Throughout this course, we have studied the concepts of inquiry in education. Transforming the classroom, placing emphasis and responsibility for learning on the learner enhances the learning process. Rather than receiving information, students are now interacting with it, creating new meanings and understandings, and applying content knowledge immediately to the learning activity and beyond.
Some of the key concepts during this course were the inquiry continuum, investigative questioning, and inquiry skills, abilities, and understandings. Inquiry is not a cookie cutter program. Rather, it is an approach to learning that has much variability. It can be applied in structured, guided, or open formats to fit the needs of the learners and learning situation.
This course provided many opportunities to interact with other instructors and share approaches and resources from our classrooms. There are many resources out there that can support inquiry processes. Many of the resources have already been in use, but with some minor adjustments in procedure and student emphasis can be revitalized into the inquiry classroom.
Using the BSCS 5E method can develop lesson plans to fully support inquiry in the classroom. The ideas of engagement, exploration, explanation, and elaboration encourage student participation, self direction, and critical thinking. Formative assessments throughout the lesson or unit encourage students to identify current learning success, future learning needs, or alternate approach strategies.
Inquiry lessons do not need to be lab activities or stand alone features of the course. They can easily be incorporated into a cohesive unit plan. Inquiry does not necessarily require hands on activities, but rather is the mindset of students developing questions and guiding the learning process. I am in the process of revising my approaches for next year to include more inquiry. I think I am limited by the alternative education program structures and intend to use inquiry to supplement the coursework. In some cases, the coursework and I disagree on emphasis between facts and big ideas. For these situations, I would rely more heavily on resources beyond the included courseware. I also intend to incorporate more of the web 2.0 resources as assessment pieces to replace the online mastery tests. I would much rather students apply their knowledge to produce a prezi, glog, or digital story to demonstrate conceptual knowledge rather than many multiple choice questions which are focused on factual recall (and often at a degree of detail that is excessive compared to my approaches).
This course and the other teachers I have collaborated with during the course have given me a renewed interest in updating my courses beyond the available courseware. I wish to refocus students on learning instead of procedure. Even in times of standardized assessments and cohort monitoring, I intend to hold onto goals of learning and process skill development.
(JMenaker)
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