Read all about inquiry through the lens of one of the world's leading experts in the area.
“People can set their mind to magical, seemingly impossible ideas and then through science and technology bring them to reality.”
Not a bad hook, eh?
Share this with your class today. Discuss the impossible. If you could do one thing tomorrow without fear of failure or worry of risk, what would it be?
Cue Moonshot Thinking. Check it out.
Make you Monday meaningful y’all.
“Probably the most important thing for kids growing up today is a love of embracing change.”
Curiosity should be at the forefront of what we do, each and every day. On this #MeaningfulMonday I call on you to spark some curiosity in your learners.
Make your Monday meaningful y’all.
Hello my blog friends!
Since Dive into Inquiry went to print I’ve been busy working on a MASSIVE project that I’m immensely proud to share with you all! The time is nearing and for those of you on our newsletter you are already getting sneak peeks and exclusive access to some pretty cool stuff as part of the celebration. If you are not on the newsletter head hereto get in on the movement! For now, here’s a little design excitement to share with y’all!
Stay tuned for more – can’t wait!
Trevor
Over my years as a teacher I’ve learned an incredible amount as I’ve taken on a more personalized approach to educating our youth. I’ve seen the enormous benefit of flipping control over learning in the classroom and fostering student agency in our curriculum. I’ve gained an appreciation for my colleagues and their specific teaching areas as I’ve collaborated with teachers to co-plan and co-teach in an inquiry model. And I’ve made mistakes, ones that have helped me reflect, revise, and refine what inquiry looks like my practice.
With Dive into Inquiry I’m excited to share more detail of what exactly this fantastic resource has to offer you and your learners. Dive into Inquiry provides a structure that prepares learners for the transition from traditional teaching models to the inquiry classroom, a structure that is built on building relationships with our students through a gradual release of control over learning. You’ll be given detailed lessons that will help you create the inquiry atmosphere your students need. You’ll read accounts of student learning that will deepen your understanding of inquiry and help clarify my proposed structure. You’ll have access to illustrations to use in your classroom to assist your learners in their own understanding of inquiry. And you’ll be inspired to make inquiry your own whether you are new to the inquiry pool or confident in all Types of Student Inquiry.
The book is jam-packed with passionate narrative, clear examples and lessons, inspiring student stories, and supportive processes. You’ll finish your reading feeling like you are well prepared to make inquiry work for your learners in a manner that is low risk and high reward.
Make Dive into Inquiry yours.
How can you use technology to solve a real-world problem?
Ask your students this simple yet transformative question. Have them identify problems, propose plans, and design solutions.
Even if you don’t take the brainstorm or design to iteration, asking students to design solutions to challenges they see in their community, locally or globally, will pay huge dividends. Whether it’s fostering creativity, nurturing empathy, sharpening 21st century skills or honing an innovative approach to attacking issues, this simple prompt can take you and your learners to wondrous places.
Then show them this provocation.
Make your Monday meaningful y’all.
Another fantastic review by educator Nate Gildart! Find him. Follow him. Be inspired by him.
And as always, leave your thoughts in the comments below…
“*As I’ve explored this book and written this post, I noticed that this post has the appearance of a summary, which is not the intention. I’ve noted pages of the book to get a deeper understanding of the author’s message and in particular online spaces to go in order to see his detailed (and useful) examples. I encourage teachers keen to “dive” into inquiry more deeply to purchase the book and look at the many, many, many authentic examples provided by the author.
Trevor MacKenzie brings teachers a straightforward, well structured book that offers strategies to bring inquiry based learning to your classroom. It’s a no-nonsense guide that doesn’t pretend that teachers and students aren’t challenged to create authentic, personal learning in schools. MacKenzie is a teacher writing for teachers, and is sharing a fundamental core of his own teaching practice, littering the book with wonderful real-life examples to support his ideas. (have a QR code reader app on your device to access some of the samples) The author also recognizes that we all have curriculum expectations we need to cover, and that knowledge that must be attained. How do we create this environment and meet expectations? This book gives us a powerful example. MacKenzie gives explanations of inquiry and inquiry based learning, discusses his “three big goals”, and gets into the model for the year. He explains the Types of Student Inquiry: Structured, Controlled, Guided, and Free Inquiry. He also discusses the Understanding by Design framework. I like the creative quality of the graphics MacKenzie designed for this, a departure from the often text-heavy, table-style graphic organizers we see. (yes, a couple are table-like, but visually appealing) This review is a synopsis of the book, with my personal thoughts in italics.
