What Can They Can DO Rather than Know... One Teacher’s Thinking on Inquiry - Part One

2 STEPS TO SIMPLIFIED INQUIRY: Research & Thinking. This is part one of a three part post - watch for part two soon!

When we think of incorporating inquiry into our classroom we really don't have to stress and find new ways to think outside the box and stray from the curriculum.  Rather stick with the curriculum as your guide as you always would, but be less concerned with covering all the content and focus more on skill development.

We are teaching in some pretty amazing times.  Our students really have no great need to remember copious facts about layers of soil or which provinces didn't initially agree with confederation.  With a swipe of their fingers they can find the answer in 5 seconds or less on the very same device that they seem glued to or that is never very far away.  With inquiry we have the potential to expand critical literacy skills to amazing heights if we just keep the focus on a few main steps.

2 STEPS TO SIMPLIFIED INQUIRY: Research & Thinking

Step 1: RESEARCH -- Have Them Gather Their Own Information

This student locates countries on different online maps independently and thinks about what life might be like there based on location.

Start with the general or even specific curriculum expectation (the reality is, as a teacher, you can't really afford to wait and see what they are truly interested in because chances are they have never given much thought to our curriculum topics to begin with and let's face it, you’re on a timeline! Switch your thinking and consider that your job is more to expose them to the topics and then see what they think!) 
However, instead of passing out specific handouts, have the students collect as much information as they can, leveraging whatever digital tools you have available in the classroom.  This is the gather portion of inquiry.  This does mean that you have to teach them and provide prompts for how they can best word their searches and how to scan the text link descriptions with a critical eye so they become efficient at choosing the most profitable site.  This takes time and training!

Tip:  You might want to post the expectation as a learning goal like this example:

“We are going to learn how to find information about …...by using best strategies for finding accurate information on Google Search.”

Part two: Thinking - coming soon.

Thanks to an SCCDSB teacher from St Michael's in Ridgetown who submitted this post. She has chosen to have her name withheld.