Inquiry Update

At the outset of this course, I was pretty sure I knew what inquiry based learning looked like.  I knew that inquiry lessons do not necessarily fit into any one particular mold and that there is no specific recipe for creating the perfect inquiry lesson; inquiry is an ongoing process that requires flexibility on the part of the students and teacher.  But overall, I pictured inquiry generally to be some sort of hands-on, authentic learning experience that gives students the opportunity to launch and carry out investigations and find answers based on evidence. 

I still think that my earlier conception of inquiry holds true for the most part, but as a science-minded person, my mind always tends to go in that direction.  And after the first couple weeks of this course, I'm starting to see inquiry in broader terms.  An investigation does not have to be a physical experiment (although experiments do make for great inquiry).  It's really all about how the activity is framed by the teacher and what sorts of parameters and freedoms students are given in carrying out their objective.

Writing for the Pearson School Blog, social studies teacher Keishla Ceaser-Jones has some excellent advice and examples for using inquiry to teach history to students ranging all the way from K to 12.  She suggests that first and foremost, inquiry is all about selecting a compelling question that is "sticky" like Velcro.  The examples she gives include, "When is war justified?" or "How do people get what they need?"  Based on the sample lessons provided on the blog, it seems pretty evident that while the inquiry model lends itself to certain subjects more than others, it can be used to teach just about anything.  As a science teacher with a layperson's appreciation for world history, I found the sample lessons pretty interesting.

At this point in the course, I have pretty solid picture of what inquiry looks like and what it is capable of bringing out in students, but there are a few things that are still lurking around the back of my mind.  A couple burning questions I have are:  (1) How much work should go into the planning and preparation for a good inquiry lesson?  (2) How much time should be devoted to direct instruction in an inquiry classroom?  And (3) What are some of the best ways to assess and grade students on their performance and participation during inquiry activities?  

I am hoping to have some clear answers to these questions as we push forward for the remaining weeks of the course.


References:

Ceaser-Jones, Keishla. (2017, Oct. 13).  Inquiry in the social studies classroom.  PearsonSchool Blog.  Retrieved Jul. 8, 2018 from https://blog.pearsonschool.com/inquiry-in-the-social-studies-classroom/.