How my thoughts on inquiry based learning has changed this week

This week I really got to think about the 5 E model and how all the E's work together to make a strong Inquiry-based lesson. I also had fun thinking about what types of technology I wanted to add to my lesson. 

I used different technology for each E in my lesson.

This is copied directly from my website: 

Technology in Engage:

• Padlet: Students post predictions + initial ideas. Padlet Link

• Edpuzzle: Bridge Types Video to spark curiosity. Edpuzzle Link

Technology in Explore:

• Google Sheets for students to chart load-test data

• Padlet for photo uploads and station notes:  Padlet Link

• Quizlet Investigable Question Sets:    Quizlet Join Activity       Flash Cards

Technology in Explain:

• Canva or Google Slides for labeled diagrams

• Edpuzzle clips reviewing beam vs. truss design. Edpuzzle Link

Technology in Elaborate:

• Tinkercad for digital redesign

• Padlet for Version 1 vs. Version 2 comparison images. Padlet Link

Technology in Evaluate:

• Google Sheets for final data table

• Google Slides Engineering Report

• Padlet peer review or comments. Padlet Link

Creating a Web 2.0 tool for each E was more helpful than I expected. Instead of choosing tools randomly, I had to think how I could use each technology tool strategically at each step. Using a Padlet and Edpuzzle for the Engage step felt like a great way to start out my lesson and get buy-in from my students. Quizlet in the Explore step felt like a good way to help students learn the concepts of investigable and non-investigable questions. Having students create a labeled diagram in Explain felt like a real-world application of bridge design. Then during the Elaborate step having students use TinkerCad to modify and change their bridge designs sounds like a good use of technology. Though I learned about another bridge building tech tool in the class discussion,

West Point Bridge Builder

West Point Bridge Builder
simulation software. So when I use this lesson with students I might change the Elaboration Step to use West Point Bridge builder instead. Finally, I like to have a real-life competition for the strongest bridge and then use some technology in the the final presentation about the bridge each group made. 

I also found myself thinking more deeply about how I would know whether students truly understood concepts. This led me to embed more meaningful formative assessments throughout, not just quizzes, but observations, diagrams, redesign decisions, and reflections.

I learned about new Web 2.0 tools.

During the class discussion I learned about some other web tools that I have used briefly or not at all. 

Goosechase: What I love about Goosechase is that it takes the idea of a scavenger hunt and
turns it into a learning experience. I think I used it a few times with students during Covid, but not since then. It feels a lot more engaging than sitting down for a test. It's a novel way to assess students and it allows students to use their creativity. It feels like Goosechase could be used in a variety of subjects. Students could solve math problems and post pictures of the answers or go outside and look for evidence of erosion. 

Floop: I never heard of Floop before.  It is a place where students can get valuable feedback about what they are doing in class. I like how students can give Feedback on their peers' work anonymously. Additionally, it can be integrated in Google classroom, Canva and Clever. 

Flippity: I like how you can make flashcards to study things, but also make a game show(similar to Jeopardy) for students to compete against each other. I find that students enjoy when you can gamify the review process. There's actually a lot more on the Flippity website like crossword puzzles, breakout rooms and other review games for students. 

What Has Changed for Me This Week

During this past week I have realized that the 5E model is not about following each step in order, but instead about giving students a framework for thinking. Inquiry-based learning isn’t about letting students discover everything on their own. Instead it is about guiding students' thinking and giving them language to explain what they learned. The 5E model is all about guiding students to have a conceptual understanding about what they are learning. 

My Questions

1. How do teachers realistically implement the 5E model when they have demands for time and to keep on pace with the curriculum. 

2. As an ESL teacher as well, how can multilingual learners use the specific academic language more confidently during the explain and evaluate phases?
   
   

References

BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study). (2006). The BSCS 5E instructional model: Origins and effectiveness. BSCS.

How My Thinking About Inquiry-Based Learning Has Grown

How My Thinking About

Inquiry-Based Learning Has Grown

Over the past few weeks, I’ve worked through Units 4 and 5. During those units I have learned about sorting facts and concepts, analyzing investigable vs. non-investigable questions, exploring state standards, and integrating Web 2.0 tools. 

Facts Vs. Concepts

At first, I thought identifying facts and concepts would be simple and straightforward. Sorting the cards challenged me more than I expected. I found myself second guessing whether something like “Living things are diverse” was a fact or a concept, and realizing that depending on how it’s defended, it could be either.

