There's a lot of misconception around what inquiry based learning is.
I've been scarring forums and Facebook groups for opinions on inquiry based
learning, and it's quite disconcerting to see just how many educators out there
have a negative view about inquiry.
There very clearly is not only a lack of knowledge, but a lack of practice too.
I am innately
an inquiry educator always have been, always will be.
I have always been someone who asks a lot of questions.
I don't easily accept the status quo and I am always looking for
ways to improve the things I do.
Whether that's teaching kids, baking a loaf of sourdough bread or sewing a dress.
I do not do boring nor do I do half measures.
I'm one of those who will say, if you're going to do something, do it
well, or don't bother doing it at all.
You probably get a very good idea now of the type of work ethic and my
own children will have because they have a mother who never accepted
anything other than just do your best.
Doesn't matter what that is.
But you do your best.
I don't leave anything ever out on the table.
And it's because of
the way I think, and the way I function, always wanting to do my best in
everything I do, this was probably the whole reason why I embraced inquiry
because I saw how it fulfilled a need.
How children loved playing loved doing their own thing.
They were excited about things like finding a bug on the playground.
Now, I'm not going to go into my personal story here.
And if you want to know about that, you'll have to listen
to episode 38 after this one.
But now today, I would just want to have a look at what are educators out
there actually saying about inquiry.
And I'm going to quote from people on the internet and then we're going
to debunk these misconceptions.
Here's number one.
It's just pie in the sky philosophy that colleges teach to eager
young prospective teachers.
Well what can I say about this?
Firstly, I wish colleges taught eager young perspective
teachers an inquiry approach.
I don't know about what happens in other parts of the world, but here in
Australia, I feel as though graduates start off very ill-prepared for inquiry.
The traditional teaching approach and explicit instruction still
forms the mainstay pedagogy.
Inquiry is a very real and happening pedagogy.
It's not some wishful thinking.
Although I must say my wish is that it is embraced by more educators so that
we have fewer disinterested children.
And more curious children who can actually think for themselves,
question and problem solve.
To me this is what education should be.
It's not just talk back like a parrot.
Not kids sitting in rows, bored out of their minds.
So if colleges are teaching eager young teaching graduates, how to teach with
inquiry mindset, I say good on them.
At least those teachers won't be bored or boring, and their students
will love learning instead of leaving schools in droves to be homeschooled.
Hmm just thought I'd mention that.
Here's another misconception.
This person says the concept of inquiry based learning is wonderful, well we're on
the same page about that, I think that in practice, most students aren't good enough
critical thinkers to ask engaging enough questions to shape an entire curriculum.
Inquiry based learning ignores the fact that they are time constraints
and standards that need to be covered for future learning.
Well, this educator sees the value.
But probably doesn't have the support, knowledge or skills to
develop his or her pedagogy properly.
So here's the thing.
Questioning and critical thinking are strategies that need to be taught.
Both these skills should and can be taught in any subject area.
Everything from English to mathematics to Science, social
studies, art and even health.
Questioning and thinking skills should be the mainstay of any good classroom.
Students need to be taught how to ask good questions.
Have you noticed that kids don't ask questions anymore?
And when they do, they're really simple, shallow closed questions.
. Some closed questions are great questions, but we're getting sort
of like monosyllabic answers and there's really no, meatiness.
There's no thinking to their questions.
What good questions look like.
We need to teach them this.
We need to teach them what good questions sound like and how to
find answers to those questions
through exploration, through reading, through investigation, through games
and any one of a hundred other ways they can explore questions and problems.
So I think that what we have here is a misconception that inquiry
is a separate subject, which takes away from the core curriculum.
Questioning should be happening at all times, and in all subjects.
When we ask students to read a piece of comprehension in English, and
then answer questions on the text.
They are engaging somewhat in inquiry.
They're looking for answers.
When we set a math problem solving question and we supply children with
manipulatives to figure out the answer.
Perhaps, even in a small group or even individually,
they are engaging in inquiry.
