Seven Weeks with Inquiry-Based Learning

Image courtesy of Discovery Education

My learning over these past seven weeks with Inquiry-Based Learning has been quite an adventure.  At first, coming from the perspective of a language arts teacher, I was wondering how my content fit with inquiry.  Inquiry seemed like a science- or math-related field. Even social studies was getting in on the action. I struggled at first to see the connection to language arts.

My Inquiry In a very serendipitous way, I discovered that my personal inquiry for Inquiry-Based Learning was “How does Inquiry-Based Learning support a language arts classroom?” or in other words “How does Inquiry-Based Learning look in a language arts classroom?”  I was very curious about this topic, so everything that I found each week was seen through this lens of language arts. I discovered that there are many connections and ways to implement Inquiry-Based Learning in a language arts classroom. I just needed to connect with my curiosity.

Trekking through the red woods.
(Image courtesy of Discovery Education)

Breaking Through The first major breakthrough I had involved my thinking about how I might use inquiry as the vehicle for learning in one of my current units.  The Novel Study seemed like a natural fit because students are exploring a novel of their choice, and their pathway of discovery is very organic and unique to the individuals reading each book.  Re-imagining the Novel Study Unit as an Inquiry-Based Learning Unit was a huge paradigm shift for me. Now I had a basis and an application area for all the Inquiry-Based strategies I was learning.

There are many lessons I will take away from this course.  For one, I have developed a deeper appreciation for reflective writing.  I suppose I did not value reflective writing as a high-level academic writing assignment, so I dismissed it.  Now, I see that having students write them regularly has many benefits. For starters, students will begin to develop a ‘meta-cognition’ or a thinking about thinking.  They start to consider their beliefs and perceptions, and approach them skeptically. Do their initial thoughts hold up under scrutiny, or are their beliefs perhaps based on a lack of knowledge?  Students develop an analytical mind to help them dissect their own thinking and therefore allow themselves to become smart evaluators of outside thought. This can have a developmental effect as well, as students establish empathy for the thoughts of others by looking at themselves.  Furthermore, these reflective writings function as formative assessments for the instructor. I can read the students’ blogs or other reflective assignments like Exit Tickets to get a glimpse at their thought process. This data can help guide my decisions going forward: Should I speed up or slow down?  Should I explain this topic differently? What misconceptions still remain?

Young woman sprinting through winners tape in stadium
Image courtesy of Discovery Education

Conclusion In all honesty, during the early weeks of this class, I found little connection with Inquiry-Based Learning, but perhaps that was because I was not looking hard enough.  Upon closer inspection and attempts at application to language arts, I found that this approach to learning is not limited to just math and science. I have come to more strongly appreciate this method of teaching.  I see it, along with Project-Based Learning, as the best chance to encourage lifelong learning and dispel boredom in the classroom forever!