Having just started in a new position as a Year 5 classroom teacher, I was attempting to set the scene for our class Inquiry. We had already done collaborative brainstorms of what they already knew and looked collectively at the provocative question. However, before we delved further into the topic, I wanted to introduce the students to some different methods of inquiry. I told them different inquiry questions are best suited to different inquiry methodology. For instance, "What types of inquiries would best fit Ask an Expert and which might be best solved by Designing an Experiment?"
Initially I gave a group of 2-3 students a poster of an inquiry method (I have 10 posters), and asked them to brainstorm the types of inquiries that might suit that methodology. They found this extremely hard. They tended to ignore the method altogether and just collect facts about water to share with the class. I kept struggling to move past this. I wanted to students to understand that inquiry was not a product. It was not the answer. Rather that it was process that is centered around a question. They were having so much trouble just articulating questions, that after 2 weeks of inquiry lessons that were going nowhere, I finally removed the method posters. Instead I asked the simple question, "What do you want to know about water or about anything related to water?"
With a collection of questions I then collated these to match the posters and then added a bunch of inquiry questions of my own so that we had a large pool of 80 inquiry questions, spread out among the methods. Finally I returned the method posters. As we all sat in a circle with the posters evenly spaced, I read out each inquiry question. Students claimed the question for their poster if they believed it fit their method. If more than one student claimed it, they needed to justify their reasoning and the best justification won it. The students began to truly understand how different each method was and they became quite possessive of inquiries suited to their particular methodology.
Initially I gave a group of 2-3 students a poster of an inquiry method (I have 10 posters), and asked them to brainstorm the types of inquiries that might suit that methodology. They found this extremely hard. They tended to ignore the method altogether and just collect facts about water to share with the class. I kept struggling to move past this. I wanted to students to understand that inquiry was not a product. It was not the answer. Rather that it was process that is centered around a question. They were having so much trouble just articulating questions, that after 2 weeks of inquiry lessons that were going nowhere, I finally removed the method posters. Instead I asked the simple question, "What do you want to know about water or about anything related to water?"
With a collection of questions I then collated these to match the posters and then added a bunch of inquiry questions of my own so that we had a large pool of 80 inquiry questions, spread out among the methods. Finally I returned the method posters. As we all sat in a circle with the posters evenly spaced, I read out each inquiry question. Students claimed the question for their poster if they believed it fit their method. If more than one student claimed it, they needed to justify their reasoning and the best justification won it. The students began to truly understand how different each method was and they became quite possessive of inquiries suited to their particular methodology.
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PTC 6 - conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme
PTC 8 - demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn.
PTC 9 - modify teaching approaches to address the needs of individuals and groups of ākonga
PTC 12 - use critical inquiry and problem-solving eectively in their professional practice
PTC 8 - demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn.
PTC 9 - modify teaching approaches to address the needs of individuals and groups of ākonga
PTC 12 - use critical inquiry and problem-solving eectively in their professional practice
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