This week focused on the abilities and understandings of inquiry. From reading the case studies and viewing the videos, it becomes apparent that there is great diversity in implementing inquiry based learning. From the course discussions on the three case studies, we can see much conflict in interpretation of when inquiry is present in the classroom, and when it is not. This is a result of a continuum of inquiry designs from Student directed to Teacher directed.
I am starting to transform some of my learning activities for next year from courseware direct instruction. At this point, I am uncertain how to fully implement student directed instruction, but am rewriting some of the online assignments to involve guided inquiry. This is a continuation of my product oriented approach to courses. Previously, I had used this with computer applications, but am now expanding it into other courses. The current assignment under review is a unit on electricity. Using online simulators, students will be challenged to create a variety of circuit styles without prior instruction on components or circuits. I hope to be able to expand this to other units as I locate appropriate simulation resources.
Without a realtime interaction with students, or large group instruction time, I am struggling with how to incorporate more of the dialog involved in inquiry. With limited direct interaction with the students, it is difficult to aid the students in developing their questions and using those questions to guide investigations. This difficulty is compounded when emphasis is placed on course completion and pacing rather than in depth learning.
But inquiry is a spectrum of conditions. I intend to implement some of it for next year, possibly with trial offerings to some students later this year. Some inquiry has to be better than none. I will continue to look for ways to expand the offerings and increase the transition from structured inquiry to guided and open inquiry.
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