Key Messages

Cultures and Beliefs• Classroom culture sets the tone for

learning and shapes what is learned (Making Thinking Visible, Ron Ritchart and David Perkins, 2008)

• Teachers are integral in developing classroom environments that support thinking, open-mindedness, curiosity, perseverance and engagement. By making the thinking visible teachers perpetuate the inquiry cycle, turning the classroom in a true laboratory of ideas.

What is Inquiry-based learning?

Inquiry is an approach to learning whereby students find and use a variety of sources of information and ideas to increase their understanding of a problem, topic or issue of importance....It espouses investigation, exploration, search, quest, research, pursuit and study. It is enhanced by involvement with a community of learners, each learning from the other in social interaction.

(Kuklthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2007, p. 2)

What is Inquiry-based learning?

Inquiry is about asking questions and expanding understanding...

•Inquiry builds on children’s natural curiosity

•Inquiry allows students to make decisions about their learning - and to take responsibility for it!

•Inquiry leads to the development of higher-order thinking skills

Getting Started with Student Inquiry

Capacity Building Series, 2011

Developing Thinking Skills

• Observing

• Comparing

• Classifying

• Analyzing

• Interpreting

• Predicting

• Theorizing

• Evaluating

Getting Started...

•Prepare yourself, re-read the curriculum and familiarize yourself with the Science concepts and Big Ideas

•Think about materials, outdoor learning environment, science centre, other centres that are ideal for inquiry

Amanda’s Before:“The Voluntelling”

Amanda’s Before:

“The Jumping In”

“The Learning Curve”

Amanda’s “After”Flash Forward: Why I became a believer...

What Does it Look Like and Sound

Like in the Classroom?

Big Ideas•Start with the curriculum, connect the "big ideas" to the questions and interests of your students

Listen•Slow down and listen - give your students time to explore their thinking and wonder with them

Opportunities to Think•Design learning opportunities that encourage students to explore, question, theorize

Inquiry as Integral•Make the inquiry cycle an integral part of your learning environment, this process needs to be experienced

Talk•Talk to students (daily) about what, how and why learning is happening

Where we go next...

• Centres

• Conversations (listening)

• Materials

• Extending time

• Connect to read alouds

• Inter-disciplinary planning

• Creates culture of learning

Features of Inquiry Questions

• Generate deep thinking and value multiple perspectives

• Are something you are genuinely curious and passionate about

• Are worthy and rich enough to study and research

• Are open-ended

• Lead to action, dialogue, reflection

• Incorporate strategies, such as explore, search, observe, question, collaborate

• Are realistic in terms of time, effort, resources

Planning and Assessing

Planning• Look at the Overall

Expectations in the curriculum

• Pull out “big ideas”

• Talk to your students and make note of what they are thinking and wondering about

• Note common themes and/or misconceptions in student conversations

• Offer relevant, exploratory opportunities

• Discuss recent learning and observations as a class

• Find components of your day where you can incorporate inquiry (e.g., morning meeting, literacy stations, reader’s workshop, science, social studies)

Graphic Organizers

• Does it include open-ended questions?

• Does it offer opportunities for reasoning and explanation?

• Does it include writing and drawing components?

When creating (or looking for) a graphic organizer, consider:

Graphic Organizers

Resources• Are you Listening? by Lisa Burman

• Creating Classrooms for Aurhors and Inquirers by Kathy G. Short, Jerome C. Harste and Carolyn Burke

• Natural Curiosity

• Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years by Judy Harris Helm and Lillian Katz

• Tools to Enhance Thinking by Angela K Salmon, Young Children, September 2010

• Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchart and David Perkins, Educational Leadership, Association for Curriculum Development, February 2008

Planning Time

Work with your long range plans, dayplan, inquiry questions, outlines...

What is the one step you will begin with?

How can you tweak your plans to incorporate inquiry?