CREATING AN ACTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Using Inquiry and Primary Sources

WHAT IS INQUIRY?  A process of learning that is driven by questioning, thoughtful investigating, making sense of information, and developing new understanding  Cyclical in nature  Goal is not accumulation of information. Instead it is exploration of significant questions and deep learning

CONNECT  Connect to self, previous knowledge  Gain background and context  Identify key concepts, themes, and vocabulary  Observe, experience

WONDER  Develop questions  Make predictions

INVESTIGATE  Use questions and background knowledge to develop search strategy  Find, evaluate, and select sources  Find and evaluate information to answer questions, test hypotheses  Identify main ideas and supporting evidence  Seek multiple perspectives  Think about the information to illuminate new questions and hypotheses Take a moment to read article on TVA

CONSTRUCT  Construct new understandings connected to previous knowledge  Draw conclusions about questions and hypotheses What new understandings do you have? Take a moment to write down your thoughts.

EXPRESS  Apply understandings to a new context, new situation  Express new ideas to share learning with others Turn to the person sitting next to you and share your findings.

REFLECT  Reflect on own learning  Ask new questions

REFLECTION TECHNIQUES  Progress log, journals  Self-reflection questions  Oral reflections  Peer review and feedback

 What new questions do you have?  How has your understanding of this image changed?

HOW DOES INQUIRY RELATE TO LITERACY?  Decoding  "Decoding is the ability to figure out how to read unknown words by using knowledge of letters, sounds, and word patterns. Decoding skills are essential to being a fluent reader. " (Royer, James M. PhD. 2005)  Comprehension  Building understanding  Skills such as cooperative learning, graphic and semantic organizers, question generating, question answering, and summarization are used in both building literacy and inquiry.  Reading and inquiry are so closely aligned that you cannot teach one without teaching the other!

LITERACY AND INQUIRY IN MIDDLE SCHOOL  Moving from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”  Find information  Determine main points and supporting ideas  Analyze an argument

LITERACY AND INQUIRY IN HIGH SCHOOL  Reading multiple perspectives  Weighing evidence  Evaluating arguments  Making judgments

USING INQUIRY TO TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES  Background information is essential  Need to see multiple perspectives  Address students’ misconceptions  Evaluate sources  Primary sources are essential  Evaluation of specific information and evidence  Examine evidence critically  Use of graphic organizers for note-taking and organizing information  Reflection as key component  Identify text structure  Availability of a library is key to inquiry

USING INQUIRY TO TEACH ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS  Thinking skills  Questioning, finding main ideas and details, summarizing, interpreting, making inferences, determining importance of ideas, identifying author’s purpose, synthesizing  Each step of inquiry is important but not essential in every assignment  Recognize and derive meaning from different text structures  Use of graphic organizers to analyze text

HOW DO I CREATE A CULTURE OF INQUIRY IN MY CLASSROOM?  Role of student – ask questions and seek new understanding  Lead students to hypothesize, explore, reflect, and make meaning  Role of teacher – provokers and guides of student learning; interact with students and mediate the environment

CREATING A CULTURE OF INQUIRY  Encourage collaboration and reflective practice  Target major ideas in curriculum by defining enduring understandings and essential questions; integrate literacy and inquiry skills as appropriate in the different content areas  Design learning experiences that are authentic – minds-on, not hands- on learning  Teach for understanding through collaborative, inquiry-based approach  Teachers provoke inquiry through questioning strategies  Teachers combine provocation and support (scaffolding)  Teacher use diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment  Reflect, Revise, Re-engage