How can our approach to learning experiences intellectually engage students and ensure depth of understanding? STMU, Sept 25 Prepared by: Ms. Cheryl Babin, [email protected]
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How can our approach to learning experiences intellectually engage students and ensure depth of understanding?STMU, Sept 25Prepared by: Ms. Cheryl Babin, [email protected]
Beginning with the Day in Mind
Taking Flight!
Engaging Inquirers – A Learning Experience
Inquiry for Intellectual Engagement
Essential Questions for Intellectual Engagement
Models of Inquiry: The “Fitsmebest” Model
Video Evidence: Concept-driven inquiry
Exit Ticket
Toolbox on the Wiki
Continued from last week….
http://stmu-edcm603.wikispaces.com/home
Our Digital Parking Lothttp://wallwisher.com/wall/STMUparkinglot
Taking Flight!
Decorate or label a suitcase for yourself.
How would you best describe your current understanding/comfort level with a conceptual approach to unit design?
Using the categories on the wall, place your suitcase on the continuum according to where you feel you are on this design journey. Remember, it’s a journey
Intrigued?
Exploring Money
1. Follow the directions on your table.
2. After 5 - 7 minutes, an indicator will ask you to please rotate .
3. Be reflective about the engagement. Try to make connections to the way “students” have been invited to engage.
Fostering intellectual engagement with artifacts
Possible Explorations with artifacts such as Foreign Currency
Open Inquiry (Discovery Learning)
Guided Inquiry Didactic Teaching
1. Explore the currency.
2. Share your findings.
1. What personal connections can you make to these objects?
2. Using your senses, use a graphic organizer to record some of your observations.
3. Think-Pair-Share with the large group.
4. Formulate questions as a learning community.
1. Label each currency with the country of origin and selected facts about the relation of its value compared to US/Canada.
2. Sort the money according to denomination, color and then size.
3. Or... You could have the currency pre-sorted.
A Teaching – Learning Continuum
Discovery Learning
Unguided Inquiry
Didactic Teaching
Guided Inquiry
Children discover that
butterflies cannot fly when their wings have
been torn off.
The teacher asks the
students to hypothesize the question - does a butterfly need
wings to fly?
The teacher draws attention to
the size of a butterfly's wings
and uses questions to help students develop an explanation.
The teacher tells students that
butterflies need wings to fly.
Making Learning Visible
Your voices in action.... “Listen to your words!”
What could you do with this data if you collected it from students?What did you notice about yourself as a
learner?
Example into a Larger Context
See handout “Foreign Money Engagement – Links to Enduring Understandings, Essential Questions and Skills”
Whole group: Share enduring understandings and essential questions
Find a partner or small group. Review possible skills and learning outcomes within each subject area (Math, Social Studies, Language Arts). Prepare to share your thoughts and reflections about skills that may or may not be included in this engagement.
Intellectual Engagement ~ FLOW
Chart origins: CEA website – Willms, Friesen & Milton. (2009). What did you do in school today? “FLOW” comes from Csikszentmihalyi.
Heads, Hearts & Hands = Engagement
Characteristics of Intellectually Engaged Students…
Intellectually engaged students are:• excited about learning because they use their
hearts, hands , minds to build knowledge• so tuned into work they lose track of time• interested• really care about quality of work• carry their ideas into their lives outside of
school
• more choices in work,• assumed real leadership roles• willing to let go of old norms in light of new
perspectives(CEA, Canadian Education Association)
Thoughts on Inquiry…
"Inquiry is not a "method" of doing science, history, or any other subject, in which the obligatory first stage in a fixed, linear sequence is that of students each formulating questions to investigate. Rather, it is an approach to the chosen themes and topics in which the posing of real questions is positively encouraged, whenever they occur and by whoever they are asked. Equally important as the hallmark of an inquiry approach is that all tentative answers are taken seriously and are investigated as rigorously as the circumstances permit.“
(Wells, Gordon (2001). Action, talk & text: Learning & Teaching Through Inquiry.)
Thinking back...
How did your state of “FLOW” differ within each instructional approach?
How might this reflection impact the way you engage students?
What are enduring understandings and why are they important?
“A primary goal of UBD is developing and deepening student understanding (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011).”
“Understanding is revealed when students autonomously make sense of and transfer their learning through authentic performance (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011).”
Transferable Concepts – BIG IDEAS (UbD, pg 74)
Abundance/scarcity Democracy Migration
Acceptance Discovery Mood
Adaptation Diversity Order
Aging/maturity Environment Patterns
Balance Equilibrium Perspective
Change/continuity Evolution Production
Character Exploration Proof
Community Fairness Repetition
Conflict Friendship Rhythm
Connections Harmony Survival
Cooperation Honor Symbol
Correlation Interactions System
Courage Interdependence Technology
Creativity Invention Tyranny
Culture Justice Variance/variable
cycles liberty Wealth
Students memorize all of the rivers and bodies of water in Alberta.
Students will understand that people settle near rivers and how these bodies of water allow people to live. (Consider: migration, environment, interaction, community, technology)
OR…
Students memorize a chronological list of dates, events and leaders that make up a country’s government.
Students will understand that different types of governments have responsibilities and have a direct impact on the perspectives of citizens in a country.(Consider: Balance, change, community, democracy, diversity, interdependence, justice, liberty, pattern, production, symbol)
OR…
Students memorize bear facts: types of bears, what they eat and where they live. They sing songs about bears, draw pictures of bears and do math facts with bear pictures beside them.
