalışkan, 2008; Altunsoy, 2008; Kula, 2009). Teachers may support students’ learning in open and guded one (Lim, 2001) but in the structured inquiry a computer sofware may also direct students. In guided inquiry, teacher takes more responsibility than open inquiry that is completely student-centered (Duban, 2008). In an open inquiry, learners carry out all the activities (e.g., do research to solve the problem, evaluate the usefulness of the information, and draw conclusions) themselves. When they face with a problem or difficulty, they are supported by teachers and peers. Thus, they can make a significant progress in reaching their own knowledge level and learning by structuring the content in a meaningful way. In this way, a learning process can be very productive for the individuals, who take the responsibility of their own learning. But the situation in the online inquiry may be different because comprehensive answers to the questions related to all disciplines can be found on the web. However, the essential quesion: Is the information readily available to be interpreted properly? Therefore, valuable data can be obtained by comparing differentiated online learning processes at the guidance level provided by the teacher.

One of the determinants of participation in the communication process in online learning environments is the level of motivation. Cognitive and metacognitive strategies and situations in which learners use different resources in the learning process can be assessed under the concept of learning strategies (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia ve McKeachie, 1991). Therefore, motivation and learning strategies can be considered as the factors to be considered in the evaluation of online learning processes.

Aim

The aim of this study is to comparatively evaluate online inquiry-based learning processes, which vary depending on the type of inquiry, according to Motivation and Learning Strategies. Sub-objectives can be listed according to this general purpose are:

1. Comparison of the students’ motivation levels by the measurement of before and after the learning process according to the type of inquiry (open and guided)
2. Determine the change in motivation levels after the learning process
3. At the end of the learning process, comparing the learning strategies used by the students with the type of inquiry (open and guided)
4. To obtain data on the causes of this change from the students who have changed their motivation level after the learning process

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