Dear all,
Thanks for the great start to the school year. I hope that you all had a good week. I know that the students did.
One of our key professional development areas for this year is to ensure we improve our understanding of inquiry based teaching. You may ask why would we do this when many of you are already quite proficient at this pedagogy. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, as a key goal this year we are inquiring into who we are across the whole school. If we aren't proficient in encouraging students to inquire they won't be able to seriously explore the question who am I? and emerge with any meaningful discoveries. Secondly, there are many different interpretations across a EE to 12 school of what inquiry means and these aren't always maximizing the potential of this pedagogy. Thirdly, inquiry is the expected pedagogy for all three IB programmes. Lastly, all the readings point to the fact that inquiry based learning feeds perfectly to our mission by energizing, engaging and empowering students to achieve more meaningful and deeper understandings through their learning.
One of our key professional development areas for this year is to ensure we improve our understanding of inquiry based teaching. You may ask why would we do this when many of you are already quite proficient at this pedagogy. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, as a key goal this year we are inquiring into who we are across the whole school. If we aren't proficient in encouraging students to inquire they won't be able to seriously explore the question who am I? and emerge with any meaningful discoveries. Secondly, there are many different interpretations across a EE to 12 school of what inquiry means and these aren't always maximizing the potential of this pedagogy. Thirdly, inquiry is the expected pedagogy for all three IB programmes. Lastly, all the readings point to the fact that inquiry based learning feeds perfectly to our mission by energizing, engaging and empowering students to achieve more meaningful and deeper understandings through their learning.
By focusing on inquiry we should all be releasing more of the learning to students. Of course this does not mean that as teachers we do not teach anymore but what does change is our role in the classroom. No longer are we the fountains of all knowledge, but rather we have to think of provocation that will engage students and make them curious about their learning so they ask challenging questions and are motivated to explore their curriculum.
Each section of the school will be watching a series of videos on inquiry based learning and then discussing and applying their learning as the year progresses. Hence, I thought it important that this week's Food for Thought focuses on inquiry based learning with a series of short blog posts, videos and articles.
So,
Nevertheless, despite its complexity, inquiry-based learning can be somehow easier on teachers, too. True, it’s seemingly easier because it transfers some responsibilities from teachers to students, but it’s really easier because releasing authority engages students.Teachers who use inquiry-based learning combat the “dunno” -- a chronic problem in student engagement.
Let’s face it, when you ask a student something like, “What do you want to know about _______?” you are often met with a shrug, or a, “dunno.” Inquiry-based learning, if front-loaded well, generates such excitement in students that neurons begin to fire, curiosity is triggered, and students can’t wait to become experts in answering their own questions."
Finally for this post here are 10 tips for bringing inquiry to your classrooms. If you want to read more about each then please follow the link to the full article.
1. Don’t teach the content standards; help kids find their own path towards the information they need to know.
2. Don’t tell students what they should know; create the structure for them to experience it on their own.
3. Use class time to make connections between pieces of information.
4. Many kids struggle with reading, so hook them with the non-written word.
5. Stop giving struggling kids the most boring version of the work to repeat over and over again.
6. Surprise students.
7. The traditional model of imparting knowledge isn’t working very well, so don’t be afraid to try out inquiry.
8. Find the “bend” in the outcomes and abandon the prescriptive path.
9. Indulge interesting student questions even if it doesn’t fit the pacing guide.
10. Approach the practice of teaching with inquiry and use that meta-practice to improve.
So,
What is Inquiry based learning?
"Inquiry-based learning is more than asking a student what he or she wants to know. It’s about triggering curiosity. And activating a student’s curiosity is, I would argue, a far more important and complex goal than the objective of mere information delivery.Nevertheless, despite its complexity, inquiry-based learning can be somehow easier on teachers, too. True, it’s seemingly easier because it transfers some responsibilities from teachers to students, but it’s really easier because releasing authority engages students.Teachers who use inquiry-based learning combat the “dunno” -- a chronic problem in student engagement.
Let’s face it, when you ask a student something like, “What do you want to know about _______?” you are often met with a shrug, or a, “dunno.” Inquiry-based learning, if front-loaded well, generates such excitement in students that neurons begin to fire, curiosity is triggered, and students can’t wait to become experts in answering their own questions."
Here is a TED talk given by Kath Murdoch, one of the worlds leading inquiry consultants around the world. In this talk Kath encourages teachers to maintain wonder in our students. This talk is from 2014 but certainly useful for those still grappling with why we would want to encourage inquiry. This is supported by a 6 minutes video that clearly articulates why we should be using inquiry in all our classrooms.
What are the benefits of bringing inquiry based learning to all our classrooms?
10 Tips For Launching An Inquiry-Based Classroom
1. Don’t teach the content standards; help kids find their own path towards the information they need to know.
2. Don’t tell students what they should know; create the structure for them to experience it on their own.
3. Use class time to make connections between pieces of information.
4. Many kids struggle with reading, so hook them with the non-written word.
5. Stop giving struggling kids the most boring version of the work to repeat over and over again.
6. Surprise students.
7. The traditional model of imparting knowledge isn’t working very well, so don’t be afraid to try out inquiry.
8. Find the “bend” in the outcomes and abandon the prescriptive path.
9. Indulge interesting student questions even if it doesn’t fit the pacing guide.
10. Approach the practice of teaching with inquiry and use that meta-practice to improve.
Have a wonderful Sunday,
Yours
Adrian
No comments:
Post a Comment