MODULE 1 - INITIAL POST

   

BON VOYAGE.........

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This blog represents required work for my university unit Inquiry Learning which is part of the Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) Degree.  The unit covers the topics Information-learningtheories; Information-learning pedagogy; Information environments; and Teaching as inquiry. The purpose of this unit is to gain an understanding of Inquiry Learning and to be able to develop an inquiry learning framework to teach within.  To do this I will  research Inquiry Learning whilst developing research skills and using a variety of research programs.  I will also observe an Inquiry Learning activity or unit being taught and teach one myself.  I will then evaluate and offer a critical reflection based on the relevant learning outcomes.  This blog will reflect and document all of this.  This is also my first attempt at blogging.

 

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    KWHLAQ

• What do I know?
• What do I want to know?
• How do I find out?
• What have I learned?
• What action will I take?
• What new questions do I have?   ( Barell 2007 p. 6, Barell 2008 p. 72)

• In regard to Inquiry Learning I know a few things, knowledge that has been accumulated over my teaching career.  For example,Inquiry Learning aims to be student centred and not driven by the teacher to get a desired outcome.  Inquiry Learning usually contains a 'big question' preferably at the beginning of any unit of work.  This is an attempt to produce a teaching unit or process that does not just give information and ask students to regurgitate facts but perhaps think laterally and achieve a greater depth of knowledge on the subject at hand.   To foster a love of learning and students to become lifelong learners if more important than the retention of facts.  As Kuhlthau (2008) states, "Because students cannot possibly learn all of the content that is known, learning how to learn and understanding one's own learning process are more important than ever before,"

• I have also learnt that Inquiry Learning as a pedagogy is elusive and any unit of work can quickly move away from open learning where students are thinking laterally about the topic and become the standard  "research, cut and paste, present ' type of finished product. This is usually due to our overcrowded curriculum and the increasingly difficult time constraints put on educators.

• What do I want to know about Inquiry Learning?  I would like to learn how to make it work better in the classroom.  How to maintain that initial surge of enthusiasm (more the teachers than the students) at the start of a new topic. What is at the heart of Inquiry Learning that sets it apart from another teaching pedagogy?  I also want to learn better research techniques and how to give these techniques to students as I believe good research skills go hand in hand with Inquiry Learning.

• After a Google search I found the Early Childhood of Australia website citing its publication 'Every Child' magazine, VOL. 18 NO. 2 2012, states that Inquiry Learning is 'deep learning'.  The article describes learning environments in which a child implements his own learning and is able to develop a deeper learning by taking ownership of the direction the learning will take.

• Question 1 then:   is Inquiry Learning more realistically managed and more successful in an early childhood environment where the time constraints of the curriculum or program may not be as intense?

• On Neil Stephenson's website titled ' Introduction to Inquiry Based Learning', he states,"The power of an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning is its potential to increase intellectual engagement and foster deep understanding ............. striving to provide opportunities for both teachers and students to collaboratively build, test and reflect on their learning." (http://www.teachinquiry.com//)

• The word deep is mentioned in this quote also and reference is made to collaboration, building and reflection.  Question 2 then:  Is the 'new' Australian Curriculum, the overcrowded curriculum as it is referred to, a genuine block to Inquiry Learning in our classrooms as time constraints do not allow for the meandering of enquiring minds?

What is Inquiry Based Learning? (hyperlink)  This link will document and explain the diagram below:

• Question:  Does Inquiry Learning lend itself to planning across grades within a school context?

Kuhlthau, C.; Maniotes, L. and Caspari, A, (2012). Chapter 1 : Guided Inquiry Design: The Process, the Learning, and the Team. In Kuhlthau, C.; Maniotes, L. and Caspari, A, Guided inquiry design : a framework for inquiry in your school, (pp.1 – 15). Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited.

Early Childhood Australia,. (2014). Inquiry learning is deep learning (free article) - Early Childhood Australia. Retrieved 10 August 2014, from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/every-child-magazine/every-child-index/every-child-vol-18-2-2012/inquiry-learning-deep-learning-free-article/

Teachinquiry.com,. (2014). Introduction. Retrieved 10 August 2014, from http://www.teachinquiry.com/index/Introduction.

Inquirylearn.com,. (2014). What is Inquiry-based Learning?. Retrieved 10 August 2014, from http://www.inquirylearn.com/Inquirydef.htm