Bringing Inquiry-Based Learning Into Your Class In the shallow end of the Types of Student Inquiry pool, Structured Inquiry gives the teacher control of the essential question, the starting point—for example, “What defines a culture?” or “What is the importance of the scientific method?” These questions are not answered in a single lesson and do not have a single answer, and, in fact, our understanding of an essential question may change over time as we research it. In Structured Inquiry, the teacher also controls specific learning activities, the resources students will use to create understanding, and the summative assessment learners will complete to demonstrate their understanding. In Controlled Inquiry, the teacher provides several essential questions. How Are the Types of Student Inquiry Helpful? Inquiry is most successful when strongly scaffolded. This structure allows us to successfully address the curriculum and the “must know” content and skills of each discipline, grade level, and course. Second, think big and start small.
10 ways YouTube can engage your classes now YouTube can help teachers and students create powerful, engaging, creative videos. These options can help take your videos to the next level. (Flickr / Esther Vargas) YouTube is a behemoth. It’s not out there just for watching practical jokes, how-to’s on renovating your house or ridiculous sports feats. Here are some ways to leverage the YouTube beast to improve engagement and creativity your class: 1. Classroom application: Teach students a skill or concept by recording yourself (maybe in front of a white board). 2. Classroom application: Students can make these videos as class projects (assuming they have access to YouTube). 3. Classroom application: Make an overview video with snippets of all YouTube videos from your class, then link to the full-length video with an annotation (see No. 5 below). 4. Classroom application: Search for Creative Commons videos in the Video Editor. 5. Classroom application: Students (and adults!) 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Related September 14, 2015 In "Ed Tech"
The art of inquiry: 10 practices for the inquiry teacher — Kath Murdoch Of all the blog posts I have written, the one that has been read, reposted and mentioned most often- is “How do inquiry teachers teach?” That was back in 2014. "How we teach slowly shapes the way young people respond to the unknown – to change, challenge, complexity and uncertainty….Our teaching can steer them toward becoming more positive, confident, and capable in the face of difficulty. What we teachers DO, SAY and think matters. Over the last few years, I have had the joy of collaborating with hundreds of teachers in a quest to dig deeper into the pedagogy of inquiry. So a new book is on its way! I am doing something I have not done before. The practices reflect what we have noticed when teaching 4-12 year olds. (not really in order...) 1. Inquiry teachers provoke, model and value curiosity – and they do this in a myriad of ways. 2. We all agree that questions lie at the heart of true inquiry. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Using Project-Based Learning To Flip Bloom’s Taxonomy For Deeper Learning | TeachThought Using Project-Based Learning To Flip Bloom’s Taxonomy For Deeper Learning by Drew Perkins, Director of TeachThought PD One of the central features of high quality project-based learning is the pedagogical relationship between the Driving Question and the “Need to Knows” that stem from it. In the video below I use the Explain Everything app to show how teachers and schools, using a process of rich inquiry, can leverage great thinking and learning by flipping how you approach the concepts behind Bloom’s Taxonomy. Instead of starting at the bottom and focusing on the teaching and learning of content prior to moving up, consider flipping that approach by starting at the top and asking students to create an authentic product with a strong Driving Question. Doing this can help the teacher facilitate deeper learning of the content and skills we find at the lower level as students identify and pursue what they need to know, remember, and understand to create and meet the challenge of the project.
4 Things All Project-Based Learning Teachers Should Do | TeachThought 4 Things All Project-Based Learning Teachers Should Do by Lauren Ayer, M.Ed. Gone are the days when students were expected to sit passively at desks while teachers lectured endlessly, expecting children to soak up the information being thrown at them. In today’s educational environment, students are expected to collaborate, think critically, and work together to develop innovative projects and answers to complex questions. To support this mission, many schools have begun to take part in a practice known as Project-Based Learning (PBL). Making a shift from traditional forms of learning to PBL can be challenging. 4 Things All Project-Based Learning Teachers Must Do 1. This is where the teacher-prep comes in. What content do you want students to understand by the end of the project? Planning project based learning takes time. 2. So you’re ready to start your project. Begin, then, by generating questions. Find out what students think they know about a topic. Go on field trips. 3. 4. Conclusion
5 Characteristics Of Project-Based Learning That Works - Schedule a TeachThought Professional Development PBL Workshop For Your School > 5 Characteristics Of Project-Based Learning That Works by Drew Perkins, Director of TeachThought Professional Development Interested in learning more about how to leverage great thinking and learning using authentic project-based learning? Check our PBL Workshop Services. As I’ve written before (What PBL Can Do For Your School…And What It Won’t) project-based learning can be an amazing tool for student, teacher, and school growth but only if you’re getting great thinking and learning as a result. Quality PBL takes advantage of built-in and designed levers of quality that helps the teacher as facilitator align the thinking and learning we’re after in our students. Aligned Thinking and Learning The project is intentionally designed to solicit thinking around desired standards, content, & skills students need to know. When planning for project design what thinking and learning do we want our teaching to align with?
Part 4: STEM, STEAM, Makers: Turning STEM to STEAM… 24 Resources Welcome to this fourth post in a series that brings STEM, STEAM, and Maker Space together with Project Based Learning and proper technology integration in the classroom. You will discover around one hundred resources in this series along with some great ideas for finding student success. Before reading, please take a moment to subscribe by email or RSS and also give me a follow on Twitter at mjgormans. I promise you will find some great information coming your way in the posts that follow…So sign up now and please pass this on with a retweet. – Mike Gorman ( Booking Info – It is time to think about your school or conference needs. Part 4: STEM, STEAM, Makers: Turning STEM to STEAM… 24 Resources It actually is quite obvious that the Arts should be included in STEM education. NPR Where Science Meets Art – Some exceptional Podcasts integrating Science and Art. Next in the Series… Making in Education ! Like this: Like Loading...
The Phases of Inquiry-Based Teaching A central goal of education is teaching critical-thinking skills. Inquiry-based teaching is an excellent path to this goal. Based partly on the philosophy that “humans are born inquirers,” the method focuses on student discovery over pushing information from the instructor. In general, all inquiry-based teaching follows three phases. Phase 1: Formulating Questions and Initial Understandings First, students are oriented to a problem, phenomena, or goal. For instance, I teach an inquiry-based online world religions course in which we begin by exploring the core question “what is religion, spirituality, or faith?” Phase 2: Exploration & Analysis In the next phase, students might conduct research, design experiments, and collect data from multiple perspectives and sources. In this phase, students might also begin looking for patterns and trends in the sources and data they are using, as well as noting commonalities and inconsistencies among them.