Staff Reflections

Staff were asked to reflect on their understanding of inquiry. One for each letter of the word.
I is for....
Immersion is crucial for sparking interest in a new Inquiry topic.
Immersion is probably the most important stage for all children but especially for the young children as they often haven’t had the same experiences yet.
Immersion to capture the student’s motivation into the Inquiry and to record their ‘wonderings’/questions that they initially think about. These are displayed and revisited throughout their learning as they gain further understanding within the Inquiry process.
IMMERSIONThe key to this information is to inspire the learner, to spark curiosity, to engage the children with the topic on a broad sense. This stage is vitally important to set up the inquiry – this is where skills are directly taught and students exposed to information and ideas that will lead them through a successful inquiry pathway. This is the stage that the spark of curiosity is shared and valued through wonderings – it is important that time is given to these wondering so the students curiosities are valued.

N is for....
New information builds on known, in Immersion.
New thinking, learning and questioning emerges from the immersion stage. Curiosity to find out more.
New thinking tools and new learning for the students. Introducing and using new thinking tools – could be keys, hats, MI, Blooms or Habits of the Mind etc. The new learning refers to Immersion and then the Inquiry focus.
New Tools and TechnologyThe integration of technology is a key aspect to inquiry, tools of technology allow the learner to take control of their pathway, to develop critical thinking skills for the effectiveness of the technology for the task. Thinking tools and the direct teaching of how to best use these tools is another important aspect throughout the inquiry process.

Q is for....

Questioning is a skill and a tool by which we discover what we want to know.
Questioning is paramount to the children’s thinking and learning. I have to teach the children how to ask questions first and then improve their quality of questioning. Really enjoyed Trevor Bond and questioning rubrics should be in our policy Lots of practise at this .
Questioning skills that are directly taught to encourage Higher Order Thinking. Students are becoming aware of their own level of questioning and are beginning to gain confidence in using a Questioning Map (G.O) which enables all students to ‘push’ further than they have originally gone. This is a good tool because teachers can add to it in order to deepen the questioning used.
Questioning is an important life skill and a major learning and thinking skill.Questioning is a central core skill that is explicitly or implicitly woven through all of the new curriculum.” All students experience a curriculum that enables them to become active, confident, creative, and innovative learners and thinkers. All students experience a curriculum that enables them to become active, confident, creative, and innovative learners and thinkers.” (NZC)

U is for...

Use Graphic Organisers as tools to record ideas and thoughts concisely and meaningfully.
Understanding
Understanding the Inquiry and its process. As students progress past the Immersion stage, they need to be made aware where (within the process) they are working so they gain clarity of understanding about Inquiry. They need to be able to expect their learning to lead to an action and to understand how to gather relevant information to lead to this.
Understanding – “Useful application of inquiry learning involves several factors: a context for questions, a framework for questions, a focus for questions and different levels of questions. Well designed inquiry learning produces knowledge formation that can be widely applied.” (icwcclusterblog.blogspot.com)Children understanding themselves as learners develop throughout the inquiry process, they set their own goals, reflect on their pathway, evaluate their efforts, learn new skills that they can continually build on as they progress through their inquiry learning. Understanding how tools for learning can impact on their experiences, how different tools can provide a variety of angles on the one aspect. Children develop into self motivated learners as they understand how to use these skills and tools to follow their interests and how their thinking and actions can impact beyond the traditional four classroom walls.

I is for....
It is important to know that WALT ………for a reason or purpose.
Interest
Ideas and Impressions from the students. Throughout the Inquiry it is important from the onset to accept all ideas from the students whether relevant or not and these can be sorted through the use of G.O’s and thinking tools. The impressions refer to the ‘wonderings’ that students have and these need to be displayed so they can be integrated throughout the Inquiry process and students feel ideas are valued.
INVOLVEMENT:“Inquiry implies involvement that leads to understanding. Involvement in learning implies processing skills and attitudes that permit you to seek resolutions to questions and issues while you construct new knowledge.” Icwcclusterblog.blogspot.com

R is for.....
“Responding and Reacting” are positives outcome in all the stages of Inquiry.
Real-life experiences. Inquiry should be full of real experiences so the learning remains meaningful and relevant to the students. This will ensure motivation is maintained throughout the Inquiry.
Reflections Throughout the whole inquiry process it is important to reflect on where you have come as a learner, to reflect on the skills that you have developed and need to develop further. You need to reflect and analyse the whole process to ensure the best learning has occurred, to ensure that the inquiry has been successful.

Y is for...
You celebrate everyone’s effort and creativity at the end of an Inquiry.
Yahoo! Celebration of the children’s learning.
YES…The action! All of the hard work and learning can be celebrated with the action that finalises the Inquiry. This is relevant and meaningful to the students so they are involved until the very end.
You, the learner, takes control – create an action
The power and meaningful aspect of inquiry and to move it beyond a simple research project is to put the new information learnt into and action, an authentic purpose, creating impact with the knowledge. This is a time where learning is celebrated and shared on a local, national and international stage if possible.