Inquiry-Based Learning

Inquiry-based learning ... that was my topic for study this week in my technology class. Like I mentioned in my last blog post, I am struggling with seeing how this actually functions in a classroom because it is something I have not experienced before. I found this video, and I feel like it answered some of my questions: I love how the teacher guided the students into making the own questions and investigations. I love seeing how the kids are learning ... from the girl realizing that a question could be both scientific and mathematical in nature, and I love the quick teaching opportunity that produced for the teacher. I can see inquiry-based learning happening as culminating events at the end of learning a mathematical topic, where students construct their learning through working with manipulatives, and then they apply that learning through an inquiry-based learning activity. I think, in combination with other methods, this is a very effective way to teach.

Partnering Pedagogy

The last 1.5 weeks, I have been actively working with Marc Prensky's book, Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning.  This book has challenged many of my ideas of teaching and how to go about teaching, and honestly, I still don't quite know how I feel about it all.  While I agree with a lot of Prensky's premises, I have a hard time deciding how much control needs to be transferred from the teacher and the curriculum to the student.  While I believe in student-centered learning and can see practical application and value in much of Prensky's ideas, I believe also that sometimes it is good for students to have to do things that they might not be interested in or want to do.  The argument was often framed that we need to teach children skills they need to be proficient at as functioning adults, and while I agree, there are many tasks that I have to accomplish as an adult that do not speak to my passions (cleaning bathrooms, for example).  My husband sometimes has to do mundane work in his profession, too, so teaching our children that things aren't worth doing unless they speak to our passions is a falsehood and does our children a great disservice.  Also, as adults, we have to work for a boss, and while a teacher shouldn't be a harsh disciplinarian, she does need to be an authoritative figure.  That being said, she can still be a coach and a guide, but children need to learn how to follow and accept authority, and those lessons can come from the classroom.  I also have a hard time seeing (and perhaps it is because I am an elementary major and so much focus, especially in the primary grades, is on teaching children to read) how all the standards can be taught through a partnering pedagogy.  I can easily see its application in teaching science and social studies, and even in math, but I feel partnering can really be utilized to a greater extent in upper grades.  Anyways, just a few of my thoughts that I am working through over the next few days and weeks.