When we ask children to use materials and a variety of loose paths
to demonstrate the water cycle.
They are in fact, engaging in inquiry.
And if you skilled enough or simply just keen enough, you'll be asking really good
essential questions and teaching your students how to recognize and ask good
questions in every subject area, so that they can develop critical thinking skills.
It's not about eeking out more time in your already over-scheduled
busy day to fit this in.
It's about developing a mindset so that each subject is being
taught through a lens of inquiry.
Does this make sense?
I have several resources around this and I'll leave links for
you in the show notes, so you can check them out afterwards.
And by the way, at the end of this episode, I'm going to be sharing how
you can learn to implement inquiry across all subject areas using my
very own tried and tested methodology.
Here's the next misnomer.
Unless you get the super smart kids, most students don't have enough work
ethic for inquiry based learning.
What.
Again, Where does this come from?
Let me tell you something.
My classrooms and lessons have always had inquiry woven into them across
the board in every subject area.
Yes, smart kids thrive on inquiry based learning, especially
when it comes to projects.
They love having that autonomy to explore a topic and then decide on their own
product for delivery and presentation.
But similarly, those kids that need more scaffolding love inquiry too, especially
when they can choose their own project.
It means that they can actually learn about something that
they aren't interested in.
And when that happens, it changes their attitude towards school.
And suddenly they start trying harder in their reading and they
just generally happier at school.
And of course while the more able students are working independently,
that frees you up to scaffold those learners that need more help.
Like most teachers, I always have the full gamut of children in my class.
From those that need extra help to those that attend gifted and talented programs
and never has inquiry been an obstacle, actually, it's been quite the opposite.
When it comes to work ethic, surely we're demanding excellence, and
setting high standards for all our learners across the board, in all
subject areas, including our routines.
Things like consistently only accepting their best work,
ensuring that their cubbies and desk drawers are neat and tidy.
That they're gluing sheets in correctly and neatly and producing
work that they are proud of.
When we're consistently modeling these behaviors and following through with
our expectations every single day, work ethic becomes ingrained in our learners.
And unfortunately.
Uh, not all children come to us with good work ethic.
It's up to us to teach them through our daily systematic
explicit actions and expectations.
Work ethic
isn't something we expect for inquiry.
It's something we embed every day in our teaching and learning
and are in our routines.
Gee whiz.
Here's the next misconception.
I would love to teach in an inquiry based approach, but I don't think
my students are motivated enough for that to occur effectively.
O M G you know why students aren't motivated.
Because they're bored out of their cotton picking minds.
They're not curious.
There's nothing that interests them.
Inquiry is not the problem.
It's the pedagogy that's the problem.
If you're actually adopting an inquiry approach and you're
teaching across subject areas.
Students will actually be motivated.
Why?
Because inquiry is the only approach that gets kids curious.
And when kids are curious, they love learning.
Of course, a hundred percent success rate is always the dream.
But there'll always be one that doesn't meet that quite a hundred percent.
But in general, the majority of students thrive in an inquiry environment.
In the course that I'm developing to help educators integrate inquiry
across all subject areas and still meet curriculum requirements.
I'll teach you how inquiry sparks children's interest
and gets them motivated.
Stay with me and I'll be giving you all the details about that
at the end of this episode.
Here's the next misnomer.
Inquiry works well under very special conditions, such as small
class sizes under 30 students.
Adequate funding, lab stations, one-on-one laptops, project materials, et cetera.
And a lot of time to explore and debrief topics.
Having an education or classroom aid seems to help a bit.
Okay.
So some of what this educator says is true.
But again, the statement is made as though inquiry is a separate subject,
which it most definitely is not.
Teaching with an inquiry mindset can either be done well or poorly.
Just the same way as explicit teaching can be done well or poorly.
Any strategy, whether it's explicit instruction, small group cooperative,
learning, questioning, peer teaching.
All of it is always easier with small class sizes and an extra pair of hands.
And yes, if you're going to have an inquiry classroom, of course you will
need resources that students can refer to when they're doing research and reading
to look for answers or information.
