Monday, July 26, 2010

2010/04/28 Week 7 Inquiry Based Learning

Week 7! This course has really flown by. I cannot believe I am down to the end here in many ways. The end of the course and the end of my classes for my Master's degree in Instructional Media. It has been a fantastic experience. I have learned so much from my instructors and from my classmates. Our final week in Inquiry Based Learning had us creating a Unit Plan based on some of the things we used in previous weeks. Our 5E model was a blueprint for our unit lesson. I had chosen to do a 5E plan on a holocaust lesson and my unit plan integrated technology for activities and assessments. One of the issues I had in constructing an inquiry lesson was in adapting a science based model idea with a far less scientific concept. It was challenging and I don't feel that my idea was a true inquiry study. I do think though that in working through the inquiry lesson process I am able to create lessons that encourage my students to ask questions and explore many possible answers. If I am able to accomplish this, then I know my students will have gained knowledge they did not have before. We also discussed the importance of assessment during the inquiry process and my experience in studying assessment shows that it is a continuous process. Teachers should be using formative assessment throughout their lessons. It is not a one stop item during the class but should happen frequently. So how will I implement inquiry in my class? Because I teach many levels of students (K-8), I have the opportunity to try inquiry based lessons in a variety of ways. I would like to find one idea for each grade level to explore. Again, my challenge is in finding investigable questions for my students to explore. My class time with them is limited and this will also present a challenge. However, despite the bumps in the proverbial road, I think that an inquiry based lesson is worth exploring. Expecially if it encourages students to ask more questions and search for more answers.

No comments:

Post a Comment