Tuning In

• The contexts of inquiry-based learning (IBL) is set within: school, the outside world, university.

Benefits

• Allows for a greater understanding of what the student is learning and why
• Can be utilised in every class regardless of subject and still remain beneficial
• Students share the responsibility of their learning
• Allows for students to develop their communicative skills with their peers and learn more through their discussions
• Gives students the skills to ask questions that aid their understanding

Challenges

• Teachers are not as prominent in an IBL classroom as the emphasis is more on student learning
• Not all students are confident within themselves to ask the questions that they raising in their minds
• Students who don’t have a good knowledge base of a particular subject may struggle to ask questions

Experience

A IBL environment is not something that I have much experience in. During my years at school, I did not have the opportunity to find myself present in a class that was focused on this approach.

Reflection

Having learned about IBL during my early experiences with the module, I regret not having a chance to be a part of this approach to learning. This is because I always have a natural curiosity towards the information that I am learning and usually found — and still do to lecturers at uni to this day — myself staying behind after classes to ask questions to help my understanding of topics without feeling like I am hijacking a lesson or taking up too much time.

I am excited at the thought of being present in an IBL classroom as I believe it is a very interesting prospect and look forward to experiencing this change of pace from what I have before. Having a class catered to students’ own inquiring has the potential to fill the gaps of what I had previously felt was present in the traditional sense of teaching and look forward to having the privilege of attending.

Professional Practice Experiences

Although I did not see an active IBL class in action, I saw aspects of this from my own lessons. It must be noted that I was responsible for a P4 class, therefore their learning was not of the utmost level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. However, when delivering a class on their new topic, based on Australia, I found that their curiosity levels were very high and that they asked a lot of questions based on their interest. We had a lot of discussions before tasks and when it came time for marking, I found that a lot of pupils in the class took on the ideas of their peers having obviously been inspired from them.

 

Finding Out

• What happens when a class do not engage in discussion?
• What happens when the teacher is not sure of the answer to a question?
• Are young children capable of this kind of thinking?
• Can a teacher turn all their classes into an IBL class?
• Can a teacher reject a proposal from their students?

 

Sorting Out

Helping your Pupils to Think for Themselves – Wilson, J. and Murdoch, K.

Question: Are young children capable of this kind of thinking?

Sentence: “When working with young pupils, it is particularly important to locate [making their thinking ‘visible] teaching withi the context of pupils’ everyday experiences. For example, an argument in the playground can be sorted out using de Bono’s hates (‘We need to put on our red hat to think about how we are feeling…’) and responses to picture storybooks can be deliberately geared around thinking strategies (‘Let’s try and be empathic thinkers – what do you think the ugly sisters would be thinking right now?’)

Phrase: “illustrate their capacity”

Word: “observations”

 

Making Conclusions

• Why isn’t IBL more prominent in classes?
• Why are pupils asking relevant questions sometimes downplayed?

 

Taking Action

Having learned what I have so far about IBL, I am very curious to utilise in my future classrooms. Additionally, I am very excited at the prospect of rolling it out in a younger class having previously been turned off at the idea of using it with an age range that I had been dismissive of before. Having read the abstract above, I now see the benefit of doing so. I was fortunate to see how all ages of school learners have so much potential for learning and how even at that young age, they still have a very curious mind.

 

IB1 Reflection

I used to think… that primary school-level kids were oblivious to a lot of the world around them. I associate this due to the memory of myself at that age and how I was essentially in my own little world with only things I was concerned with

Now I think… that children at that age vary on a large scale in that regard. Now that social media and the internet plays a much larger role in everyday life, especially the exposure children have to that now, they are much more aware of viral trends and other issues. I also think that children of that age are a lot more mentally-ahead of what children were when I was growing up and that I won’t be as eager to dismiss this in future.