Inquiring About Inquiry

I am quickly exhausting my sense of silly and my verbose vocabulary. I have been at it all evening - first with Wedding Shower/Social Chatter, then with my Environmental Science Report, then with my Extra Blog Post, and now with my REAL blog post. Aiiiiggggh.


I suppose I will just get to it then, and write a little (okay, so it turned out to be not so little) blurb about:

1. Sneezing Cats (note: this was not initially included in this list)
2. Inquiry-Based Learning in General
3. Inquiry and John Finch 
4. Environmental Science: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Learning

1. SNEEZING CATS

As I was writing the title of this particular segment, I happened to sneeze. Because I happened to sneeze, Benni (my female cat) did her weird little meow-chatter (you know - or, maybe you don't - the noise cats make when they are perched in front of a window watching birds) and plonked down into my lap. This is what she does whenever someone sneezes. It's weird. Her paws are inhibiting my ability to type on my keyboard. And I thought I was going to be able to get this done quickly.

2. INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING IN GENERAL

Okay, inquiry-based learning. This is, basically, the type of learning that occurs in classrooms where students are able to choose topics that interest them, or that they would like to learn more about, and where the teacher acts as a facilitator of learning, rather than the all-knowing-one, and where students are able to use resources within the school to figure out answers to their questions and problems all by themselves, and where principals and teachers and students realize that is it not the content that matters, but, rather, the skills that are used to acquire this content. Yes, I am an English major. Yes, I realize that this was an atrociously long and awkward sentence. But this is MY blog, and so if I desire to write in lengthy, complex sentences that reflect my stream of consciousness, I will certainly do so.

As you have probably gathered based on the tone with which I used to describe inquiry-based learning, I really like it. In fact, I like it so much that I plan to use it as the foundation of my classroom instruction when I grow up and become a real, live teacher in the next few months (fingers crossed). I believe that this type of learning is the most effective, because students are far more likely to commit information to long-term memory if it is 1) interesting to them, and if they 2) went out and gathered it themselves. This type of learning is relevant because 1) students have unlimited access to Google and other resources of that nature, which allows them to search up anything, anywhere, anytime, rendering much (but not all) of specific content covered in the curriculum redundant, so 2) the acquisition of digital citizenship, research, social, organizational, reasoning, critical thinking, and literacy (both print and new media) skills are crucial for success in the world we live in today. 

3. INQUIRY AND JOHN FINCH

The reason why I bring this up in my I4Ed blog, is that a couple classes ago, John Finch came to our classroom to speak with us about technology within the school system, and copyright laws. Quickly (and I may have had something to do with this), the topic of discussion changed, and John became a valuable resource in my own inquiry-based learning about inquiry-based learning. I brought forth both my ideas (see above) and concerns about inquiry, and John did an excellent job of reinforcing my ideas, and combatting my concerns. He assured me that while the road to an inquiry-based classroom is not a smooth one (since it is radically different from traditional classrooms, and on the part of both teachers and students within the current school system, it will take some getting used to), it is one worth following. 

4. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: AN INQUIRY-BASED APPROACH TO LEARNING

I am, once again, going to stretch the connection between this blog post and I4Ed, but I really want to mention the inquiry-based learning I am doing as a student within Chris Beeman's Environmental Sciences course. I am so very glad that I decided to re-adjust my schedule to include this course, because it has been phenomenal to be able to immerse myself in the kind of inquiry-based, experiential learning that I plan on facilitating with my own students in the future. In Environmental Science, we (the students) come up with both the topics and questions we wish to study, and the methods (always activity-based) by which we wish to study them. Chris acts as guide within the classroom, providing additional supports (such as valuable and relevant readings, and ideas based on his own knowledge) and keeping us on track, but the real learning is driven by us. To put this course into perspective, I will provide an example: 

Some of us were interested in learning about the science behind skating, so two of us paired up and took the lead on organizing a trip to the Brandon skating oval in order to gain some information through experiential learning. Prior to our trip, we created a Google Doc., and each person from our class recorded some questions they had about skating (Eg. What role does friction play in skating?  Why is metal the best type of material for skating? How many calories does one hour of skating burn?). After out trip to the oval, we answered the questions we were able to answer by actually going out and having the experience. Then, we collaborated to answer the rest by researching them using online resources. Afterwards, the activity leaders compiled a report, and we all gathered together in class to discuss what we learned, how we learned it, and what we would do next time to further our learning. 

I am thankful that I am finally able to have a direct experience with inquiry-based learning, since within my years of schooling, these experiences were few and far-between (except, notably, during the Connections Fair at Boissevain School). I have retained so much more information from my Environmental Studies class than in most others, because I am actually going out and finding the answers myself.

I have typed FAR too much... My goodness, nobody is going to want to read and comment on my blog postings! I must stop typing immediately... well almost... first, I will leave you with this: 

Last week Chris introduced us to a fantastic document called Natural Curiosity, which explores outdoor inquiry-based learning. It is available as a free PDF on the Natural Curiosity website (click here for link). 

Thanks for sticking this out 'til the end!