5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners The humble question is an indispensable tool: the spade that helps us dig for truth, or the flashlight that illuminates surrounding darkness. Questioning helps us learn, explore the unknown, and adapt to change. That makes it a most precious “app” today, in a world where everything is changing and so much is unknown. To change that is easier said than done. How to Encourage Questioning 1. Asking a question can be a scary step into the void. 2. This is a tough one. 3. Part of the appeal of “questions-only” exercises is that there’s an element of play involved, as in: Can you turn that answer/statement into a question? 4. Obviously, we must praise and celebrate the questions that are asked -- and not only the on-target, penetrating ones, but also the more expansive, sometimes-offbeat ones (I found that seemingly “crazy questions” sometimes result in the biggest breakthroughs). 5. So ask yourself this beautiful question: How might I encourage more questioning in my classroom?
4 Phases of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers 4 Phases Of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers by Terry Heick According to Indiana University Bloomington, Inquiry-based learning is an “instructional model that centers learning on a solving a particular problem or answering a central question. Learning focuses around a meaningful, ill-structured problem that demands consideration of diverse perspectivesAcademic content-learning occurs as a natural part of the process as students work towards finding solutionsLearners, working collaboratively, assume an active role in the learning processTeachers provide learners with learning supports and rich multiple media sources of information to assist students in successfully finding solutionsLearners share and defend solutions publicly in some manner” The process itself can be broken down into stages, or phases, that help teachers frame instruction. 4 Phases of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers 1. The first phase of inquiry-based learning is one characterized by interaction.
The Digital Natives We Teach Are Creating A Number Of New Challenges. – EDTECH 4 BEGINNERS Digital natives are individuals who were born during or after the surge of digital technologies (the internet, mobile devices etc.). Because the majority have been surrounded by tech from an early age, they are used to it and are usually very good at it. In addition, because technology changes so quickly, they have adapted to it and are not scared of new innovation; in fact most get very excited about it. What challenges arise from this? The majority of educators are NOT digital natives and quite often technology can cause anxiety and fear because of its rapid development and increasing encroachment on our lives. What strategies can we use to support digital natives? Thoroughly explore new technology and get to grips with how to use it before a lesson or unit.Learn from the digital natives! How do you support and engage digital natives? Like this: Like Loading...
A Brilliant Question Not Essential There is a difference between essential questions and brilliant questions. While essential questions touch upon the most important issues of life, they are rarely brilliant. Essential questions touch our hearts and souls. Most important thought during our lives will center on such essential questions. What does it mean to be a good friend? In contrast with essential questions, brilliant questions are important for their power to unlock mysteries and open doors. What will it take to win her heart? Brilliant questions may also be essential, but they almost always deal with strategy and change of some sort. A Vivid Example In studying important figures from history we might ask the essential question, "What kind of person was Joan of Arc or Matthew Flinders?" But all this gathering may not bring us to the heart of the matter. Here is where the brilliant question comes into play. Where did Joan go wrong? The brilliant question helps us to cast new light on a subject or challenge.
4 Phases of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers 4 Phases Of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers by Terry Heick According to Indiana University Bloomington, Inquiry-based learning is an “instructional model that centers learning on a solving a particular problem or answering a central question. There are several different inquiry-based learning models, but most have several general elements in common: Learning focuses around a meaningful, ill-structured problem that demands consideration of diverse perspectives Academic content-learning occurs as a natural part of the process as students work towards finding solutions Learners, working collaboratively, assume an active role in the learning process Teachers provide learners with learning supports and rich multiple media sources of information to assist students in successfully finding solutions Learners share and defend solutions publicly in some manner” The process itself can be broken down into stages, or phases, that help teachers frame instruction. 1. Student-to-material. 2. 3.
Bringing Inquiry-Based Learning Into Your Class In the shallow end of the Types of Student Inquiry pool, Structured Inquiry gives the teacher control of the essential question, the starting point—for example, “What defines a culture?” or “What is the importance of the scientific method?” These questions are not answered in a single lesson and do not have a single answer, and, in fact, our understanding of an essential question may change over time as we research it. In Structured Inquiry, the teacher also controls specific learning activities, the resources students will use to create understanding, and the summative assessment learners will complete to demonstrate their understanding. In Controlled Inquiry, the teacher provides several essential questions. How Are the Types of Student Inquiry Helpful? Inquiry is most successful when strongly scaffolded. This structure allows us to successfully address the curriculum and the “must know” content and skills of each discipline, grade level, and course. Second, think big and start small.