This was the overall lesson for me: 

Facts are important, but concepts connect those facts and give them meaning. Without concepts, inquiry becomes random. Without facts, inquiry becomes shallow. 

Inquiry-Based Learning: How My Thinking Has Grown

Inquiry-Based Learning: How My Thinking Has Grown

Over the past few weeks, my understanding of inquiry based learning has continued to shift and deepen. Honestly my understanding has become a lot more grounded in what real classrooms look like. When I wrote my first blog post, I was just beginning to understand that inquiry isn’t simply “hands-on learning.” I knew it was more intentional, more reflective, and more student-centered than I originally thought. Since then, after diving into the case studies and reading more about content knowledge and process skills, my thinking has sharpened in a few important ways.

Inquiry Is Not One Thing

One of the biggest insights I’ve gained is that inquiry doesn’t look the same in every classroom. The case studies made that really clear. Classroom One was almost entirely student-directed, while Classroom Two was heavily teacher-directed, and Classroom Three fell somewhere in between. Seeing those examples helped me understand that inquiry can be flexible depending on the lesson goals, the students, and the content.

Before, I had a more “all or nothing” mindset—either it was inquiry, or it wasn’t. Now I realize that teachers can purposefully choose when to guide, when to share the lead, and when to let students take over. That actually makes inquiry feel much more doable, especially when balancing curriculum expectations.

Process Skills and Content Knowledge Work Together

Another new understanding is how tightly process skills and content knowledge are connected. In my Unit 2 work, I learned that process skills are not something extra we try to sprinkle in; they’re the foundation of deeper thinking. Students don’t just “learn content” in social studies or science; they use inquiry such as making predictions, asking questions, analyzing data, and constructing explanations.

This helped me rethink my earlier worry that inquiry might take away time from teaching standards. Now I see that inquiry is how students make standards meaningful. When students explore, discuss, analyze, and reflect, they’re not avoiding content; on the other hand they’re engaging with it more deeply.

Inquiry Isn’t Chaos

A major change in my perspective came from looking closely at the case studies. In Classroom One, students were completely in charge, but the teacher still had a purpose and direction behind the scenes. That helped me understand something I was struggling with earlier: inquiry isn’t the teacher stepping back and hoping everything works out. It’s the teacher creating conditions where student thinking can unfold.

This connects to Donovan & Bransford’s (2005) point about tapping into students’ background knowledge before moving forward. Inquiry takes intention, planning, and knowing where students are starting from. It’s not “hands off” teaching, it’s teaching that listens before it acts.

Curiosity Really Is the Heart of Learning

One idea that keeps coming back in everything I’ve read is that curiosity is not something extra, it’s central to how learning actually happens. Wolpert-Gawron (2016) emphasized that good inquiry isn’t just asking questions, but asking the right questions that push thinking forward. Over the past few weeks, I’ve started to see curiosity almost as a skill we help students build, not just a personality trait that some students have and others don’t.

What Has Changed for Me

If I compare my thinking now to a few weeks ago, here’s the biggest shift:

• I used to think inquiry was something you “do” a couple times during a unit.
• Now I see it as a mindset and a way of approaching learning. 
• Inquiry can live inside small moments; like asking a more open-ended questions.  
• It doesn’t have to be a huge project to be meaningful.

My Questions Moving Forward

Even though my understanding has grown, I still have some questions that I don’t think have an easy answer:

• How can teachers realistically balance inquiry with the pressure of standards, pacing guides, and state assessments?
  I’m starting to see how inquiry and standards can work together, but I still feel the tension in real classrooms.

• How do I support students who struggle with open-ended tasks? I don't want to shift back to teacher directed learning as a response. 

• How can I use inquiry learning in subjects that are dense or even abstract like social studies?

• How can I trust the process and step back and allow inquiry to unfold?

Even though I have these question, I feel more prepared to implement inquiry based learning with my students. These past few weeks have shown me that inquiry is about giving students meaningful opportunities to think, question, explore, and make sense of the world. An inquiry based classroom feels exactly like the kind of classroom I want to build.

Inquiry-based learning video if you want to learn more!

References

Battelle for Kids. (2019). P21 resources. https://www.battelleforkids.org/insights/p21-resources/

BSCS. (2006). Why does inquiry matter? Secondary classroom case studies: Teaching science as inquiry. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.

Conley, D. T. (2003). Understanding university success. Center for Educational Policy Research.

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

Life Science Institute. (2011). Indicators of development of process skills.

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

Spencer, J. (2017, December 5). What is inquiry-based learning? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlwkerwaV2E

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