A key point is that “relationships (come) first”, making that connection with all students. Needless to say, this builds the trust necessary to take risks and dig deeper.
In the early days of the school year MacKenzie works with his students to develop the curriculum for the course. I don’t think the suggestion is to have students build the course, but be more empowered to choose approaches to learning (ie) activities, and content, such as readings or videos that might be used. Some curriculums offer far more flexibility than others.
I like the idea of giving students some measure of ownership over the course outline. I will try this in our second semester this year, as we get into the Japanese History section of the course. I’ll modify it to ensure they take skills and historical investigation terms and concepts into account. This is how he does it:
The teacher takes on several roles – teacher, coach, facilitator and more. Modelling these roles shows students the kind of teacher they can expect for the year. MacKenzie actively asks students to explain what good teaching looks like. This is good modeling of risk-taking, and he provides a long list of very telling student comments (p.18-19), such as,
He adds this list to the course syllabus, and shares their thoughts with faculty in an effort to get their collective voice “out there” to an authentic audience.
MacKenzie follows this with an activity in which students watch a video on a real-life project in which students use the inquiry model. In pairs, they critique the benefits and drawbacks to the approach – a great collaborative, critical thinking activity. The ideas are referenced as he unpacks the Types of Student Inquiry. (P.24-26 has some sample comments of student thinking)
The graphic designed by MacKenzie explains it all, but here is a synopsis, which is also chronological. It makes sense to me that this order would foster greatest success. Students who have experience with IBL can be a valuable resource in helping others understand the process and strategies.
Makenzie acknowledges that there is “must-know” content before the free inquiry is attempted. I would add that there are skills that have to be at a certain level of competency as well. I also liked that he brings Understanding by Design into the conversation, explaining why he feels it supports the inquiry model by seeking the end results (and performance task) and evidence of learning. He then gives series of examples for teachers to follow and basic structure to plan an inquiry unit. (see p.35-40)
MacKenzie looks at free inquiry more closely, acknowledging the process that gets them there. (explained above) This stage requires a lot of planning and front loading by the teacher to ensure that there is some guidance so that students can be successful. He lays out a 7-step process he’s developed (and uses; see the graphic on p.42). We’ve seen a variety of iterations of the inquiry process. The rest of the book outlines this 7-step process, which I’ll very briefly summarize below.
(i) At the heart of the “Exploring a Passion” pillar is acknowledging that students have talents and interests outside of the class. (that we don’t often see in the class) These are areas (at differing levels based on age) in which students likely have background knowledge and have fostered an interest in. They are set for success because of this. Page 50 has a long list of question prompts of identifying your passion, such as “What motivates you?”, “What engages you?” and “What makes you feel awesome about yourself?”
He furthers this by showing videos of young people explaining their passions in some way, such as Caine’s Arcade.
MacKenzie acknowledges that we must teach certain curriculum that he refers to as “must-know information”, determined by government curriculums. He also points out that inquiry only will lead to an unbalance. I agree. Another important point is that passions are discovered. I myself developed a passion for soccer because my parents forced me into something after quitting Boys Scouts. I think we have to create opportunities for children to explore and not be concerned if it doesn’t become a burning passion. I never expect that all of my students will enjoy my social studies classes, though I do hope that they will come to appreciate the subject and understand its relevance to their lives. (speaking of goals)
(ii) “Aim for a Goal.” In this pilar students have to think about their future. What is it they aspire to be, or in the least, learn more about? The have to think about how to do this, such as read through resources, conduct interviews, or job shadow. The teacher interviews students. MacKenzie gives a list of questions he asks (p.55-56). The interviews help inform how the Free Inquiry unit is approached. (see Eli from p.56) In my current situation this would be quite difficult – not a cop-out, but a reality. Easily done for an elementary teacher, but even finding time in the first month outside of class to meet each of my 80 students would be tough due to their schedules and bus times. An online Google Form would work, but be impersonal and not allow for the one-to-one contact and asking the inevitable questions that arise. I’m thinking to start with only my Grade 8s – 46 students, and in SEM 2.