But you don't need a one-on-one iPad program.
In fact, I prefer not to have iPads in early childhood at all.
But that does mean you have to ensure that there are resources
that children can access things like books, images, articles, magazines,
newspapers, atlases, maps, and Globes.
But with a bit of imagination, resources can be accessed through the
school library, through donations, through charity shops and grants.
And of course you should debrief any good teacher will do that
reflection and feedback forms part of every good teaching practice.
It's not just part of inquiry.
In fact feedback is one of the top 10 high impact teaching strategies that are
recommended for high impact teaching.
I'll leave a link to the article and podcast where I discuss the 10 high impact
teaching strategies and were inquiry fits within these in the show notes.
Here's the next misnomer.
Inquiry based learning is 90% edubabble nonsense.
What I would say is that as often as possible, let kids choose topics and
projects, be guided by what interests them and ignore the rest of the BS.
They now call inquiry based learning.
It's turning into some form of educational snake oil.
This one really made me smile.
I did have to censor this one a little for nice family-friendly
podcasts, such as this one.
But I also get where this person's coming from.
Actually, this person is an inquiry educator at heart,
although they might not realize it.
This educator values agency, allowing children to choose their own topics
and projects, and furthermore, be guided by what interests them.
This forms, the heart of inquiry based learning, whether you realize it or not.
I would agree that sometimes there is a lot of inquiry language or
educational language around inquiry.
And in fact, I would argue you get that with any strategy or methodology.
And yes, I guess sometimes things can be made to sound more
complicated than they really are.
When fundamentally at its roots inquiry is just about getting children to
think and wonder, and then help them discover the answers to their questions.
It's also about giving children autonomy to have opportunities to
explore things they are interested in.
We don't need highfalutin language.
There is nothing highfalutin about inquiry.
It's simply one of many strategies that keeps that curiosity that
every child is born with alive.
And too often, children's curiosity is being squashed by sub-par boring
teaching strategies that really have no place in a classroom.
Schools and classrooms should be places not only of excellence, but
places where children's rights to play,
curiosity and exploration are honored and celebrated.
And I think it's time to embrace inquiry in all its forms.
And see it for what it is.
It's not some pie in the sky philosophy.
It's a practical pedagogy.
That puts the child's rights at the center.
Now it's time to share that something special I mentioned earlier.
I am putting together, what will be my signature course called inquiry
1 0 1 for all educators who want to honor the child's right to curiosity,
autonomy and playful learning.
The course, modules are still being developed, but they will encompass
everything from your inquiry mindset to the practical steps
to take, to plan and execute your lessons through an inquiry lens.
And I'm offering you my wonderful listener, the opportunity to sign
up and join the prelaunch list.
This means that if you have signed up and you've put your name on the prelaunch
list, you will receive a 50% discount,
that's half price, on the price of the course when it launches.
Anyone not on this prelaunch list will pay the full price
of the course when it launches.
So simply register your interest by getting on the prelaunch list and become
part of the first signature inquiry 1 0 1 course for curious educators, like you who
want to break free from the status quo and embrace a new and better way of teaching.
I can't wait to welcome you to your very own personal
professional development course.
To register and put your name on that prelaunch list, you need to go to
resources.bloomingcurious.com/prelaunch1 0 1.
I cannot wait to see you there.
And I'll put a link in the show notes for you
so make sure to find it there.
I hope that today's episode shed some light on all these
misconceptions out there about inquiry.
And that you're starting to see that inquiry isn't a separate subject that
sucks up even more time, but simply a lens or a mindset through which we teach.
If you found this episode useful, helpful, or just plain interesting,
please click that share button and share it with a couple of friends.
That's the only way this podcast will make its way into more people's
ears and further up the charts and the higher up the charts it goes,
the more people see it, the more children's lives will be changed and
they will remain curious instead of it petering out by the age of six.
So I will see you all next week
same time, same place, but hey, don't forget to hit that share button, and
get your name on that prelaunch list.
And until next week, I want you to stay blooming, curious.