Resources and Downloads to Facilitate Inquiry-Based Learning Create Learning Environments That Foster Inquiry Plan Curriculum That Supports Inquiry Use Strategies to Increase Inquiry in the Classroom Conduct Activities That Promote Inquiry Query Books: Ask students to chronicle their ideas, ponderings, and questions. Downloads and Examples From Schools That Work Edutopia's flagship series highlights practices and case studies from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn. At Wildwood IB World Magnet School, teachers use student questions to drive lessons, and channel student curiosity into student-centered projects. video See how Ralston Elementary School teachers guide the inquiry process over a series of lessons and teach students how to ask deeper questions to prepare them to lead their own inquiry into specific problems. Learn how educators at Crellin Elementary School use students' "I Wonder" questions to drive lesson planning, differentiate instruction, and foster student curiosity.
4 Phases of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers 4 Phases Of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers by Terry Heick 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 perspectives Academic content-learning occurs as a natural part of the process as students work towards finding solutions Learners, working collaboratively, assume an active role in the learning process Teachers provide learners with learning supports and rich multiple media sources of information to assist students in successfully finding solutions Learners share and defend solutions publicly in some manner” The process itself can be broken down into stages, or phases, that help teachers frame instruction. 1. Student-to-material. 2. 3.
5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners The humble question is an indispensable tool: the spade that helps us dig for truth, or the flashlight that illuminates surrounding darkness. Questioning helps us learn, explore the unknown, and adapt to change. That makes it a most precious “app” today, in a world where everything is changing and so much is unknown. To change that is easier said than done. How to Encourage Questioning 1. Asking a question can be a scary step into the void. 2. This is a tough one. 3. Part of the appeal of “questions-only” exercises is that there’s an element of play involved, as in: Can you turn that answer/statement into a question? 4. Obviously, we must praise and celebrate the questions that are asked -- and not only the on-target, penetrating ones, but also the more expansive, sometimes-offbeat ones (I found that seemingly “crazy questions” sometimes result in the biggest breakthroughs). 5. So ask yourself this beautiful question: How might I encourage more questioning in my classroom?
The importance of surprise There should be surprise, delight or even discomfort as one explores. True inquiry involves discovery. The task at hand should awaken curiosity and take the student on an adventure. Mere topical research requires little more than gathering and is often sleep inducing. It is up to the teacher to frame research projects around questions of import and tasks that require fresh thinking, problem-solving and imagination. The following checklist was designed to help teachers determine whether their research assignments are likely to produce surprise, awaken curiosity and challenge students at the highest possible levels. to read the full explanation. Image courtesy of Fighting-Wolf-Fist on Deviant Art 1. Paul Simon said it so well when he sang in Kodachrome: When I think back On all the crap I learned in high school It's a wonder I can think at all Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew would win little attention or audience if the solutions to their mysteries were lying in plain sight. 4. 5. 7. 8. 9.
Approaches to Information Inquiry Models and Process for Information Inquiry Many educators and librarians have designed models to illustrate how teachers and learners act in information inquiry situations. Other models have been developed for processes such as instructional design, thinking, and writing. During the 1980s educators and librarians experienced a surge of interest in information skills. In 1985, Ann Irving discussed this idea of cross-curriculum connections in a book titled Study and Information Skills Across the Curriculum. Irving stressed a resource-based learning approach that emphasized addressing individual differences in teachng and learning style. Nine Step Information Skills Model by Ann Irving Although many other models came after Ann Irving, her Nine Step Information Skills Model continues to be used in schools. Formulating Identifying Tracing Examining Using Recording Interpreting Shaping Evaluating Read Chapter 7: Modeling Recursion in Research Process Instruction by Sandy L. Personal Models
FILLING THE TOOL BOX The above ads are generated by Google and FNO does not endorse the products displayed in any manner. From Now On The Educational Technology Journal Classroom Strategies to Engender Student Questioning © 1986 by Jamie McKenzie, Ed.D. and Hilarie Bryce Davis, Ed.D. all rights reserved. Most of the strategies described below have been developed and tested by teachers in Princeton, Madison and elsewhere. As one of the primary goals of education is to develop autonomous but interdependent thinkers, students deserve frequent opportunities to shape and direct classroom inquiry. 1) Beginning A New Unit (K-12) If a class is about to spend several days or weeks studying a particular topic or concept, traditional practice and unit design gives the teacher primary responsibility for identifying the key questions and the key answers. Try starting a new unit by asking your class to think of questions that could be asked about the topic; "What questions should we ask about the Civil War? 