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The questions are:
On the ‘teller’/Inquiry
spectrum I am …
To be successful Inquiry needs to be ...
What are the stages of Inquiry in the
Australian Curriculum: Geography?
What are the stages of Inquiry in the
Australian Curriculum: History?
What are the advantages for learning of the Inquiry
approach?
What are some of the issues to keep in mind when planning an
inquiry approach?
I think there is far too much emphasis on inquiry
approaches in the classroom
Inquiry does not necessarily improve learning.
Why can it be said that Inquiry has the potential to be
abused in the classroom.
Related sites to Humsteach blog
Spatialworlds
Australian Curriculum Portal
GeogSpace
AC History Units
Geogaction
DECD Learning Resources for Australian Curriculum
DECD Achievement Standards Charts
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
Geography Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of Australia
Scoop.it
malcolm.mcinerney@flinders.edu.au
Teacher support for inquiry
In viewing numerous classroom scenarios on inquiry,
we see the principle of inductive reasoning at the center of the
teacher’s approach. Students begin with a source – a cup or a dress and
their thinking and reasoning is guided to begin firstly with the
particular and then branching out to the more general.
Inductive
reasoning means restricting oneself to sources and then formulating
statements based on them. Sources are used as a starting point to
inquiry, - further research will hopefully result from this activity.
The kind of research the students will be carrying out will be inductive as
they will be establishing facts directly referred to by the sources and
they will be making inferences from the sources they are working with
and researching further.
Principle number 1. Start with the particular, move out to the general. Otherwise the opposite of this is deductive reasoning
which consists in passing from the ‘the universal’ to ‘the particular’.
It is less likely that a primary school student will know how to draw
conclusions from certain general truths.
The second principle
that underpins this type of inquiry is active, student centred learning
– but well supported and scaffolded by the teacher. It’s what Webster
calls “light assistance”. Pedagogically speaking the approach is robust –
it sits very much within a context of social constructivism. The
interaction between you and the student is crucial even though you may
think this approach is all about handing over responsibility for
learning to the student. Yes, that’s partly true. Good inquiry
methodology results in the interaction between adult and student guiding
student thinking (From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side).
Teachers have a vital role to play developing effective inquiry learning
which includes initiating good questions to research and to analyse and
to come up with reasoned meaningful conclusions. By promoting active
learning – that is not just doing but thinking-- in classrooms the
learning outcomes are more likely to become intellectually embedded says
Hutchings, “what we discover, we retain”
The third principle
underpinning inquiry learning is the use of open ended questioning,
resulting in deep levels of engagement with problems that are likely to
be multifaceted and complex. Its nature is exploratory (Hutchings,
2007). Hutchings says that the core of inquiry is the question and it is
in the formulation and ‘or the analysis of that question that the
important initial intellectual activity takes place. Philosophically it
is a Socratic based activity - Socratic perception that our knowledge is
formed by questions.
Students participate in acts of
discovery, grappling with different ways of looking at ideas and issues
and thinking creatively about problems that do not necessarily have
simple answers.
The 'Instructional Strategies online' site succinctly sums up inquiry methodology when it says:
Using inquiry, students become actively involved in the learning process as they:
* act upon their curiosity and interests;
* develop questions;
* think their way through controversies or dilemmas;
* look at problems analytically;
* inquire into their preconceptions and what they already know;
* develop, clarify, and test hypotheses; and,
* draw inferences and generate possible solutions.
