EDIM 513: Final Thoughts on Inquiry-Based Learning

I have always thought of inquiry learning as a pretty necessary ingredient in teaching science.  It is integral to the scientific method and, indeed, the entire scientific enterprise.  Background knowledge is important of course, but knowing facts, figures, definitions, and basic concepts is just the first step.  In an scientific classroom, doing science should take precedence over learning science.  In other words, it is about the experience itself.  And to me, that is what inquiry is really all about.  

One key thing that I have taken away from this course is the distinction between investigable and non-investigable questions.  When engaging students, showing processes, discoveries, innovations and phenomena that get them curious about the natural world, we want them to ask non-investigable questions--questions that may sometimes be unanswerable, at least for the time being.  But to teach with inquiry, it is crucial that students be able to take their questions and hone them into something they can test.  To do this, they really need to think about what variables are involved and which variables can be isolated and manipulated.  This allows them to design an investigation that will yield actual results, with valid data they can analyze.  

Another key feature that really stood out to me throughout this course is the importance of student choice.  Rather than just telling students what they are going to learn and what they need to do, part of inquiry is giving them the chance to sort it out on their own.  Giving them some free reign in their exploration makes it so much more relevant and meaningful, which also gives it staying-power.  Of course the content itself is important, but the process skills they implement along the way are just as important, if not more so.  

I would say that I implement a good amount of inquiry into my teaching on a regular basis.  One of the biggest projects we do in 9th grade science in my district is a wonderful inquiry lesson on hominid evolution.  Students work in groups to observe and measure various features of ten different fossil hominid skulls (replicas obviously).  They are guided through the process but really have to generate their own data, analyze it, and draw conclusions to explain how they think all these different species of ancient humans are related to one another in a gigantic family tree going back over 3 million years.  

I would say this entire unit is a great model for inquiry-based learning, and going forward, I would really like to try to capture the essence of this investigation and apply it to some of the other units we do in 9th grade science.  I do not know that I will ever be able to use inquiry as the only or primary way I teach in my classroom, but I think doing a major inquiry investigation once per marking period would be a worthy goal and one my students would benefit from.  Part of the issue is just letting go of some control.  When it comes to pacing, staying on schedule, getting through content, these are all the things that get in the way of inquiry learning.  But I think that handing the classroom back to the students a little more often could really have a big impact on their learning, while at the same time, giving me the chance to be the guide or facilitator providing assistance and feedback, rather than the instructor telling them what to do.  

21st century learners are living in a world very different to the one we grew up in just a couple decades ago.  Collaboration, communicating, networking, and critical thinking will be more important than ever as these students leave school and enter a workforce that is likely to include vocations that currently do not even exist yet.  Providing them with authentic learning experiences that bridge the gap between different subjects is a great way to prepare them for the unknown that awaits.

EDIM 516 Final Project: Smartphones in the Classroom

The topic for my final project is smartphones in the classroom.  Of course, we know that teachers, especially at the secondary level, are beginning more and more to allow students to use their phones in class for all sorts of great educational apps. 

I decided not only to investigate some of the pros and cons of the various educational uses for smartphones, but also some of the research on the effects of smartphone use (even addiction) on the developing adolescent brain).  We all have students who we know spend hours a day staring at their screen and would rather SnapChat with their friends than hang out in person.  The social lives of modern adolescents are almost unrecognizably different from just a decade ago.  So much of their lives revolves around this technology.  So the main question for my exploration is this: "Are smartphones good for children?" 

While researching I used Pinterest to bookmark and prioritize the resources I found helpful in organizing my thoughts.  Here's my Pinterest board:

It was pretty difficult to find much solid research into this question in part, because it is so general, but also because this is still a pretty new phenomenon.  Teenagers (and even many elementary students) are unwittingly involved in a grand social experiment, and there's no real plan behind it.  We just have to wait and see what happens.  Is smartphone addiction leading to rises in anxiety and depression among teenagers?  Is our captivation with social media stunting our emotional growth?  Some researchers are beginning to look into these questions but there are a lot of factors at play, so for the time being, much of what we know comes down to personal experience and anecdotal evidence.  

For my interview, I spoke to Bridget Fox, a technology coach in my district and a member of the Future-Ready Committee, which works to plan ahead for what tech tools and infrastructure the district needs to be focusing and investing in.  As her day job, Bridget is also a middle school librarian, so she has lots of firsthand experience working directly with students.  She had some great insights into the ways students are using or misusing their phones in school.

Here's my interview:

And here is my final project video, created with Adobe Spark:

Click HERE to view references and image credits.

As you can see, I did not come to any conclusive closure through this project, but I didn't really expect to.  It will be a long time before we have enough hard data to really know how smartphones are affecting children's development (or our own for that matter).  But in the meantime, I think it's important to at least think about these questions as we work through them, especially for parents who are buying smartphones for their children even under the age of ten.  Personally, I can't imagine entrusting a young child with the responsibility of carrying around such an expensive piece of technology, let alone knowing how to use it thoughtfully and carefully.  Young kids see smartphones as glorified toys.  Even for older students, the pitfalls of social media are definitely something to place under some serious consideration before shrugging it off because "all the other kids have them".  If parents could see the way their kids throw around and beat up their phones in school on a regular basis, maybe they'd think twice about dropping hundreds of dollars on them.  

But as I say in the video, smartphones have already taken over, and they're not going away.  So these are issues parents, children, teachers, and people of all ages are going to have to navigate.  It will certainly be interesting to see where we end up. 

References:

Barnwell, P.  (2016, Apr. 27).  "Do smartphones have a place in the classroom?"  The Atlantic.  Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/do-smartphones-have-a-place-in-the-classroom/480231/.

Bergland, C.  (2017, June 25).  "Are smartphones making us stupid?"  Psychology Today.  Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201706/are-smartphones-making-us-stupid.

Bolden, Em. (2018, May 31).  "Do cell phones and devices belong in the classroom?"  LearnSafe.  Retrieved Aug. 1 from https://learnsafe.com/do-cell-phone-and-devices-belong-in-the-classroom/.

Dennis-Tiwary, T.  (2018, July 14).  "Taking away the phones won't solve our teenagers' problems."  The New York Times.  Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/opinion/sunday/smartphone-addiction-teenagers-stress.html.

Doran, L. (2016, May 17).  "1-to-1 laptop initiatives boost student scores, study finds."  Education Week.  Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/05/18/1-to-1-laptop-initiatives-boost-student-scores-study.html.

Room 241.  (2012, Nov. 7).  "Debating the use of digital devices in the classroom."  Retrieved Aug. 1 from https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/pros-and-cons-of-allowing-digital-devices-in-the-classroom/.

Twenge, J.  (2017, Sep.)  "Have smartphones destroyed a generation?"  Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/.