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Fostering Student Questions: Strategies for Inquiry-Based Learning 1. The Question Formulation Technique The Question Formulation Technique offers a starting place to teach students how to construct questions that meet their needs. The QFT is a process for coaching students on the value and pitfalls of closed-ended and open-ended questions, including where and how to use them. Use the QFT as a foundation for the other protocols shared, which can lead to rich learning experiences. 2. One challenge to generating substantive questions and ideas is getting every student's voice heard. Post a topic as a statement starter or a question on chart paper for small groups. Traditionally, the teacher collects the results at the end to use as data for later activities based on the students' contributions. 3. One challenge with reading articles or other pieces of writing is getting students to read for meaning and make connections beyond summary. Divide students into groups of 2-4. 4. It's amazing what students come up with when the teacher is silent. No Time to Wait
Great Research A really great research project will demand original thought. Mere scooping and collection of information will not suffice. The project must be built around a question or an issue whose answer does not lie waiting on a Web page. This is not a scavenger hunt. Nor is it trivial pursuit. Photo from iStock.com Students must make answers. Students as Infotectives The first step toward a sound research program is to think of students as infotectives. What is an infotective? An infotective solves information puzzles with a combination of inference skills and new technologies. Infotective is a term designed for education in an Age of Information. These same skills produce high performance on the increasingly challenging state tests of reading comprehension and problem solving. For decades, schools showed students basic problem patterns and asked them to memorize solutions. Not knowing what you do not know The student progresses through the steps of the Research Cycle. Finding Great Questions
icts-sc / The Simple Four The Simple Four is a problem-solving research model developed for South Carolina and works with the research and inquiry standard (Standard 6) in the 2007 ELA Academic Standards. Step 1: PLAN (Planning means that students are engaging the topic or assignment and deciding what they know about the topic; what they want/need to know about the topic; and what information they need about their topic to complete their assignment or research project.) Students demonstrate the ability to: Step 2: Act (As students ACT ontheir plan, they must prioritize their list of possible sources of information, find those resources, engage the resources, to extract the relevant information and then evaluate the information for credibility, authority, and relationship to the topic or assignment.) Step 3: Organize (When students ORGANIZE their information, they make decisions about that information and their topic or assignment. Step 4: Reflect
Replacing Faux Inquiry with the Real Thing Why should teachers nurture potent questioning skills and behaviors? As a practical matter, students need to be able to read between the lines, infer meaning, draw conclusions from disparate clues and avoid the traps of presumptive intelligence, bias and predisposition. They need these thinking skills to score well on increasingly tough school tests, but more importantly, they need these skills to score well on the increasingly baffling tests of life . . . how to vote? how to work? how to love? Drill and practice combined with highly scripted lessons stressing patterns and prescriptions amount to mental robbery - setting low standards for disadvantaged students so they end up incapable of thought or success on demanding tests. This approach contributes to high dropout and attrition rates - early school departures and millions of children left behind.
Many, Many Examples Of Essential Questions Many, Many Examples Of Essential Questions by Terry Heick Essential questions are, ask Grant Wiggins defines, “‘essential’ in the sense of signaling genuine, important and necessarily-ongoing inquiries.” These are grapple-worthy, substantive questions that not only require wrestling with, but are worth wrestling with–that could lead students to some critical insight in a 40/40/40-rule sense of the term. I collected the following set of questions through the course of creating units of study, most of them from the Greece Central School District in New York. Or maybe I’ll make a separate page for them entirely. Decisions, Actions, and Consequences What is the relationship between decisions and consequences? Social Justice What is social justice? Culture: Values, Beliefs & Rituals How do individuals develop values and beliefs? Adversity, Conflict, and Change How does conflict lead to change? Utopia and Dystopia How would we define a utopian society? Chaos and Order Constructing Identities Creation
Question Families Connecting the Dots In 2009 I outlined this approach in "Connecting the Dots," an article that first appeared in Knowledge Quest, a publication of the American Association of School Librarians. A class exploring the question of what they should do about floods starts with a simple diagram like the one below. But it soon becomes much more complex. Going Beyond Brainstorming Simple listing generates seemingly unrelated questions. All too often students are asked to learn about important people from the past in ways that encourage scooping. This image is used with permission from Paul Foreman. Dynamic Mind Mapping This approach to planning research thrives on group mind-mapping with appropriate software projecting onto a screen or white board that can be viewed by the whole class. Few teachers have enjoyed a 2-3 day workshop showing them how to conduct such a planning session. The Importance of Defining Terms Early The thesaurus on my laptop suggests the following words for courage: