Building Student Engagement Through Inquiry-Based Instruction A Practitioners View point Trina Caudle Director of Secondary Education Idaho Falls S.D. #91 caudtrin@d91.k12.id.us Set Up Attention getter – clap (I clap – you clap…1…2…3..) Shoulder Partner – You Look Marvelous! Tables – family – meet and greet Set up a three Dates for Later (don’t date your family) Put dates on one side of index card. Materials Index cards (dates) Copy of Lesson Plan Template Copy of Sample Lesson Plans (1 math, 1 science) Internet Access to clemson web site

Disclaimer Post Register Practitioner: Don’t have to have all the answers. Need to know how to find resources. Need to be comfortable trying new things. Glean what works and what doesn’t work (most of time what doesn’t work tells you more than what does…) We learn from our failures…Abraham Lincoln. Post Register

Abraham Lincoln – His Failures & Losses Were Many 1831 – First Business Failed 1832 – Lost his job after losing the election for state legislator 1832 – Denied admission to Law school 1833 – Borrowed money to start a business and went bankrupt

Abraham Lincoln – His Failures & Losses Were Many 1843 – Ran for Congress and Lost (won 1845) 1848 – Lost re-election race for Congress 1849 – Rejected as land officer in his hometown 1854 – Ran for the U.S. Senate and lost 1856 – Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination and lost 1858 – Ran again for the U.S. Senate and lost On balance, he could easily be seen as a loser.

But What victories they were! The sum of his losses was great. The number of victories was small. In fact, there were only really three victories. He turned a continent into a nation with the trans-continental railroad, uniting the east to the west. He preserved the Union despite the terrible price the Union endured. He changed the course of the nation and the world with the Emancipation Proclamation, beginning the long, hard road to freedom.

Go Slow to Be Successful I walk slowly, but I never walk backward. The best thing about the future is that is comes one day at a time. Today I am going to introduce you to a definition and model for inquiry- based instruction. Similar to Abe, we are starting slow with just an introduction. Your challenge will be to take the time to check out this model and see if you can attempt using it at least two times next school year. During our iSTEM in Action Showcase on Wednesday, you will see examples of inquiry-based instruction in action. These examples will range from small projects to large projects – using a variety of models. The teachers presenting the showcase are teachers just like you. They started with small attempts and moved to larger projects. Again, my challenge for you is to take the time to check out this model and try it two times next school year – at a small scale. Find what works and what doesn’t work for you and your students. This is not only an opportunity for you to grow as a professional, but an opportunity for you to grow with your students. Become experts together.

Effective Teaching The difference between more effective teachers and their less effective colleagues is not what they know. It is what they do. -Todd Whitaker Again, you do not need to be an expert on the issue, challenge or situation you tackle when implementing inquiry-based instruction. When I say go, find your Date #1 – You will need to pay attention to the screen. I will show you several cartoons. Please read and discuss each cartoon with your date for about 30 seconds.

Discuss with a Partner Why did I find some cartoons humorous and others not funny? Relate a time when you felt like an “outsider” in a group because you did not understand what was being talked about. Think – Pair – Share (date #1)

A Common Definition Inquiry-based instruction refers to the development of understanding through investigation, i.e. asking questions, determining appropriate methods, gathering data, thinking critically about relationships between evidence and explanations, and formulating and communicating logical arguments. - National Science Education Standards (1996) Unlike the cartoons – let’s start out on the same page with a Common Definition. Key aspect – students must explore the concepts before receiving or developing their own explanation. Effective inquiry has students connect concepts and ideas to their own experiences. This enables them to make more sense of the content, gaining ownership of the ideas so that they are more likely to retain knowledge and transfer it to new situations.

William Glasser, The Quality School Amount of Transfer Learning Retention Teach Others/Use Learning 90% Practice & Real Application 75% Discussion Group 50% Demonstration With lecture only, students forget most information within two weeks & practically all within two years. (Gee 2003) 30% Audio Visual 20% Find your (2nd ) date – discuss with your date where you think Inquiry-Based instruction falls in relation to this slide. Reading 10% Lecture 5% William Glasser, The Quality School

Inquiry-Based Instruction Improves Engagement & Retention When teachers get students truly engaged exploring the concepts in contexts where meaning exists, students develop both a need and a desire to know and to learn! Marshall & Horton, 2009

