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Project-Based Professional Development

New Methods for Teacher Training

Pt.2 - Inquiry Based Learning as a professional development tool

On a stack of Oz books I swear that from this day forward I will only train using a project-based model.

The Theory | The Model at Work | The Challenge

The premise of Inquiry-Based Learning is, on the face, simple.  Students are presented with a guiding question and a collection of related artifacts and asked to design their own knowledge-creating experience by responding to and asking Essential Questions.heir tools are critical thinking, structured examination, imagination, (often) hints, and information sources to which they may go for questions and answers. The methodology generally requires both individual and group work, each step of which ends with a sharing of knowledge and generation of additional questions. Teacher questions are used to stimulate student activity. The free-wheeling nature of inquiry does not suit all students or teachers.  However, the rewards can be significant, at times striking.

An excellent training resource for Inquiry-Based Learning is the online workshop prepared by Channel Thirteen/Ed Online for the Concept to Classroom series (http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html). How to Develop an Inquiry-Based Project is a sound guide from YouthLearn. John Raymond's TIELab has developed two online tools to assist History/Social Studies teachers in the development of Inquiry lessons: ribit and The History Lab. Additional resources are included in the Artifacts section of the lesson below.

"Added value," by the way, is a term I first found in a blog post by David Warlick. It encompasses his belief that technology must not be merely "integrated," but it must also result in value added to the learning experience.

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How do interactive online tools add value to a current events lesson?

a 1-day intensive or multi-session workshop:

an Inquiry-Based Lesson

Guiding Question: In what ways do interactive online tools add value to a current events lesson?

"Tools" is loosely defined here to include both content management (organization, sharing, collaboration) Tools and the lessons or activities themselves, listed here as Artifacts.

Tools

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Artifacts

Artifacts take the form of web-based tools and lessons. These must initially be provided by the Instructor. Suggested Artifacts are:

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Timeline

Although not required by all Inquiry activities, a timeline creates limits and encourages collaboration and feedback.

  1. Register all students in a NiceNet or NoteStar class
  2. Create workshop groups of 2-4 participants - if using NoteStar, groups should be created before workshop
  3. The Guiding Question should prompt participant questions.
    • Work in small groups to explore the elements of the Question separately: interactive, online tools, current events. 
    • Identify ways in which each of these elements is currently incorporated in lessons.
    • Ask - How is lesson "value" measurable? What are the means available?
    • Follow with a Sharing experience.
  4. Quickly introduce remaining Tools - do not limit participants to these tools!!
  5. Artifacts - Divide Artifacts among groups, giving each group at least two.
  6. Have groups answer Inference, Interpretation, Transfer and Hypothesis Questions separately, with each group reporting back to the workshop. Require groups to make use of NiceNet or NoteStar for collaboration. Encourage groups to "present" their expertise to the full workshop, especially after the Interpretation question. Allow time for Q&A. Suggested time:
    • Inference - 1 hour
    • Interpretation - 45 minutes
    • Transfer - 2 hours
    • Hypothesis - 1 hour
  7. Synthesis - Summarize the learning results of the workshop. Return to the question of "value added" for a final discussion.

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Questions:

  1. Inference - What can be learned about the strengths of interactive activities by examining the Artifacts? What might the weaknesses be? What about the activities will "grab" student interest?
  2. Interpretation - How might a specific current event topic be differently taught with one or more of the Interactive Tools?
  3. Transfer - After examining at least two of the online activities, and considering what you have learned from the previous discussion, design an activity with online, interactive components focused upon a current event topic. Use any means available to record and present the lesson design to the workshop.
  4. Hypothesis - How do you predict that your students will respond to the new activities? What problems might arise? What learning outcomes might you expect?  Create a document to post to NiceNet or NoteStar.

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Remember that Inquiry-based learning often sets its own path. If your activities are successful, participants will explore tools and artifacts beyond those that you present. A prepared trainer will have a wide range of interactive and collaborative tools at her fingertips. These should include tools for multimedia production, such as digital cameras, scanners, voice recording tools, and music recording, and tools for archiving files (flash drives, CD's).

Big6 Model | NTeQ Model | ccdt Model | Summary

E. Sky-McIlvain 8/18/04