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<> Each one-hour program features classroom case studies and informative discussions. When you participate in the workshop in a group setting, you get the added benefits of peer interaction during pre- and post-viewing activities. The Learning Science Through Inquiry workshop provides a solid starting point to explore, discuss, and critique the inquiry approach - and ultimately put it to use in your own classroom.

hHelping students learn how to learn: That's what most educators strive for, and that's the goal of inquiry learning. That skill transfers to other academic subject areas and even to the workplace where employers have consistently said that they want creative, innovative and adaptive thinkers. Inquiry learning is an integrated approach that includes kinds of learning: content, literacy, information literacy, learning how to learn, and social or collaborative skills. Students think about the choices they make throughout the process and the way they feel as they learn. Those observations are as important as the content they learn or the projects they create.

Some links for inquiry and digital tools

Action research is a process of deep inquiry into one's practices in service of moving towards an envisioned future, aligned with values. Action research is the systematic, reflective study of one's actions, and the effects of these actions, in a workplace context. As such, it involves deep inquiry into one's professional practice. The researchers examine their work and seek opportunities for improvement.

As a learning community, my school is further down the track in our understanding of inquiry learning than we were at this time last year. Teachers talk about how much they have changed. There is a greater awareness of what's possible when teachers let go and learning is more student owned.

Interesting article about teachers as inquirers. Make time to read it.

Collaborative Inquiry through Philosophy for Children (P4C) - Cultivating thinking, questioning and discussion..  Presenters: Paul Southwell, Nick Martin and Nicole Jaggers, Radford College Canberra Questions: What does it mean to be educated?  s it more important to know or understand?  Is it more important to be knowledgeable or a thinker?

Brain based and constructivist learning is a huge area to learn about but basically it's the theory behind inquiry learning. Brain based learning put simply means using what scientists know about the brain to understand how students learn best.  Constructivist learning is the means by which we construct learning. It is based on students participating in constructing their own learning and the teacher facilitating this rather than teaching it to students as in the traditional chalk and talk model.  

great little story of how a school teacher added to the world's knowledge of humpback whales thanks to her own ongoing passion and inquiry into whales AND the benefit of Flickr, where she could examine other people's photographs of whales

A great blog from a PYP Grade 3 teacher. Ideas for teaching Light and Sound.

good PD could be useful for grades as professional learning for their planning

Science, being one of the more notable inquiries into anything and everything, thrives here. Anyone tasked with teaching kids (or even adults) of all ages might want to mosey over to some of the following examples - which cover a wide range of fields as well as general education - and check out the great resources and talks they have to offer the scientific classroom.

"In the Western understanding, students come to school with levels of innate intelligence and curiosity. Teachers try to further arouse that curiosity in specific subjects. There's a lot of active learning - going on field trips, building things. There's great emphasis on questioning authority, critical inquiry and sharing ideas in classroom discussion. In the Chinese understanding, there's less emphasis on innate curiosity or even on specific subject matter. Instead, the learning process itself is the crucial thing. The idea is to perfect the learning virtues in order to become, ultimately, a sage, which is equally a moral and intellectual state. These virtues include: sincerity (an authentic commitment to the task) as well as diligence, perseverance, concentration and respect for teachers. "

The NMC is pleased to announce the interim results of the 2013 Horizon.K12 Project, as presented at the 2013 CoSN Conference in San Diego. The Horizon Project Advisory Board voted for the top 12 emerging technologies as well as the top ten trends and challenges that they believe will have a significant impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in global K-12 education over the next five years. These initial results will be compiled into an interim report, known as the "Short List," and described in further detail.

Summary via The Scout Report (May 2012): "The earth sciences encompass a range of fields, including geology, meteorology, and other areas of inquiry. This website features a range of lesson plans and activities that cover these fields, designed for both high school and college classrooms. In total, there are over two dozen activities here divided into sections such as Rocks & Minerals and Earthquakes & Volcanoes. The Rocks & Minerals area is a particularly rich vein of pedagogical material. It features a mineral identification lab session and a lesson plan that probes the world of igneous rocks. Moving along, the site also includes engaging materials on the formation of clouds, atmospheric pressure, and a humorous lesson plan on thunderstorms. [KMG]"

"What is Digital Is? The Digital Is website hosts a growing collection of stories, reflections, and resources about teaching and learning writing in a digital age. As the collection grows, we hope to maintain a certain point of view about teaching and the practice of writing: heavy on reflection, open to inquiry, focused on authentic student accomplishment. Here we collect five takes on the Digital Is point of view. "

I had the wonderful app-ortunity to make a site visit to Westlake H.S. in Eanes ISD on Wednesday February 1st. When we arrived, various campus and district officials shared some background on the student-centered learning initiative. They focused on multiple benefits of the 1:1 iPad initiative where high school seniors were issued iPads like textbooks at the beginning of the year. In a time where global communication, inquiry-based opportunities, and self-directed learning is how students manage the information revolution, it was refreshing to get to observe an iLearning Utopia.

Read Writing Think Graphic Organizer- Animal Study