2010/04/02 Week Three Inquiry Based Learning

The readings and viewings this week on Inquiry Based learning have given me more insight on what constitutes a good lesson. The video, The Physics of Optics, was very inspiring to watch. It seemed that every element necessary for a good inquiry based lesson was present. The teacher seemed very natural with his interaction with the students and the students in turn appeared to respect one another. The Secondary Classroom examples however were puzzling. I found each one to be lacking elements of a good lesson. They all seemed to be just shy of giving students the best learning opportunity possible. Each one was disappointing in some way, yet I realize that each also was somewhat an inquiry lesson. Is it such a bad thing to have students read books, collect information and give oral reports? This was my least favorite of the lessons and I would not think it was an inquiry based lesson. As a teacher directed lesson I suppose that it fills the requirements but I cannot accept this as a memorable lesson. As a student I would have found it dry and boring. On the other hand, do all inquiry based lessons have to be loosely structured and student directed to be a good lesson?