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All material is my personal opinion, and not that of any other organization. Copyright 2001. Permission is granted for individual teacher use. All rights reserved. |
In April of 1997 I joined about thirty other teacher leaders and professional developers for an intensive six-day workshop, the Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry Professional Development Design Workshop. I went at the behest of the LITES project, accompanied by Norman Brooks, a teacher on loan to LITES. (LITES is an NSF funded project based at Mills College, which provides leadership and support to K-6 science education in Oakland). All of the participants were attached in some way to NSF-funded Local Systemic Change projects, and the workshop was sponsored by NSF. A Summary of Inquiry, Exploratorium Style The Inquiry Institute draws on British author Wynne Harlen to define a set of process skills: observing, hypothesizing; planning; communicating and interpreting. The inquiry process is seen as a tool to develop these skills. The basic practice follows this model: Learners are given a set of materials with which to work, such as a light source and a pinhole. After some fairly open exploration, learners generate questions, which are then sorted into those that are investigable, and those that are not. Learners are then given access to a wider assortment of materials to investigate their questions. We conducted several inquiries during the week, one for the better part of a day. There really is nothing like having the freedom and ability to conduct experiments of one's own design. The knowledge gained is much sweeter and more memorable than that gained through traditional methods. We explored a variety of structures used to support and guide inquiry. From an open-ended, introductory activity, used to generate questions for further investigation, to a "challenge," where learners are given a specific objective, such as building a tower out of foam. We also looked at some more traditional activities, to see how inquiry could be injected into them. Lastly, we discussed the design of professional development to get others to access this approach, and developed ideas for how that development might occur in our districts. Our Challenge: Professional Inquiry Our central inquiry as teachers is not into pinholes or foam, but into our own practice as educators, and into the techniques and methods which will make us effective at reaching our students. How can we better engage our students in critical thinking and the active exploration of nature? The inquiry process is a new tool for this purpose. However, our challenge is not merely to adopt this new method, as we might have adopted cooperative learning or hands-on science in the past. Our real challenge is to put into practice the deeper message of inquiry. The inquiry process as used with our students must become the subject of our professional inquiry as teachers. We need to investigate and experiment with this technique. We need to find out what is the appropriate level of structure and guidance for our students? What are the topics and materials which will serve this method? How should inquiry mesh with other techniques in our classrooms? How can existing curricula be modified to allow for inquiry? In a broader sense, this inquiry is one in which all active, curious teachers are engaged; the constant developing and testing of new methods and insights. Through teacher research, this inquiry can be formalized and shared. I look forward to joining other science teachers in Oakland in investigating and developing inquiry with our students, and I hope we can create links with teachers in other disciplines engaged in similar efforts. |
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