Usages pédagogiques des TIC : de la consommation à la cocréation participative Margarida ROMERO et Thérèse LAFERRIÈRE du Centre de recherche et d'intervention sur la réussite scolaire (CRIRES) de l'Université Laval analysent les limites des approches techno-centrées. L’intégration des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) en éducation a engendré des espoirs infondés et donné lieu à certaines innovations technologiques sans fondement pédagogique. Si certains usages pédagogiques des TIC permettent un apprentissage amélioré par la technologie (Laferrière et al, 2014), d’autres placent la personne apprenante dans une situation de consommation passive ou guère interactive. Dans cet article, nous analysons les limites des approches techno-centrées dans le processus d’intégration des TIC et introduisons une démarche réflexive basée sur une approche qui vise l’amélioration des apprentissages. Cinq niveaux d'usage des TIC (Romero, 2015) Introduction Ni les TIC (ni la craie, ni les crayons) ne sont des révolutions éducatives Discussion
Resources and Downloads to Facilitate Inquiry-Based Learning Create Learning Environments That Foster Inquiry Plan Curriculum That Supports Inquiry Use Strategies to Increase Inquiry in the Classroom Conduct Activities That Promote Inquiry Query Books: Ask students to chronicle their ideas, ponderings, and questions. Downloads and Examples From Schools That Work Edutopia's flagship series highlights practices and case studies from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn. At Wildwood IB World Magnet School, teachers use student questions to drive lessons, and channel student curiosity into student-centered projects. video See how Ralston Elementary School teachers guide the inquiry process over a series of lessons and teach students how to ask deeper questions to prepare them to lead their own inquiry into specific problems. Learn how educators at Crellin Elementary School use students' "I Wonder" questions to drive lesson planning, differentiate instruction, and foster student curiosity.
FILLING THE TOOL BOX The above ads are generated by Google and FNO does not endorse the products displayed in any manner. From Now On The Educational Technology Journal Classroom Strategies to Engender Student Questioning © 1986 by Jamie McKenzie, Ed.D. and Hilarie Bryce Davis, Ed.D. all rights reserved. Most of the strategies described below have been developed and tested by teachers in Princeton, Madison and elsewhere. As one of the primary goals of education is to develop autonomous but interdependent thinkers, students deserve frequent opportunities to shape and direct classroom inquiry. 1) Beginning A New Unit (K-12) If a class is about to spend several days or weeks studying a particular topic or concept, traditional practice and unit design gives the teacher primary responsibility for identifying the key questions and the key answers. Try starting a new unit by asking your class to think of questions that could be asked about the topic; "What questions should we ask about the Civil War? 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
edutopia Begin With Guided Inquiry Teacher-guided inquiry can build background knowledge of the topic before letting students take the reins in developing their own inquiry. With guided inquiry: Teachers start with an overall guiding question. "Guided inquiry is like a typical science lesson," explains Anne DiCola, Ralston Elementary's instructional coach. Ralston teachers build toward student-driven inquiry throughout the course of the unit. Teach Students How to Question Explore and Model Different Types of Deeper-Level Questions An important aspect of inquiry-based learning is teaching students how to ask deeper questions. According to Principal Dawn Odean, the following two tips helped Ralston teachers: Across grade levels, reflect on how you model questioning from kindergarten and up. "We’re really looking at students being creative problem solvers," explains Odean. Example Questions D.J. To guide his students in creating their own questions, Osmack asked: Student-Driven Inquiry Led by a Question
Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound | Maryanne Wolf Look around on your next plane trip. The iPad is the new pacifier for babies and toddlers. Younger school-aged children read stories on smartphones; older boys don’t read at all, but hunch over video games. Parents and other passengers read on Kindles or skim a flotilla of email and news feeds. Unbeknownst to most of us, an invisible, game-changing transformation links everyone in this picture: the neuronal circuit that underlies the brain’s ability to read is subtly, rapidly changing - a change with implications for everyone from the pre-reading toddler to the expert adult. As work in neurosciences indicates, the acquisition of literacy necessitated a new circuit in our species’ brain more than 6,000 years ago. This is not a simple, binary issue of print vs digital reading and technological innovation. We know from research that the reading circuit is not given to human beings through a genetic blueprint like vision or language; it needs an environment to develop.