Why Inquiry?
With the changes that have occurred over the last few years
in the curriculum, teachers have started to redefine what and how they teach their
students. According to Loris Lanning and Lynn Erickson today’s educators are
realizing that curriculum and instruction must move beyond knowledge and skills
to include deeper understanding at the conceptual level of thinking (LLED 469 Module
2 Notes). One way of doing so would be to utilize concept based teaching which
separates what a student should know factually, and understand conceptually
while using the correct strategies and skills (LLED 469 Module 2 Notes). This
aligns nicely with the BC curriculum model of KUD (know, understand, do), and
ensures that students are moving away from covering facts to understanding
concepts and developing conceptual understanding (LLED 469 Module 2 Notes). By
tying in the new movement of the BC curriculum with inquiry provides a strong
stance and justification for why inquiry should be used. One article that
builds and supports this rationale is that of Jean Donham’s “Deep Learning through Concept-based Inquiry.”
In this reading it was noted that students needed to engage in a conceptual
lens (2010). Concepts would have attributes such as, being broad and abstract,
universal in application, timeless, and be represented by different examples
that share common attributes (Donham, 2010). By implementing and utilizing the
concept- based method students would yield a different kind of thinking and
questioning than the traditional method (Donham, 2010). This level of
complexity would go beyond knowing or understanding towards analyzing and
comparison (Donham, 2010). The amazing thing about the concept-based model is
that although complex it can be developed among young children (Donham, 2010). With
that being said teachers need to move beyond the traditional method towards
more of a concept-based inquiry method.
Who is Vision For & Why?
This vision is for educators because despite being the
moving force of inquiry education many are still stuck in the traditional method
of teaching. As Kristin Fontichiaro stated in her article, “Building Inquiry
Understanding with Classroom Colleagues,” teachers may have little to no
preparation in research pedagogy (2015). In fact, many K-12 teachers have not
learned how to teach strategies for research, and therefore are too afraid to
ask what inquiry is or apply it (Fontichiaro, 2015). In other instances,
teachers implement inquiry, but they do so on the basis of inquiry based
teaching and not inquiry based learning (Stripling, 2012). This is to say
teachers take part in the inquiry line of questions and conclusions, but they
do not pay attention to developing inquiry skills in students so that they can
conduct inquiry on their own (Stripling, 2012). Therefore, as a TL based on the
mini-inquiry bursts, and strong teacher control, my goal would be to insert inquiry
without creating disruption. One method would be to an embedded librarian that
goes to the class to teach the inquiry process, co-teach the skills of inquiry,
offer scaffolds for phases of inquiry that are not emphasized by teacher
(Stripling, 2012). The second would be to create this vision project that
informs teachers of what inquiry is, how to use it within the classroom, and
how to learn more about it. So, in short the vision is for teachers because
they are at the forefront of teaching inquiry and the reason for the project is
to educate and inform them because some simply do not know while others are
utilizing a method that could be more effective.
Work Cited
Donham, J.
(2010). Deep learning through concept-based inquiry. School
Library Monthly 27(1): 8-11.
Fontichiaro,
K. (2015c). Building inquiry understanding with colleagues. School
Library Monthly 31(5): 49-51.
Stripling, B.
K. (2012a). Inquiry through the eyes of classroom teachers. School
Library Monthly, 28(8), 18–20.
