Inquiry Based Learning: Growing My Understanding

During the past week I have deepened my understanding of inquiry based learning and it has changed how I see my role as an educator. Before learning more about inquiry based learning I thought it meant letting students explore freely and giving them hands on activities to do. I knew there had to be more to it, but I wasn't exactly sure what. Now I know that inquiry based learning is intentional where the educator guides students to ask meaningful questions, explore ideas, and build understanding with reflection and evidence. 

The National Research Council (Donovan & Bransford, 2005) reminded me that student's background knowledge is really important. If students do not have new content connected with their background knowledge new learning often doesn’t "stick."  That really made me reflect on my own teaching and How I will sometimes want to jump right into new content with my students. I get excited about the lesson and I just assume students are ready for the next lesson. This reading helped me by reminding me to slow down and first find out what students already know and what they believe. Once I know those things then I can help construct their new understandings through questioning and discovery. 

Heather Wolpert-Gawron’s article, What the Heck Is Inquiry-Based Learning? (2016), helped me understand inquiry more fully, inquiry is not just asking questions. Instead inquiry is all about asking the right questions that push thinking forward. The author's point can be summarized simply by saying curiosity matters. That made a lot of sense to me because when I think about my own life long learning I think the heart of that is curiosity. Curiosity is the heart of learning, not a silly distraction. 

I also read Getting Started with Student Inquiry (2011), which talks about the steps teachers can take to gradually release responsibility to students as they become more confident learners. It really lays out the steps that inquiry is not a chaotic process. The teacher's role shifts from directing the learning to facilitating the learning. I now view inquiry as process of scaffolding curiosity so students can take ownership of their learning journey. 

One thing that really stuck out to me from the readings was “all hands-on is not inquiry, and all inquiry is not hands-on” (Donovan & Bransford, 2005).  I used to think inquiry meant projects and experiments, but not I see that inquiry can be those things and also deeply reflective and discussion based. For example, students might read a case study, critique explanations, or reflect on their understanding. All of these things are parts of inquiry based learning. 

One of the biggest things as an educator learning about inquiry based learning is how the role of the teacher shifts. The role of the teacher is not to sit back and let chaos ensue, instead it is to provide conditions for students to discover answers. The teacher's role is to model being a curious learner besides students and to model what to do when you don't know the answer to your questions. For me, Inquiry based learning means that my role is that of a facilitator of learning as opposed to the all knowing teacher imparting knowledge to my students. 

Now, Inquiry based learning sounds like it can really help students develop the skills they need to be lifelong learners. Now my only pause or concern is that there are so many curriculum expectations and state assessments that I have to do with my students. I guess my question really is, "How can I give my students voice and choice while meeting the standards I need to cover in class?" I guess I'm starting to see that inquiry is mindset that can be an integral part of everything I teach. Inquiry is not some separate thing that we do for one lesson and then put it on the shelf until next week. 

This week has helped me see that inquiry based learning is a partnership between teachers and students where teachers facilitate and guide the learning. The goal of inquiry based learning is curiosity, reflection and realizing that the process of learning is just as important as the outcome of learning. 

References

Donovan, M. S., & Bransford, J. D. (2005). How students learn: History in the classroom (pp. 1–2). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2011). Getting started with student inquiry (Capacity Building Series). https://www.onted.ca/monographs/capacity-building-series/getting-started-with-student-inquiry

Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2016, April 25). What the heck is inquiry-based learning? Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-heck-inquiry-based-learning-heather-wolpert-gawron

PBL + Technology Through the Lens of SAMR (And Why STEM/STEAM Matters)

 PBL + Technology Through the Lens of SAMR

One of the challenges in education today is how to meaningfully integrate technology so it doesn’t feel added on, but truly amplifies learning. Project-Based Learning (PBL) and technology work together with the SAMR model to show how technology can evolve from simple substitution to transformation. When we add STEM or STEAM to the mix, the connection becomes even richer—because STEM/STEAM inherently demands integration, inquiry, repetition and real-world application.

In what follows, I’ll unpack how PBL and technology connect via SAMR, paying particular attention to student voice and choice and higher-order thinking. Then I’ll show how a STEM/STEAM mindset strengthens those connections.