The Types of Student Inquiry
Tuning in: this session examines the types of inquiry as Trevor breaks down common misconceptions that surround teaching from an inquiry stance. You will hear several critical tips that you will bring to your inquiry planning to ensure your students are confident, competent, and successful. You will also feel a sense of confidence, competence, and success yourself as you reflect on your own understanding of inquiry.
Learning objectives include:
to create a deeper understanding of inquiry-based learning.
to create a common language of inquiry in your practice and with your colleagues.
to reflect on areas in which you can continue to grow in your inquiry practice.
Pause and reflect: after viewing, please reflect on your own learning using the visible thinking routine I used to think… Now I think…
This routine is a powerful prompt to engage students in reflecting on how their learning has changed over time and across learning experiences. It serves as a great summative reflection, calling on students to identify where they were in their thinking (onset and prior knowledge), what information shaped their thinking (new learning), and what connections they are now making (synthesis and next steps).
Document your thinking using the I used to think… Now I think… thinking routine in your notebook.
Share and make meaning together: print of the Types of Student Inquiry sketchnote below on larger paper and post it in your class. It is recommended that this image is visible in all classrooms and is used as a teaching tool to help students engage in inquiry experiences. You can also post this image in your Google Classroom or LMS for your learners.
As you start your year with students, share with them how they will experience different types of inquiry and varying degrees of increasing agency, ownership, voice and choice in your time together. Share with them what strong inquiry experiences have in them and how you will plan for them. You could share things like:
I will scaffold experiences through my planning so you are confident, competent, and successful.
I will coach and model certain competencies and skills that will help you across the pool.
As you experience more voice and choice, there will be structures in place to best support you with this ownership over learning.
I will prompt you to use this image to reflect and revise as we go and I encourage you to do the same.
Consider sharing this image with parents/guardians so they gain a clearer sense of the experiences their children will engage in with you. It is likely parents/guardians will have questions for you. Please consider using what you have learned throughout this series of videos to engage in these conversations. It is likely that the parents/guardians of our students have not experiences inquiry themselves. Scaffolding for parents is important too.
Extend your learning: printing off extra smaller images and laminating them for your learners to have at their desks is a great way to continue to support agency. These “pool cards” can be used to guide reflection, shape collaboration, and inform your teaching. They can be as small as index cards and can be used in a variety of ways to continue to build a culture of inquiry in your classroom.
Further, the Types of Student Inquiry - expanded slide deck is a resource that will help you begin to plan for more voice and choice in your unit design. Review the slides and consider which categories you can give more control over: Concept; Questions; Resources; Product. Download the slide deck below.
Resources:
Read this article by Trevor titled How To Ease Students Into Independent Inquiry Projects.
Download the Types of Student Inquiry sketchnote here.
Download the blank Types of Student Inquiry sketchnote here.
Download the Types of Student Inquiry - expanded slide deck here.
Bonus offering:
Watch this short reflection as Trevor shares thoughts with Press Play on Tools in Our Inquiry Toolbox.