Teaching and Learning with Testa

 For the past three weeks, I have emerged in STEM and inquiry-based thinking for both courses I am taking this half of the Spring semester.  This has been an intense three weeks of reading various discussions, articles, and videos on what is STEM and Inquiry Based Learning and how are these used in the classroom.  The material has been thought-provoking.  I have spent the last three weeks writing about the material to develop my own knowledge. I have been involved in inquiry-based learning myself as I develop my own knowledge of the topic. In an inquiry based classroom, the focus is on investigations and answering questions based upon evidence.  Students are learning by doing. STEM naturally leads educators to be inquiry-based. Although this can be done in all classes, the Learning Channel(n.d) has a great video from Urban Academy demonstrating an inquiry-based classroom in both English and History. (Note: Learning Channel is not free but you can watch one video for free with an accoun

This past week the new semester has started. One course is inquiry based learning.  This is a course that has interested me since I saw it was required.  I was wondering how this differs from project based learning and other teaching methods that I have used.  I was excited to dive into the material this week answering: What is inquiry based learning? According to Wikipedia(n.d), inquiry based learning is started by "posing questions, problems, or scenarios".  The teacher is a facilitator, guide and is constantly adjusting based on the students.  It is a student center classroom where students are discovering their own learning.  So what does this look like in the classroom? How does this method work? I have noticed that inquiry based classrooms can take on a variety of different looks, but the basis is that students are answering questions and fostering their own learning.  This learning can be incredibly guided by the teacher or open-ended where students are doing everythin