Australian Teachers: inquiry

Paula from Paula's Place back to share with you how I plan an Inquiry Unit.

On Sunday I posted the 'Why' should we use a theme or Inquiry approach and this will give you more information about how I do things.

I use this model and the Taking Action is the big idea - this is where we need to get to with a well thought out path and direction for student learning.

This model can be found on many websites and I am not sure who the original author is.

So to demonstrate how I use this model this unit on Gold in Australia is an example.

Before I plan any unit of work - even an Inquiry - I look at the Curriculum, school planing documents, curriculum audits and reporting requirements.

This way I don't miss parts of the curriculum and have my eye on the ball for other things we need to cover.

Then I start with - How can we use any learning to make a difference?

This helps to build the BIG IDEA - use student driven questions and student devised ways to present new learning.

Then I pull in the Key Understandings which will help drive the teaching and/or independent leaning to help create individual questions for research. Skill development helps me to asses in other areas ie ICT, Personal Learning, Thinking Skills, Communication, English and Maths if they fit.

This is where I gather information on what my kids know.

We record our current knowledge, what we want to know.

Then the Inquiry Model Process begins.

Tuning In

Finding Out

Sorting Out

Then as a grade we brainstorm possible Inquiry Questions, as I know what the curriculum needs are I can help guide the questions and direction so that they are covered as well as what motivates each student.

Going Further

and

Making Conclusions happen here

The taking action is our conclusion.

Some kids will help along the way and I have tasks for them to assist in a modified version of an inquiry. Some kids are just not ready for an independent Inquiry Model yet.

Click here to see more detail for this Gold Unit.

Paula’s Place

Spring is here and it is my favourite season!

These photos are from our Botanical Gardens in Ballarat and they are amazing at this time of the year.

Do you teach to themes?

Hi, I'm Paula from Paula's Place and this is how I love to teach.

How high a profile do you give the arrival of a new season?

With many of our schools either on holidays or returning to school tomorrow planning is a high priority for us all.

We spend so much of our time planning those just right tasks that will support and challenge our learners and make learning and teaching engaging and embedded in what we do.

Why teach to a theme?

When learning has interesting content, our kids are more engaged.

Any theme or unit is more than asking children to sing a few songs, draw pictures or work on worksheets.

A great unit has tasks that will engage children and lead to observations and inquiry.

I use themes to teach because they create excitement, hold attention spans, provide new vocabulary and teach new skills. A great theme encourages learning new content, sharing what we learn, investigating what we don’t know and form questions about what we what to explore.

I am a huge fan of Inquiry Planning and whether you follow a subscribed method or not - the engagement is much higher and retention of information is higher.

A very basic way to plan is the e5 model or use other inquiry process models. I will blog more about the planing aspect latter in the week.