Building Background & Prior Knowledge Think back on the cartoons and how it made you feel when you didn’t have the background or prior knowledge to understand the joke. With Inquiry-Based Instruction students from diverse backgrounds and abilities will have shared experiences as a basis for their claims and ideas. Other prior experiences that students bring to class make the learning richer, but learning is accessible to all students because the explorations are made and experienced by all students. Marshall & Horton, 2009

The 4E x 2 Model for Inquiry-Based Instruction Unites the four major components of inquiry-based instruction with formative assessment and reflective practice. Developing, Assessing, and Sustaining Inquiry-Based Instruction Marshall & Horton, 2009 Engage Explore Explain Extend A s e R e f l e c t

4E x 2 Instructional Model Benefits of 4E x 2 Model 4E x 2 Instructional Model Engage focuses on motivation and PRIOR KNOWLEDGE (content-centered) Explore focuses on process of learning—Doing science Explain unites process and content Extend deepens conceptual understanding Student/Teacher reflection at each stage encourages deeper understanding and critical thinking Assessing at each stage emphasizes formative learning and provides critical information for student and teacher Engage Explore Explain Extend A s e R e f l e c t Pass out Lesson Plan Template and use to explain model. Engage The Engage phase of inquiry requires that consideration be given to the following: probing prior knowledge, identifying alternative conceptions, providing motivation and interest-inducing stimuli, and developing scientific questioning. Effective questions to guide teacher facilitations during the four foci of the Engagement phase. Assessments that provide formative feedback are critical before decision to move on can be adequately considered. When teachers reflect upon what has occurred during the engage stage, they can gain valuable information that informs their decision for the next steps of instructional practice. (Decisions based on data.) Explore Critical aspects of the Explore phase include having students delve into one or more of the following: predict, design, test, collect, and or reason. The assessments can be contextualized into knowledge and/or process centered domains that focus on individual, small group or class sized groupings. Although it may be beneficial to let students wade-in-the-muck at times, teachers may want to assume a more active role by providing guided prompts to encourage individuals or groups to think more deeply about the investigations at hand. Such interactions with students emphasize assessment for learning instead of assessment of learning. More importantly, students are continually updated on their progress in relation to their goals. Explain Central aspects of the Explain phase include: Interpreting data and findings Providing evidence for claims Communicating findings Providing alternative explanations for findings Examples of effective questions led by the teacher during the Explain phase. Assessment can be summative or formative. The goal is to understand concepts and scientific inquiry – not whether students can fill out a worksheet properly. Reflective practice – though teachers should have a basic expectation for minimum performance for all students, it is also appropriate to challenge students to exceed this expectation according to their interests and background. This provides an excellent opportunity for teachers to differentiate instruction. Extend During Extend, students are asked to apply, elaborate, transfer, and generalize knowledge to novel situations. At this point in the inquiry process, assessments often are seen only as summative. However, by providing formative assessment even at their point, teachers can encourage students to think more deeply about their work. Reflective practice is designed to address explicitly whether the content has been mastered or still needs work. This, of course, can provide valuable information to teachers as they make important decision about what to do next and how to improve future instruction. In this portion of inquiry, teachers are seeking to understand to what degree students are successful in transferring knowledge to new ideas and the quality of understanding that students can demonstrate. Reflective practice in this stage of instruction really is focusing on the degree of conceptual understanding. See Inquiry in Motion for details: www.clemson.edu/iim

Free Dynamic Web Tool The webpage is free and allows teachers to do the following: View lessons other educators have created Modify existing lessons to meet individual needs Create new inquiry-based lessons using the online template Share comments and lessons with other teachers Learn about additional options available to help guide better instruction www.clemson.edu.iim

Dynamic Web Tool To allow teachers to interact with one another. Registration My Work Place To allow teachers to interact with one another. To provide specific space for each user’s work. To encourage positive discourse. Storage place for Public Lessons for later viewing or use. Place where Public Lessons can be stored and modified to meet individual needs. Private location to store lessons that the user creates for personal use only. Pass out sample lessons and or go online to show them the site.

Share One – Get One How can you provide students frequent opportunities to explore major concepts before formal explanation is provided. How can you Create engaging, meaningful learning opportunities that are tied to real world problems and in some way connected to your students’ experience and interests. Index Card – Date #3 Use other side of index card. Fold into four quadrants. Answer questions 1 and 2 on left side. Find date and swap answers – write on right side.

Inquiry-based instruction gives students a purpose for learning Inquiry-based instruction gives students a purpose for learning! They see the context. Answers the questions, “When are we ever going to use this?” Post Register, July 1, 2010