"We only think when we are confronted with problems.
John Dewey
"This workshop helped to reinforce some of the things we are doing in the inquiry field and also gave some food for thought regarding next steps.
Musings.
- That some concepts are more efficiently taught by explicit teaching. There is generally some base knowledge that it is just easier to 'tell' the students. I think this fits in with the 'knowledge attack' part where we are actually 'giving' them some base info. One school described this stage as the way we used to 'cover the AO's'. This then gives a base for children to formulate deep, rich inquiry questions. (Viscount School) I feel this type of thing would have enhanced my classes current Inquiry.
- Taking Action. It was mentioned that this is a debated part of some models and that not all inquires need an action, that to communicate what they have learnt is enough. I guess the challenge is to create our model that is flexible enough to accommodate various ways of taking action that work with the unit. Is communicating your new found knowledge not a form of taking action?
My ideas for next steps:
- A schoolwide understanding of our definition of 'Inquiry', so staff and students have a common understanding and can clearly articulate from year 0-8 what inquiry is. Part of this is also using common vocab. This became clear when asking students. They had some understanding but not a clear, consistent understanding across the school.
- A schoolwide model that is collectively understood and I think needs a visual element to help children.
