4 Phases of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers According to Indiana University Bloomington, Inquiry-based learning is an “instructional model that centers learning on a solving a particular problem or answering a central question. There are several different inquiry-based learning models, but most have several general elements in common: Learning focuses around a meaningful, ill-structured problem that demands consideration of diverse perspectivesAcademic content-learning occurs as a natural part of the process as students work towards finding solutionsLearners, working collaboratively, assume an active role in the learning processTeachers provide learners with learning supports and rich multiple media sources of information to assist students in successfully finding solutionsLearners share and defend solutions publicly in some manner” The process itself can be broken down into stages, or phases, that help teachers frame instruction. 4 Phases of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers 1. Student-to-material. 2. 3. 4.
How An LMS and BYOD Changed A School The School's profile The Southport School is a P-12 (K-12) private Anglican school for boys located in Southport on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Established in 1901, the school caters to both boarding and day students and has an excellent reputation for sports and leadership. Historically, the academic strength of the school has been built on the excellence of its teachers, mainly operating in the traditional “chalk and talk” or teacher-led mode. The parents show great confidence in the ability of these teachers to provide a sound traditional education. A staff survey (Appendix 1) taken in February 2013 showed that more than one quarter of staff had 25 years’ service or more while around 55% had 10 or more years of service. The question for my colleague Jo Inglis, Head of Learning & Teaching was “Was it possible to make changes to classroom pedagogy in educational technology?” This approach is commonly referred to as blended learning and is ideally managed as teacher-led and student-centred.
The 6 hidden tricks for Bring-Your-Own-Device success By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor @eSN_Meris Read more by Meris Stansbury January 15th, 2014 What every school district needs to know–outside of devices–that will make BYOD implementation a success By now, most districts considering the implementation of BYOD know there’s a lot more to success than apps and devices. But how can districts accurately measure how much bandwidth is needed? How do you ensure the quality of student work outside of simply using an app? And can you truly ensure equity? For Dr. The district, which has a Learner Profile to guide district policy and practice, places BYOD implementation in the ‘instructional initiative’ category, since it’s not just a ‘device initiative,’ noted Clark. With the mindset that BYOD would bring a complete shift to the district in both teaching and learning, Forsyth discovered these six crucial pieces to help solve the BYOD puzzle: (Next page: 6 keys to success for BYOD implementation)
36 Core Teacher Apps For Inquiry Learning With iPads 36 Core Teacher Apps For Inquiry Learning With iPads The interest in inquiry-based learning seems to ebb and flow based on–well, it’s not clear why it ever ebbs. In short, it is a student-centered, Constructivist approach to learning that requires critical thinking, and benefits from technology, collaboration, resourcefulness, and other modern learning skills that never seem to fall out of favor themselves. Regardless, St Oliver Plunkett Primary School has put together two very useful images that can help you populate your iPad–or classroom of iPads–with apps that support both inquiry-based learning (the second image below), and a more general approach to pedagogy based on Apple’s uber-popular tablet (the top image). The original pdf for the first file can be downloaded here. 36 Core Teacher Apps For Inquiry Learning With iPads; image attribution St.
Curious Homework: An Inquiry Project for Students and Parents Photo credit: iStockphoto International educator Scot Hoffman is a big believer in the power of curiosity to drive learning. After nearly two decades of teaching around the globe, he also realizes that school isn't always so hospitable to inquiring minds. (As Einstein said, "It's a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.") That's why Hoffman has developed The Curiosity Project, a self-directed learning experience that engages students, parents, and teachers as collaborators in inquiry. I first met Hoffman a couple years ago during a visit to the American School of Bombay in Mumbai, India. Here are highlights of our recent conversations about The Curiosity Project. What was the inspiration for this idea? Scot Hoffman: In about my third year of teaching -- this was back in the 1990s -- there were a couple students I just wasn't reaching. Another inspiration was a set of questions that a former professor, Dr. What is curiosity? What did you notice? How has the project evolved?
Réussir la mise en place d'une politique de "BYOD" dans son établissement 3 Shares Share Tweet Email Ce témoignage, recueilli sur eSchoolnews, « Crafting a successful BYOD policy« , pourra paraître un peu « lointain » pour certains qui penseront que le modèle américain est trop en décalage avec notre enseignement pour pouvoir en prendre exemple, mais donne matière à réfléchir sur le BYOD. Aux Etats-Unis, plusieurs écoles font le même constat : le manque de moyens évident qui ne permet plus d’équiper tous les élèves, collégiens et lycéens et d’envisager une politique efficiente de développement du numérique en classe. The Rocky River Schools a déjà investi dans de l’équipement informatique pour les élèves mais dresse aussi le constat que souvent, ces élèves préfèrent travailler sur leur propre matériel. Cela doit se faire en plusieurs étapes, comme l’expliquent le Dr. Mise en place d’une politique de BYOD en trois parties Ensuite, il faut s’assurer de l’état du réseau des établissements : bande passante, WIFI et sécurité internet. Et est ce que ça marche ?
