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SECRETARIAT SPECIAL EDITION # 32
Inquiry-based Learning
ON TRANSFORMING WONDER INTO KNOWLEDGE
It was only by taking the time to thoroughly investigate and interrogate a topic through dedicated inquiry that a falling apple became inspiration for the study of gravity and was eventually formalized into the scientic notation g = 9.81 m/s 2, or that through the imaginative process of pretending to ride a light beam that E=MC 2 was borne. Our goal as educators is to help students make this leap from intuitive understandings and natural curiosity to knowledge creation to a space where ideas can be transformed into formalized understanding and further questioning.
May 2013
ISSN: 1913 8482 (Print) ISSN: 1913 8490 (Online)
The Capacity Building Series is produced by the Student Achievement Division to support leadership and instructional effectiveness in Ontario schools. The series is posted at: www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/. For information: lns@ontario.ca
Educator as Provocateur
Moving students beyond initial curiosity to a path of regular inquiry is one of the great challenges of inquiry-based learning. In this process, educators play an important role. Teachers model how to contribute and extend ideas, how to question and how to carry out an investigation of ones ideas or theories. They play the role of provocateur, nding creative ways to introduce students to ideas and to subject matter that is of interest to them and offers inquiry potential or promise in terms of opportunities for students to engage in sustained inquiry of their own. Further, while individual and small groups of students might choose to take a different approach to a particular overarching question in the classroom, it is the teacher who establishes a classroom culture in which ideas triumph as central currency and class members come together on a regular basis to discuss each others learning. Through hearing others perspectives, students come to a better understanding of their own ideas and approaches to questions and problems.
Educators may need to encourage students to be exible in their response type. For instance, if it is noticed that some students choose to simply agree or disagree with other responses, encourage those students to explain why they agree or disagree and eventually introduce them to another way of contributing (e.g., asking for clarication). Conversely, students who tend to see only the big picture at times need reminders to clarify their intent and statements in a way that makes sense to all students.
The teacher plays a critical role in moving students ideas forward, having to decide, sometimes on a moment-to-moment basis, when and how to intervene in order to maintain and build student momentum. For example, early in the inquiry process the teacher is responsible for establishing (and modelling) classroom norms and expectations How do we respectfully challenge an idea? What constitutes a good question? What constitutes an evidence-based explanation? It takes astute recognition on the teachers part to know when student ideas need clarication and revoicing (e.g., through repeating, rephrasing, expanding) in order to keep the core ideas accessible to all class members (Strom, Kemeny, Lehrer, & Forman, 2001). Along these same lines, teachers mediate between the introduction and use of content-specic language (e.g., hypothesis) and the naturally occurring everyday talk of students. Through working to form common understanding, inquiry supports the co-construction of knowledge.
Building on to what ______ said, I think its also important that So far, this is what I understand weve been discussing When you were talking about how the triangle and square took up the same area, did you mean that they share the same area because...? What you said reminds me of what we learned about how ecosystems workthey both depend on a whole bunch of other things to work properly. Oh, 2 x 3 and 3 x 2 gives you the same answer in the same way that 2 + 3 and 3 + 2 are the same answer It doesnt matter what order you do the adding or the multiplying in. I wonder what would happen if you took out the plants in the aquarium. Would the sh get sick? Fish need oxygen to live, just like us, so I think that removing the plants will harm the sh by making it harder for them to breathe. Thats a very good summary of the big ideas weve been discussing. Does anyone else have anything to add?
Making connections
Thats an interesting connection. What other ways might these two things be related? Do you think that will hold true for all addition or multiplication number sentences? Why or why not? What do people think? It might help to rst think about what sorts of functions plants carry out? Why are plants in the aquarium important? How could we test this theory without actually harming the sh?
Asking questions
Proposing theories
Keeping it going
Engage students in knowledge-building by bringing them together frequently to share thinking and discuss the big ideas of an inquiry. Teach on-the-spot direct instruction mini-lessons when you see that students need to know certain pieces of information and have certain skills to move forward. Balance content-specic language with everyday student talk. Continually assess whats happening in the inquiry to make judgments about when and when not to intervene. Revisit initial theories and ideas about a question and reect on the ways that the initial understanding differs from current understanding.
REFERENCES
Burgh, G., & Nichols, K. (2012). The parallels between philosophical inquiry and scientic inquiry: Implications for science education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44 (10), 10451059. Fielding, M. (2012). Beyond student voice: Patterns of partnership and the demands of deep democracy. Revista de Educacin, 359, 4565. Kuklthau, C.C., Maniotes, L.K., & Caspari, A.K. (2007). Guided inquiry: Learning in the 21st century. Westport, CT & London: Libraries Unlimited. Lucas, D., Broderick, N., Lehrer, R., & Bohanan, R. (2005). Making the grounds of scientic inquiry visible in the classroom. Science Scope, 29(3), 3942. Quigley, C. Marshall, J.C., Deaton, C.C.M., Cook, M.P., & Padilla, M. (2011). Challenges to inquiry teaching and suggestions for how to meet them. Science Educator, 20(1), 5561. Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic denitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 5467. Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In B. Smith (Ed.), Liberal education in a knowledge society (pp. 6798). Chicago, IL: Open Court. Strom, D., Kemeny, V., Lehrer, R., & Forman, E. (2001). Visualizing the emergent structure of childrens mathematical argument. Cognitive Science, 25, 733773. University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Robertson program for inquiry-based teaching in math and science. Retrieved March 12, 2013, from http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ robertson/index.html. Watkins, C. (2012). Learners in the driving seat. Leading Learning Pedagogy, 1(2), 2831. Retrieved February 18, 2013, from www.teachingtimes.com
Natural Curiosity: Building childrens understanding of the world through environmental inquiry/A resource for teachers. (2011). Toronto: The Laboratory School at the Dr. Erick Jackman Institute of Child Study.
Orr, D. (2004). Earth in mind: On education, environment, and the human prospect. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. Pauli, G. (2009). How can we use nite resources to propel ourselves in the future? TEDxTokyo, Retrieved March 12, 2013, from http://www.tedxtokyo.org/en/event/tedxtokyo-2009/