Teaching Approaches/Inquiry: Difference between revisions

 

You might want to watch this video on use of [[Teaching Approaches/Collaboration|collaborative]] enquiry in classroom tasks [http://www.teachersmedia.co.uk/videos/collaborative-enquiry www.teachersmedia.co.uk/videos/collaborative-enquiry] including a brief overview of the research.  

There are many models described in the literature. We shall present as an example the ''cyclic inquiry model'' presented on the [http://inquiry.uiuc.edu/ inquiry page] sponsored by [http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~chip/ "Chip" Bruce] et. al of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

During the preparation of the activity, teachers have to think about how many cycles to do, how to end the activity (at the <i>Ask</i> step): when/how to rephrase questions or answer them and express followup questions.

<strong>Rainbow Scenario :</strong> The teacher gives some mirrors to the children, so they can play with the sunlight which are passing trough the classroom's windows. With these manipulations, students can then formulate some questions about light and colors.

<strong>Rainbow Scenario :</strong> Once questions have been asked, the teacher gives to the children some prisms which allow to bend the light and a Round Light Source (RLS), a big cylindrical lamp with four colored windows through a light ray can pass. Then the children can mix the colors and see the result of their mixed ray light on a screen. They begin to collect information...

Collected information begins to merge. Student start making links. Here, ability to synthesize meaning is the spark which creates new knowledge. Student may generate new thoughts, ideas and theories that are not directly inspired by their own experience. They write them down in some kind of report.

The advantage of this model is that it can be applied with lots of student types and lots of matters. Moreover, the teacher can design the scenario by focusing on a part of the cycle or another. He can use one, few or more cycle.  

{{adaptedfrom|Enquiry Skills in a Virtual World|WhatIsEnquiry|One model of enquiry based learning combines the sixteen habits of mind (Costa and Kallick, 2000) and [[Teaching for Metacognition|metacognitive]] skills and knowledge.  Habits of Mind (Costa and Kallick, 2000) are persisting, thinking and communicating with clarity and precision, managing impulsivity, gathering data through all senses, listening with understanding and empathy, creating, imagining, innovating ,thinking flexibly, responding with wonderment and awe, thinking about thinking ([[Teaching for Metacognition|metacognition]]), taking responsible risks, striving for accuracy, finding humour, questioning and posing problems, thinking interdependently, applying past knowledge to new situations, remaining open to continuous learning.

The enquiry model includes a ‘cycle’ of learning from an initiation stage where pupils are given a stimulus to be developed through [[Category:Questioning|questioning]]. Pupils then refine questions so that they have one main focus they wish to investigate. Subsequent stages involve planning, monitoring, refining, evaluating and presenting.

{{adaptedfrom|Developing Higher Order Scientific Enquiry Skills|WhatIsEnquiry|Learners take responsibility for their own learning and, where appropriate, demonstrate a range of the following:  

The DfE links to an Australian report '[http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/learnerwellbeing/files/links/link_72576.pdf Towards a Culture of Inquiry]' which provides a useful summary.