Waikaka Schools’ Inquiry Journey By Kim Scott

My History I have been teaching for 22 years. Four of them as a teacher, eighteen years either as a D.P. or Principal. I have worked as D.P. in one school and as a Principal in five schools. In January 2008 I went from being the Project Director to the fulltime Facilitator of the G.R.I.T.S. (Gore Rural Information Technology Schools) Cluster of fourteen schools. I have been passionate about Inquiry for over ten years and the turning point for me was working with Kath Murdoch in Melbourne in I started as a Lane Clarke convert, moved to working with Kath and have now developed my own thinking on Integrated Inquiry for NZ.

Our Journey For you to have an understanding of how my assessment strategy fits together you need to first have a little background of the process we have gone through as schools. I first trialed this process at Poolburn School in Central Otago and then at Waikaka in Eastern Southland so thank you to the teachers who helped me to develop this further. Below is a quick preview of our journey to get through to the assessment stage. There were many mistakes and lots of rethinking to get us there (wherever that is….) If you can answer the seven questions then you are ready to tackle the area of assessment …

Question 1: How does Inquiry fit within your school’s vision and values? At Waikaka it fits here

Question 2: What is “Inquiry” at your place? At Waikaka, our definition is: Integrated inquiry is an approach that requires students to actively investigate significant questions/issues/ideas about the ‘way the world works’. It invites students to construct understandings through rich and strategic learning experiences. There is a deliberate effort on the teacher’s part to integrate ways of perceiving, processing and communicating ideas. Through integrated inquiry students are encouraged to learn about learning and to develop the skills and strategies needed for investigating, communicating and applying understanding.

Question 3: What does that mean for your teachers? For us that means: Our Core Teaching Belief (No 3) states that “Learning experiences should be powerful, focused, memorable and enjoyable. Children need to love learning and see its purpose.” Each unit therefore aims to: Guide students towards deeper understandings as well as SLO’s based upon our curriculum Give students skills and strategies that they can transfer to other learning situations and contexts Help students learn how to learn Provide a high level of intellectual engagement and challenge Promote further inquiry, investigation and questioning Create a context for creating teaching across the curriculum Provide opportunities for students to do something real/authentic with their learning ie taking action Explore ethics and values Promote high levels of critical thinking Develop students’ ability to collaborate effectively with others (Learning to learn – teamwork) Encourage independent and reflective learners Make connections with our local and global community Foster enthusiasm for and confidence in learning

Question 4: What system or structure will you use, that suit you best? Our choice was Kath Murdoch’s approach to inquiry learning, which is a five step approach designed to match a natural process of inquiry: Step One: Tuning In What they know, what questions they have, Baseline information that is needed Step Two: Finding Out Taking students beyond the known, challenge ideas, beliefs and values, collect new information. Step Three: Sorting Out Sort out and present information, MI and Graphic Organiser use, develop shared outcomes Step Four: Going Further Extend or broaden ideas, investigate other areas, draw conclusions and make connections. Step Five: Reflecting and Taking Action Identify changes in their skills, knowledge and values and the implications ie personal actions, making choices or applying their ideas – reflection!

We have since created our own Inquiry process: * The children couldn’t remember the stages before * This helped us make it our own

Question 5: How do you select your inquiries? At Waikaka we select ours by: The decisions on theme choice is shared between the students, staff and parents (surveyed in November as part of the school self review process) - Topics – Content based, knowledge driven e.g. Medieval Times, Frogs, Vehicles etc - Concept – more abstract, multi-disiplinary e.g. structures, conflict, cycles, change, systems - Problem – more topical, real issues e.g. pollution in our stream, gangs – why people need to belong, rubbish – what to do with it? Learning to Learn Unit – always the first four weeks of each year. Odd Year – Personal, Even Year – Team (They are trialling using an overarching concept for all inquiries over a year to see whether they can get further depth of understanding)

Question 6: How do you plan your inquiries? TUNING IN PurposeGuiding Questions Learning and Teaching Strategies and Tools (including ICT) Planning •  To engage students in the topic •  To gauge students interest and attitudes •  To find out what students believe (understandings and misconceptions) •  To provide opportunities for students to share what they already know and believe •  To introduce/clarify language •  To identify gaps in their knowledge and misconceptions •  To assist with teacher planning of the unit •  What activities might stimulate the students’ interest and emotions in exploring the targeted understandings? •  What might motivate and challenge students? •  Display understandings in class •  What do the students already know about the topic? •  What questions do students have? •  What ideas do students have about finding out answers to their questions? •  What resources do the students have access to? Brain blooming Possible sentences Pictures – shared writing Brainstorming Bundling Concept Web Sentence Starters Topic Wheel KWL Donut Pretest Keys Inspiration Word Digital Camera PowerPoint Internet Key Competencies

Question 6: How will you show what you have covered in your inquiries? Key Competencies Major Inquiries Our StreamMedieval TimesFood Glorious Food From Here to There Managing Self Relating to Others Participating & Contributing Thinking Using Language, Symbols & texts

Question 7: What skills and strategies do your children need to get a greater depth of understanding from their inquiries? At Waikaka, we needed to create a research process for our students to use as a scaffold during their inquiries. This is a six step research process which includes: Six Step Plan for Lifelong Learning Define the task Locate resources Select Information Organise Information Present Information Assess “ Today’s children are tomorrows leaders, how do we want them to approach their life?”