In week 10 of this
course we discussed the importance of using inquiry as a learning tool in the
primary classroom. When I thought of inquiry prior to this discussion, I thought
of it as asking questions to your students that generates discussion, but in
reality inquiry is much more than that; it provides students with the ability
to investigate, explore and search while enhancing their learning through
involvement in a community of learners (Kuklthau, Maniotes & Caspari,
2007). I believe that inquiry-based learning is a great strategy to use in the
classroom at any age because it allows students to explore their learning and
gives them some freedom to drive their own learning which has the ability to
lead to them being more engaged in the classroom. Although inquiry gives
students some opportunity to drive the direction of their learning, it is not
solely student driven. It is important for teachers to act as a guide; to
direct learning and to introduce ideas that are not brought up in discussion
(L. Lane, personal communication, March 16, 2016). As discussed in lecture, I believe
that a great way to start literacy based learning is to introduce it at the beginning
of the school year and develop a basis of respectful classroom discussion that
teaches students how to take into account different perspectives and teaches
them about constructive criticism. Once a basis of inquiry and its respectful
use is put in place, a unit can begin with inquiry by introducing the topic
students and having them generate questions about what they want to learn from
that unit and ways that they could find answers to these questions through discussion,
research, experimentation or investigation.
Another important
aspect of inquiry is reflection. In all forms of learning I believe that it is
important to provide students to the opportunity to reflect on what they
learning as this allows for them and the teacher to monitor progress and allow
learning and understanding of a topic to deepen. Reflection on inquiry can be done
through a journal, by completing the “L” in a KWL chart about what they have
learned since they posed their questions at the beginning of the unit, or by
having students complete exit cards about what they have learned from the
lesson of the day and what they are still unsure about.
The above video shows
an example of inquiry based learning in a second grade questions where students
are looking to answer the question “what businesses are in our community and
what services do they provide?” This question comes from the social studies
curriculum and lead to media lessons, research and presentations using iPads
and by collaborating with their peers.
