I came into this week knowing what the basic premise of inquiry based learning is, but I wasn’t really sure if I use it in my own classroom. The biggest takeaway for me this week is that as an educator, I should view my classroom as an environment that fosters questioning and problem solving, not just a place for students to acquire knowledge. In today’s world there is instant access to information, not all of which is correct or trustworthy. I have found at the secondary level, a lot of students think that as long as they found it on the internet, it is true. Inquiry based instruction can help students to question what they are reading, listening to, and watching.
I also learned that direct instruction, explicit instruction, and guided learning can still have their place in an inquiry based classroom and can help students on their path to inquiry (Capacity Building Series, 2013, p. 2). This is encouraging because I think that teachers would be more interested in incorporating inquiry based learning if they’re able to slowly work it into their classroom. Working at the secondary level, I see inquiry based learning as a way to encourage students to take ownership of their learning and to engage them beyond the use of their devices. The teachers at my school are constantly trying to find ways to get students to use their devices for a better purpose than gaming or social media (although I would argue that both of those activities have their time and place and can be used for education).
One question that I have is how can I use inquiry based learning with my low level proficiency students (Spanish and English proficiency)? When I am observed by my principal, they often say that in Spanish level I we are not using enough higher order thinking questions with the students. I explain that they fact that we are speaking 90% Spanish and all questions are in Spanish is encouraging them to think critically, even though the question may be simple when translated to English. I could see these same types of questions and criticisms when trying to implement inquiry based learning in a language classroom that is trying to stay in the target language.
References:
Inquiry-based learning. (2013, May). Capacity Building Series, Secretariat
Special Edition(32), 1–8. https://ontariosummerlearning.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/02/CBS_InquiryBased.pdf
