Skip to main content

Inquiry Based Learning Final Thoughts

As I end the inquiry-based learning course, I am amazed at how my inquiry understanding has deepened.  Even after 20 years of teaching using questioning and having students provide evidence of their learning, I still have evolved my experience.

Inquiry-based learning is a way to have students explore how to learn.  When teachers use inquiry in their classrooms, students learn critical thinking.  Students are gaining experience to provide justification and evidence for their understanding.  They are spending time on the higher-level thinking skills of Bloom’s taxonomy.  Students need to evaluate information and synthesize old and new knowledge.  They have a teacher as a mentor, guide, and facilitator, not just as the person who has all the control.  This is crucial for students to become well-rounded individuals.

My biggest takeaway is that students gain more control of the classroom.  Students having control does not mean it is a constant party, and no learning is happening as many may think.  This also does not mean that the teacher isn’t planning and providing instruction.  The instruction and content exist; the teacher has carefully planned and organized the lesson to ensure the content is present.  Learning is messy and should be messy.  Students should grapple with the material and create their connections to the learning.  This is how they become invested in their education.  This is inquiry-based learning.  

As I continue to teach, I plan to guide students towards inquiry.  I will continue to constantly supply my students with endless questions and guidance on the material.   I will start with guided and spend time teaching students how to learn.  I will discuss perfectionism, rubrics, learning, and feedback with students.  We will become partners in teaching and learning.  I will slowly adapt students from guided inquiry to student-driven inquiry.  I have begun to see how I can scaffold materials, lessons, and assessments to aid all levels of students. 

Finally, I am refining my ability to explain to students my teaching methodology for them to understand what they are experiencing.  This is so important to me; students can find great anxiety to learn through discovery and are nervous about failing.  I am learning how to redefine failure and learning from mistakes to help ease these nerves.  I have continued to evolve and model lifelong learning for my students. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Update on Inquiry Based learning

 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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Problem Based Learning

When I first thought of problem-based learning(PrBL) students need to solve a real-world problem. I thought about the innovation challenges where students are designing items to solve a need for a community or person. I thought about design thinking workshops where students engineered a plan to fix the cafeteria seating. I think about the Anatomy and Physiology class where students are solving case studies (Punahou, 2011). I thought about my own class Design of Emerging Technology (DET) where some students design a project to solve an issue they see (mail sensor, sensors for low stock items, light that changes based on heart rate). These are all real-world problems and fall under the umbrella of Project-based learning in my mind. In fact, some of my students in DET would create art installations and be more project-based. Then I read Krall’s (2012b) statement “we need to define what is an “authentic mathematical experience”. A mathematical experience to me is something that promotes ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

Inquiry based Research Update: DATA DATA DATA

 It's been two weeks since I posted about learning about action research.  I have decided on a question based upon not being in a classroom currently and reflecting upon weaknesses of my teaching CS.  I felt I would love to learn more about teaching cybersecurity.  I don't have enough knowledge to do this well, and I always fumble.  I also think that students need to understand the fields that can be involved in cybersecurity and that it is not just about hacking.   When I have students complete GoCyberStart, I know I am no help.  I have even struggled to complete them.  I need to get better at this, now is the time.   My research question is: How do I design an inquiry-based unit on cybersecurity for students to understand the impacts on their lives? This will provide me with a chance to determine what is essential for students to know about cybersecurity, learn more about cybersecurity, and an opportunity for action research as a ...
Post a Comment
Read more