Inquiry Based Curriculum and Instruction Learning Objectives What

Inquiry Based Curriculum and Instruction

Learning Objectives • What does inquiry look like? • Strategies for inquiry learning based on the different phases • Questioning skills

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Discuss with your partner 1. What are the common misconceptions about inquiry based learning they might have? 2. How does it differ from traditional learning? 3. How is it better?

INQUIRY • Looking for answer, investigating, coming up with suggestions, testing the suggestions and coming up with answers

What does inquiry look like? • Exploring, wondering, and questioning • Experimenting and playing with possibilities • Making connections between previous learning and current learning • Making predictions and acting purposefully to see what happens • Collecting data and reporting findings

What does inquiry look like? Cont. • Clarifying existing ideas and reappraising perceptions of events • Deeping understanding through the application of a concept • Making and testing theories • Researching and seeking information • Taking and defending a position • Solving problems in a variety of ways

Inquiry Learning • Makes the process obvious to students – Learning intentions clear Say to the children we are tuning in… we are gathering data… we are sorting out. . • Talk about and display BIG UNDERSTANDINGS (related to your learning outcomes) link activities to these understandings. • Big understandings should not be answered in one session • Instead of a title for your unit why not use a question?

Example Questions • What is the role of technology in theatre? Year 5 and 6 prop making for a school production • How can we create a healthy garden? Big understandings: different types of gardens, different conditions needed to grow, different roles and responsibilities in the group… • How can I be the best that I can be? Commonwealth games/Gold medal -Olympic games • What, why and how do we buy? Leading up to a school market day. • How could/can we create a fitness circuit at school? • What makes things move? • New Zealand - how has it changed and why?

SILENT READING

PHASES OF INQUIRY

PHASES OF INQUIRY TUNING IN ACTING AND APPLYING FINDING OUT SYNTHESISING AND REFLECTING SORTING OUT GOING FURTHER

QUICK CHECK!!! Tuning in Reviewing earlier thinking Finding out Analyzing information Sorting out Establishing the ‘known’ Going further Gathering information Reflecting Taking learning further

TUNING IN to students’ thinking Establishing the ‘known’ Connecting to students’ lives Sense of purpose for inquiry First thinking, first invitation for questions

Tuning in examples • • • Brainstorm Post box - post a statement or a question about the unit Look at the big questions – write understandings with students Inspiration - mind mapping software More false, more true – statements children categorise F/T KWL chart Mind mapping Paired interviews - students interview each other about their understandings of topic Think pair share – Think individually – pair with someone and share Rocket writing - children write everything they know within a very short time frame People Bingo - Treaty of Waitangi example Placemat visual organiser – excellent strategy see hand out

FINDING OUT Gathering information from a range of sources Working as researchers Continuing to raise questions Learning skills of investigation

Finding out examples • • • • Going on visits/trips Interviewing Experimenting Listening to experts – Ask an expert Asking people Doing surveys Looking at pictures and objects CD Roms, internet, film, video, DVD Letter writing / Emails – to ask organisations or individuals for information Newspapers and magazines Paintings, photographs, drawings, visual images Picture books and novels Phone calls

SORTING OUT Analysing information Looking for patterns Reviewing thinking Making meaning Expressing new understandings

Sorting out examples • • • Cutting up survey results Reflective thinking Visual organisers – KWL, PMI, Y chart Sorting photos Dance and drama – freeze frame, mime, puppet plays, role-play, talk shows, simulations Media and visual arts – collage, dioramas, models, diagrams, making videos Maths – classifying, fact finding (world’s tallest building), graphs, problemsolving, timelines Music – chants, raps, soundscapes, compositions English – recording in a range of text styles, Build a story, compare and contrast, data charts, oral presentations, wall stories and charts, Puzzle cards (Who/what am I? )

GOING FURTHER Personal and small group pathways of investigation Taking learning further Personalising

Going further examples Individual projects Questions Scaffolding, booklets with procedure Research Learning Contracts Information skills and sources Co-operative group tasks Expert groups Multiple Intelligence work stations

MAKING CONCLUSIONS Reviewing earlier thinking Identifying changes in understanding Making connections between ideas Identifying what has been learned

Making Conclusion examples Puppet shows Models Booklets Web 2. 0 tools Making board games – excellent way for students to bring together the knowledge they have gained during the unit of work and to pass it on to others. Useful “performance” based assessment task. Bloom’s Taxonomy Concept maps Crossword puzzles De Bono’s 6 thinking hats PMI Time Capsules – choose 5 items to put in a container that would represent the important things we know about…the topic…what would they be? KWL – students fill in what they have learnt.

Reflecting and Taking Action Sharing new learning with others Making a difference with my learning Applying to new contexts Creating Constructing Doing

Making Conclusion examples Teaching someone else Reflect on our learning Advertising campaigns – students use persuasive techniques of advertising to encourage others to take action Exhibition – students work in groups select key pieces of their learning write explanations set up the classroom like an exhibition and invite other students to come and view. Design self-guided walks – particularly appropriate for environmental topics

Making Conclusion examples CONT. Develop an action plan for the school – examples; improving access for people with disabilities, reducing bullying in the school playground, reducing packaging/glad wrap in school lunches, improving an area of the school ground. Global links – internet allows students to make links around the world with others that are involved in action plans Hear all about it – involves creating a news program for ‘radio’ or ‘television’ Letter writing – students register a protest against or their support of. . . Personal pledge – students consider one thing they will do in their own life as a result of what they have learned Read all about it – students create a class newspaper devoted to the topic

Object / Picture Inquiry Activity What do you think the picture is about? How do you feel? What do I wonder? What does it remind me of?

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD GUIDING QUESTIONS 1. Open-ended but focused “Whose America is it? ”

Cont. . . 2. Non-judgmental but Higher Order Thinking “Who was a great person? ”

Cont. . . 3. Emotional connection and intellectually challenging “Where does money go? ”

Cont. . . 4. Succinct “What is waste? ”