A Student-Centered Universal BYOT Policy Template For Schools A Student-Centered Universal BYOT Policy Template For Schools BYOT–which stands for Bring Your Own Technology–is a natural response to need for progressive learning tools in the 21st century classroom. There are a variety of factors that contribute here, including the rapid growth of technology, planned obsolescence on behalf of the technology manufacturers, the cost of technology, the ubiquity of technology in the lives of many learners, and, on a larger scale, the continued explosion of age of information itself. But it’s not without its challenges. This is a crowdsourced policy created for any school or district to use to create their own policies. As such, you may have experience that you can bring to the policy. 3 Notes 1. 2. 3. TeachThought BYOT School Policy Template Purpose: To clearly and succinctly document our school or district’s policy for BYOT devices on-campus. Viruses & Malware: Device security is the responsibility of the owner. Your Rights 1. 2. 3. 4. Consequences Sources
5 Tools to Help Students Learn How to Learn Helping students learn how to learn: That’s what most educators strive for, and that’s the goal of inquiry learning. That skill transfers to other academic subject areas and even to the workplace where employers have consistently said that they want creative, innovative and adaptive thinkers. Inquiry learning is an integrated approach that includes kinds of learning: content, literacy, information literacy, learning how to learn, and social or collaborative skills. Students think about the choices they make throughout the process and the way they feel as they learn. Those observations are as important as the content they learn or the projects they create. “We want students thinking about their thinking,” said Leslie Maniotes a teacher effectiveness coach in the Denver Public Schools and one of the authors of Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. “When they are able to see where they came from and where they got to it is very powerful for them.”
Create a Culture of Questioning and Inquiry I have often suggested to teachers that when students have access to technology, whether it is provided by the school in a 1:1, BYOD, or simply the smart phone in their pocket, there should never be a question that goes unanswered –or un-followed. These are teachable moments for how to effectively search for information (information literacy & digital literacy) and allowing the time for students to explore connected ideas brings more depth to the learning, and allows students to make sense of things as they combine new information what they already know and understand, as well as to identify misunderstandings. Questioning leads to synthesis. What I discovered in the 300+ observations I have done for our 21 st Century Learning grant work was that the problem isn’t necessarily about allowing time for students to answer questions. As the new school year begins, think about how you might begin to shift from a culture of compliance, to a culture of questioning in your classroom.
10 raisons d’utiliser les téléphones mobiles en classe Alors que certaines écoles se félicitent de l’interdire, le téléphone cellulaire en classe fait ses preuves dans d’autres! Appuyé par une bonne stratégie d’intégration, il peut s’avérer un outil d’apprentissage et d’organisation indispensable. Autoriser ou non l’utilisation du téléphone cellulaire en classe : voilà un sujet délicat! Un rapide sondage dans tout établissement secondaire permet de constater qu’une bonne partie des jeunes possède un téléphone cellulaire, et qu’il est souvent sur eux. Il y a peu de temps, à l’occasion d’une conférence, Martin Lessard, chroniqueur à l’émission La Sphère de Radio-Canada, expliquait que les cellulaires actuels sont aussi puissants que le module lunaire des missions Apollo, à la seule différence que cette puissance est maintenant dans nos poches. Le 27 janvier dernier, le site Teachthought publiait sur le sujet un article de Terry Heick intitulé 50 Reasons It’s Time For Smartphones In Every Classroom. Avez-vous tenté l’expérience?
30 Apps Perfect For BYOD Classrooms BYOD classrooms can address a number of issues. It can solve the problem of not having enough (or any) devices for your classroom. It can enable students to do web-based work when they might not have otherwise been able to. It can allow them to do work on the same device at home and at school. One of the issues that we’ve heard about from many teachers is that since students come in with different devices that run on different platforms, finding apps and tools that work across a wide array of devices is a necessary evil. SkitchEvernoteToday’s MeetInfuse LearningZondleSocrativeGaggleVimeoBrain PopLive BindersEdmodoWhiteboardClass DojoQuizletKhan AcademyBit.lyTwitterPoppletSliderocketWikispacesPoll EverywhereVoiceThreadyStudyblueQR StuffCode AcademyScratch (MIT)TynkerEasyBibDiscoveryPadletAtomic LearningThe App Builder Click the Symbaloo below to visit the interactive version and get the clickable links to each app!
Preparing a Classroom Culture for Deeper Learning After reading an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, students form a circle to engage in conversation about liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The inquiry circle begins with two questions posed by the teacher: What is more important, liberty or the pursuit of happiness? Are liberty and the pursuit of happiness inalienable rights? To begin, some students argue that liberty and the pursuit of happiness are only open to the people who follow rules within a society. Others argue that while they agree to the rule of law, the argument might have exceptions. This leads to a conversation about the nature of happiness. While the conversation was rich and rooted in deeper learning and understanding, the inquiry-based discussion did not end within the classroom. Deeper student learning can evolve over time facilitated by an educator who is skilled in the art of thinking within a carefully crafted environment. 1. Photo Credit: Elizabeth A. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Inquiry-based Learning: Explanation What is inquiry-based learning? An old adage states: "Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand." The last part of this statement is the essence of inquiry-based learning, says our workshop author Joe Exline 1. Inquiry implies involvement that leads to understanding. Furthermore, involvement in learning implies possessing skills and attitudes that permit you to seek resolutions to questions and issues while you construct new knowledge. "Inquiry" is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking information by questioning." A Context for Inquiry Unfortunately, our traditional educational system has worked in a way that discourages the natural process of inquiry. Some of the discouragement of our natural inquiry process may come from a lack of understanding about the deeper nature of inquiry-based learning. Importance of Inquiry Memorizing facts and information is not the most important skill in today's world. The Application of Inquiry