(iii) The “Delve Into Your Curiosities” pillar gives students an opportunity to jump into a topic they are curious about but may not have had the opportunity to explore. As we follow curriculum there may be areas that students want to learn more about, or perhaps there is something not in the curriculum that they hope to explore more. MacKenzie has used curiosity journal and provides students with prompts to help them identify what they may be curious about. He discusses they kinds of questions one can ask. (questioning techniques and asking good questions is another area of my own teaching practice I’m making efforts to improve) You can see his examples p.60-61. Like many teachers, he uses TED and YouTube videos, or newspaper articles, etc, to assist understanding, but in this case to demonstrate other people’s curiosity. He follows these with class discussions on why these people were curious and where their curiosities led them. (see p.63)
(iv) And finally, the pillar “Take On a New Challenge” is all about a personal challenge. It can be local or global in nature. It can have an end-goal of self-improvement or one for the community. MacKenzie begins with group challenges. He facilities small-group challenges with a variety of activities based on his passion for educational technology, such as Breakout EDU, makerspace challenges, or 3-D design. (check out Tinkercad) Realizing that students want to do good deeds and have an impact on others, he also provides long term group challenges. (see p.67 for a description of a literacy project his students undertook) Another example can be seen by a student Ethan, who really dug deep for his Free Inquiry, a challenging project he continued into post-graduation. An important key to this example is how the teacher was flexible in the students learning, and how he leveraged technology to see that the student, Ethan, could succeed in his project. Very cool indeed.
The Four Pillars of Inquiry by Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt
Another crucial point made is that the Free Inquiry must meet course requirements, and include proof that they have. MacKenzie gives examples of the “authentic piece” on p.92, basically presentation styles students may choose to attempt. Students must also plan to publicly display their work in some form – read more below.
The “Public Display of Understanding” is a critical piece of the puzzle for myself. I have suggested holding a “Social Studies Fair” in the past, but to no avail. School calendars are packed, though I truly believe such a project can be flexible and not disrupt a school calendar, and Trevor MacKenzie reinforces this with the suggestions made in “Dive Into Inquiry”. Perhaps I have to work on my own sales pitch.
Works Cited
MacKenzie, Trevor. Dive Into Inquiry: amplify learning and empower student voice. Irvine,
California: EdTechTeam Press, 2016. Print.
Other publications referenced in this post:
Walsh, Jackie A., and Beth D. Sattes. Questioning for Classroom Discussion: purposeful speaking, engaged listening, deep thinking. Alexandria, Virginia, USA: ASCD, 2015. Print.
Francis, Erik M. Now that’s a good question! How to promote cognitive rigor through classroom
questioning. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD, 2016. Print.”
Y’all know how much I believe in the power of questions as the start point to learning. Supporting our students to create questions that guide their learning and shaping our curriculum around these questions is the most powerful shift we can make in working towards creating innovators and creators and publishers and problem solvers.
In my travels I’ve come across some inspiringly designed spaces that have several things in common. First, they all shift the design of the room from the teacher to the student. When you enter the space it’s at first difficult to ascertain where the focal point of the space should be. Second, they all utilize mobile and modular furniture. There are several different types of seating, working, and sharing spaces that can be configured in countless ways. Third, transparency is a key theme. Whether it’s natural light, accordion-style dividers, or glass walls, it’s abundantly clear that these rooms don’t want to promote a closed door mentality. And last, the tech is hard to see. All of the spaces possess tech tools from Chromebooks to iPads to flatscreen TVs to VR gadgets to 3D printers, but none of these items appear to drive learning in the space. Rather, all of these investments are located in areas and in ways that seem to suggest they support, enhance, and accelerate what is happening in the classroom.
