Ways to Learn Through Inquiry session1

Ways to Learn Through

Inquiry session1

Guiding children to Deeper understanding

JO FAHEYIBO 2012

Inquiry …If inquiry is a natural part of how children learn outside

school, then what does it look like in school settings?

Team discussionPlease, discuss first and share

a sample of Inquiry process which you had experienced

with your children. 5 min

How does Inquiry SOUND ?

Please, share ONE sample from each group

Do you know…..Paradoxically, although educators may recognize that children can be inquiring even if they don’t ask questions (like children in the sandpit who didn’t like the water disappearing), it is easier to recognize questions as inquiry.

Inquiry as a Language acts

Perhaps, because questions are easier to identify, researchers in the past have focused on questions. In so doing, however, they may have mistaken questions for genuie inquiry and overlooked more tentative and exploratory inquiries.

How could we broaden our view of Inquiry?

- from the predominant one of children asking questions?In 1999 Judith Wells Lindfors published her book Children’s Inquiry: Using Language to make sense of the World.

“Language acts” and “ Inquiry utterances”

Lindfor’s description of Inquiry as a Language act, where we hear a child going beyond his or her own

present understanding when engaging with others. If we are to

hear and respond to children’s language acts, we have to listen

in new ways.

Broadening the definition of Inquiry

Please, read a chapter from Making the PYP Happen 2009 and fill an organizer template

Oh , INQUIRY……Inquiry as a problem-posing

and problem solvingInquiry expressed as

“TENSION”Play as a way of inquiry

Creating an environment for Inquiry

So what are the ingredients for environments that are conducive to learning through inquiry?

Guided by adult, children can create a community of inquirers where they:• Bounce ideas off each other• Hear and value other perspectives,

and• Learn from each other in a

classroom setting and beyond.

Creating an environment for InquiryOpportunities to investigate- both

indoors and outdoorsPhysical learning experiences Music and movement experiencesAccessible resources to provoke

students imaginationWork smarter, not harder

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Ways to assess learning through Inquiry

How will we know what we have learnt?

OBSERVATION enables us to:• Build up a clear picture of the children

and their interests• Identify what and how the children are

thinking and learning• Access the effectiveness of the

environment on the children’s learning• Extend the children’s learning

Sociocultural assessment“ from only concentrating on the individual to documenting the interactional sequence between children and between children and their teachers” Marilyn Fleer

Documentation- a holistic way of recording young children’s learning that was pioneered by the educators in Reggio Emilia

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It may include, but not limited to:Transcripts of dialoguesVideoAudioPhotographs and graphic

representations Actively shared with parents and wider

community Learning about how to support your

students best

ConversationBecause young children usually can’t write detailed reflections about their learning, educators also ask them about what they have been involved in, what they have learned and what they would like to do.

Performance assessmentGrant Wiggins refers to performance assessment as “performing with knowledge”These types of assessment can be used in any area-ranging from physical education to music, to oral presentations.We can not help but notice how they are doing when they are performing!

Process-focused assessment

This is an area of assessment where the PYP transdisciplinary skills are particularly in evidence.