Inquiry learning

"We are doing inquiry learning"

What does this look like? What does it mean to do inquiry learning? I think it's best to start with WHY? Why inquiry learning? 

If the goal is to achieve behavioural engagement then inquiry learning is about letting students chose their own topic, research it and present it. 

But. 

I believe inquiry learning is more than that. It's about cognitive engagement isn't it? It's the ability to find answers, the ability to solve problems and  ability to identify the problems. 

I think back to this quote:

The terms “knowledge age” or “knowledge economy” refer to a reorganisation away from an Industrial Age economy, where exploitation of natural resources, primary production, mass production and bureaucratic management hierarchies were the standard model for economic development. In the Knowledge Age, the ability to generate value through innovation (and the rapid creation of new knowledge) has become the basis for economic development.( Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R.,2012)

If we are in the knowledge age economy that is about the creation of new knowledge we need inquiry learning to practise these skills. Inquiry learning is about identifying problems, finding problems and creating new knowledge to solve those problems.

So  what are we doing in the classroom? 
The school plan required us to look at:

"Investigating in Science: Expand their experiences and personal explanations of the natural world through exploration, play, asking questions and discussing simple models".

So what are the real-world problems out there? We started with a link to our health unit - Earthquake. We presented the students with this question:

What happened if our water and power supply were disrupted after an earthquake? How will we survive?

The students were presented with a video prompt of lights going out/earthquake damage....etc. The students self-selected their groups and chose essential items.

They sorted their items to categorise given by us.

After this, they were told to design a "solution" to this problem. If they need electricity how will they generate their electricity.

We made learning maps to find out the experts.

Then we asked them to design a model to solve their problem. 

After this, we asked them to explain the natural phenomena that and create a prototype to test their product.

What went well: 

• The collaboration that happened was high, the behavioural engagement was high, the creativity was even higher. Some groups wanted a hand glider to provide transport while some thought citrus electricity was the way to generate power.I loved the heated discussions some groups got into like this one: Group discussion
• The activity met different learning needs - there was no wrong answer. It was about the process. 

Next steps:

• I struggled to step back as a teacher. I really wanted them to steer them the right direction eg. how can you generate enough lemon to power a city? But I had to remember this is about the process and not the right direction.

• Be clear with the process and outcome. Find a way to manage the science behind all the projects - if the process/outcome was clear enough we would be able to cope with 10 scientific events at one time. 
• Washburn's (2012) article discusses allowing time. Allow time. Curiousity and inquiry takes time - like real-life world problems they can't be solved in a day or a term. 

References:

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012).Supporting future-oriented learning & teaching: A New Zealand perspective. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306)
Washburn, K. (2012) Four Strategies to Spark Curiousity via Student Questioning. USA: George Lucas Education Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/build-curiosity-questioning-strategies-kevin-washburn).