Inquiry-Based Learning How It Looks, Sounds and Feels

Introduction Inquiry based learning – Asks questions that come from the Bloom’s Taxonomy – Involves questions that are interesting and motivating – Utilizes a wide variety of resources so students can gather information and form opinions – Has the teacher as the facilitator or guide – Has meaningful products as result of the learning Old Proverb: “Tell me, I forget; Show me, I remember; Involve me, I understand”

Traditional Classroom – Learning focuses on mastery of content – Assessment focused on the importance of one right answer – More concerned with prep for next grade or next test Inquiry Classroom - Information processing and problem solving -Student centered- Teacher facilitator -More emphasis on how we learned not what we learned What is the difference?

Blooms Taxonomy

3. Applying( Can the student use the information in a new way): choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, sketch, solve, use, write. 1. Remembering (Can the student recall or remember information): arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce, state. 2. Understanding (Can the student explain ideas or concepts): classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase. 5. Evaluating (Can the student justify a stand or decision): appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate 6. Creating (Can the student create new product or point of view): assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write. 4. Analyzing (Can the student distinguish between parts): appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.

Teacher as Guide/Facilitator Brief the students on their project Manage the teams interactions to keep them focused Ask probing questions Give them the support they need…not giving answers but asking more questions Forcing them to think…not repeat…

Five Kinds of Questions to Ask

Inference Questions -asks the student to go beyond the immediately available information For example: What conclusions can you draw by looking at the photograph? How did the author feel about the character of the story?

Interpretation Questions -asks the student to predict what consequences may occur as a result of a given scenario -asks students to combine their past knowledge of situations and new information For example You found that Sports Illustrated actually had more tobacco ads than any other magazine we looked at. What does that say about Sports Illustrated? We read and loved two books by Hill. What patterns did you see that you think might be present in the third book?

Transfer Questions -asks the students to take their knowledge and apply it to new situations. - asks the students to expand their thinking. For example: We found many patterns in math today. Now lets look at our Language Arts Lesson on adverbs. Let’s see what patterns we can find there. We learned how to graphic organizer webs from paragraphs in our textbook. Now let’s try going the other way and making webs and then writing a paragraph from it.

Hypothesis Questions -asks the students to predict outcomes and carry out tests to discover new knowledge. - questions are often seen in science, but belong in all disciplines. For example: How can we find out if Energizer batteries really last the longest?

Reflective Questions -asks the students to look again at the beliefs they have and the evidence that supports them -leads students back into investigation. For example: How do we really know that there are no aliens out there? How do we know that the show on TV was telling the truth?

What does this look like for PreK-4? Observation skills- have student use all their senses – How does it smell, feel; what do you hear? Researching skills - using online and book based resources Organizing information (classifying, comparing/constrasting, graphing)

Seeing relationships between two ideas or concepts - How are these leaves we collect the same..different? Reflecting and Reaching Conclusions- what happened, how can we keep it from happening again.