Students will understand that animals are part of a natural ecosystem that is full of living things that are dependent on each other for survival. (Consider: Abundance, adaptation, balance, connection, correlation, cycles, diversity, interactions, interdependence, patterns, survival, system)
OR…
Visible ThinkingConcepts in Action
http://pzweb.harvard.edu/vt/VisibleThinking_html_files/01_VisibleThinkingInAction/01c_VTPoP.html
Taking Flight ~ and Take a Break
1. Re-evaluate your placement on the FLIGHT continuum.
2. Move your suitcase as appropriate.
3. Take a 10 minute break... and please come back.
Essential Questions
“The point of school is not merely to know things but to become better at and more assertive about inquiry. Powerful questions that frame all units signal this educational aim (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011)”.
“Learning to ask and pursue important questions on one’s own is the desired result, and arguably key to all genuine lifelong learning (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011).”
Key reminders…
summative assessments must evaluate enduring understandings and essential questions
formative assessments assess and provide feedback on the knowledge and skills of the unit
essential questions promote higher levels of thinking and therefore higher levels of student engagement
a constructivist approach allows students to become inquirers who are intellectually engaged in their learning
_______________________________________________________________________________
Describe pedagogy that is intellectually engaging…
What does intellectually engaging pedagogy look and sound like?
Using the consensus chart, please take a few minutes to write your personal definition or description in your quadrant
When everyone at your table is finished writing, share your definitions with those at your table
Use the center space to come up with a definition that meets the consensus of your group.
Inquiry-based Pedagogy
Take 10 minutes to explore the resources in your handout.
Return to your consensus statement. Please add any words, phrases, sentences or pictures that may add to the “heart” of the description.
Visit www.wordle.net
Create a wordle that represents your collective view with the group. (Remember that the frequency of a word placed in wordle affects its size in the output.)
A Learning – Teaching Continuum
Discovery Learning
Unguided Inquiry
Didactic Teaching
Guided Inquiry
Children discover that
butterflies cannot fly when their wings have
been torn off.
The teacher asks the
students to hypothesize the question - does a butterfly need
wings to fly?
The teacher draws attention to
the size of a butterfly's wings
and uses questions to help students develop an explanation.
The teacher tells students that
butterflies need wings to fly.
What’s the difference between traditional teaching and INQUIRY?
Decreased emphasis on: Increased emphasis on:
Language as a separate discipline Language as a transdisciplinary element
Skill-drill texts and workbooks A literature-based approach
Restricted reading materials A wide choice of print
Silent, individual work Appropriate cooperative discussion
The teacher as an infallible expert The teacher as a facilitator
Superficial coverage In-depth study
Rote practice, memorization and symbol manipulation Manipulatives, to make meaningful connections to real-life
A text-book driven curriculum Multiple sources and resources for learning
Teacher-led learning Open-ended inquiry and real-life investigations, in which students and teachers are all part of the community of learners
Inquiry is about seeing possibilities
Strategies to structure inquiry
OTQ
Observe. Think. Question.
Building on Real Experiences
Connect to a REAL situation…1.Consider the BIG idea. 2.What do we need to know to get there?3.Create an open-ended task to help students “uncover” the objectives.
Inquiry Units
In an inquiry unit, the focus is on exploring the topic from as many perspectives as possible before finding questions or issues for in-depth investigation.
- Share observations and questions, collect resources
- Inquiry is focused on guiding questions
- Construct meaning through carefully designed activities
- Knowledge is seen as someone else’s answer to prior questions
- Understanding is seen as an ongoing process that involves the formation of new questions which lead to the creation of more compelling theories
Where a street has a different name…
“What street is this?”
http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_weird_or_just_different.html
Page 36
A Closer Look at Inquiry
“Inquiry involves an active engagement with the environment in an effort to make sense of the world, and consequent reflection on the connections between the experiences encountered and the information gathered.”
(PYP monograph, IBO.org)
Inquiry Cycle
From Lindfors: Inquiry As A Cycle (one example)
Inquiry Cycle http://www.inquiryschools.net
Reflect on your work so far: Get feedback from the class, from the teacher, from home. Ask yourself what you have learned: about your topic, about the inquiry process, about
investigating a topic or a question.
So what? How have I changed?
What path do I take now? Am I satisfied?
Do I have new questions? Am I finished with this for now?
Talk to people Read stuff Investigate Listen Go places Write
Think about your current unit of inquiry. What interests you???
© Sonya Wild 2004
Does it look the same from a different perspective?
How do other people or groups or cultures view your idea?
Get ready to present your work to an audience.
It’s time to show us where
you’re at!
I have heard what other people think…what do I think? What is my
opinion? Take some time out to record your
ideas. Ask yourself: “How do I know ?” “Where is my evidence?”
Ask questions
Find Is yours answers the best answer?
Report back
Sample of inquiry model process created by a teacher and her grade 2 class.
Use the resources to Design a “Fitsmebest Model”
Please work with a NEW friend
Use any ideas, inspirations that you have seen
Draft a Fitsmebest Model that you can share with the group (visual product)
If time permits, we will use a Silent Gallery Walk coupled with an opportunity to provide peer feedback
Please respond to at least two models that you see (and ensure each model has at least two responses)
Tips for Teachers: Building a culture of inquiry
• Approach inquiry with enthusiasm and excitement.• Admit that inquiry involves the unexpected for you and for students.• Model the inquiry process in your instruction (show as well as tell).• Use the language of inquiry.• Facilitate the process—discuss, clarify, support and monitor.• Evaluate the process (and make it really count).• Use technology to do what would be impossible otherwise.
(source: Focus on Inquiry, Alberta Education, pg. 15)
Check in on our Parked Thoughts…
FOOTHILLS
3 reasons that essential questions are critical for intellectually engaging students2 ideas for heightening student engagement in your classroom1 question that arose from our work today
Nam
e:
Exit Ticket… Today’s Meet!
Visit the site: www.todaysmeet.com/teachtoengage
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