9/09/13

Please dont do it for mehelp me learn to think for myself

Inquiry learning at the Interna/onal School of Manila Notes from presenta2on by Kath Murdoch (does not include school based examples) September 2013

The greatest giK

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful giK, that giK would be curiosity. Eleanor Roosevelt

Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

Where are we headed?

What is inquiry based learning? Why is this a powerful teaching approach for our children? What can we do, as parents, to support this approach at home?
Kath Murdoch 2013

When our learning experiences are connected to the ques2ons, issues, interests and problems that maWer to us - we are more engaged. When we are engaged, our learning is strengthened.

Kath Murdoch 2013

What is inquiry learning

Essen2ally, inquiry based learning encourages children to be researchers from a young age. It takes their natural curiosity and interest in the world around them and uses this to develop deeper thinking and learning.

An approach to teaching that invites children to ask ques2ons - and that links our teaching TO their ques2ons. It is an approach that helps children learn the skills they need to iden2fy problems/ques2ons; inves2gate, analyse informa2on and express their learning to others. It is an ac2ve approach designed to get more kids thinking more deeply more of the 2me!!
Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

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In inquiry, students:
Pose ques/ons and iden2fy problems/issues for inves2ga2on Learn to access informa/on from dierent sources and in dierent ways. They are challenged to make sense of informa2on rather than have it fed to them. Learn to make connec2ons and think more deeply about what and how they are learning

Transfer their skills to dierent situa2ons Learn to communicate their learning in dierent ways Learn how to learn - independently and with others

Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

21st Century Skills

The best thing we can be teaching our children today, is how to teach themselves.
David Warlick hWp://davidwarlick.com/
2cents/

Learning skills

Why is this kind of learning so important?

thinking cri/cally and crea/vely and reec/vely applying knowledge to new situa2ons Researching analyzing informa2on comprehending new ideas communica2ng collabora2ng solving problems making decisions

Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

and this.
Learning and success encompass so much more than gecng ten out of ten for a spelling test. Learning and success are about inner happiness, intrinsic mo2va2on, and having the condence and the competence for discovery and learning Walker, 2007:41 Educators now have an impressive body of research into eec2ve teaching and learning. We know a great deal about how children learn. The inquiry approach allows many of these research ndings to be translated to prac2ce in the contemporary classroom.

Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

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For too many students, learning at school has been bewildering at best.disengaging at worst

Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

In inquiry classrooms
So, what can inquiry look like in your childs classroom?
and what can you do to support your childs learning at home? Teachers help students to be ac2ve learners. More students are doing more thinking more of the 2me! The mind is not a vessel to be lled, but a re to be kindled. Plutarch

Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

In inquiring classrooms

At home

Teachers deliberately ac/vate curiosity

We can ac2vate curiosity through simple, open, compelling experiences.

Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

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At home, we can celebrate the ques2ons our children ask

In inquiring classrooms, teachers do not simply assume what their students already know and can do. They take 2me to nd out what students bring to their learning and to connect new learning with past experience. We know that when new learning is connected to prior learning the learning is more eec2ve and long term.
Kath Murdoch 2013 Kath Murdoch 2013

(And we dont need to have all the answers!)

So then.we inves2gate. Inquiry posi2ons even the very youngest students as researchers.
At home, we can remind ourselves not to underes2mate what our children can do - and what sense they are making of their experiences. We need to give them opportuni2es to share their thinking and observa2ons about the world: What do YOU think? What do you already know about that?
Kath Murdoch 2013

In inquiring classrooms, teachers deliberately show students HOW to go about inves2ga2ng ques2ons which leads to deeper understanding Students learn how to research in dierent ways for dierent purposes.
Kath Murdoch 2013

At home.you can explore and nd things out together.

By talking to others By looking at books By using the internet By observing/no2cing By viewing together By asking others By having a go at working it out By admicng you dont know - and showing your willingness to have a go

How could we nd out more about that?

Kath Murdoch 2013

Its more than just fact- nding.this process challenges students to think more deeply about what they are discovering. We call this making meaning - it takes learning to a higher level and ensures it lasts beyond the lesson/the test/the classroom
Kath Murdoch 2013

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Developing students thinking skills

The challenge of making sense of informa2on is a cri2cal one for todays learners. Schools now understand the importance of equiping students with tools they need to think more logically, crea2vely and reec2vely about their learning We are helping students learn to learn

At home, we can encourage our children to do more thinking for themselves - to take their own thinking further

Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

Digging deeper
How did you feel about that? Why might that have happened? What did that make you think about? How do you think you could change/x/sort that? What do you think will happen next? Did that remind you of other things? How did you come up with that great idea? What made you think of that? What do you think we/you should do next?

Successful lifelong learning is about showing ini2a2ve, making decisions and choices and thinking laterally and crea2vely.2me to play, to create things at home, to imagine, to entertain oneselfis precious - and for some children in our community, in danger of disappearing. (Kathy Walker: Whats the Hurry? 15)
Kath Murdoch 2013

Kath Murdoch 2013

We ques2on We inves2gate We make meaning - we dig deeper and try to understand - not just know We apply this learning in some way - we use it - we create with it.
Kath Murdoch 2013

In inquiring classrooms, teachers focus on developing students independence as learners. We encourage students to goal set and learn how to monitor and manage their own learning as well as receiving feedback and direct instruc2on from the teacher
Kath Murdoch 2013

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Nurturing the inquiring mind

Limit screen 2me Encourage wonderment and curiosity Dont rush to answer ques2ons too quickly Encourage independence by gradually expec2ng more responsibility Be mindful of the feedback growth not xed mindset Model your own fascina2on in the way the world works Show that you are a learner too
Kath Murdoch 2013

ShiKing our thinking

When we adults think of children there is a simple truth that we ignore: childhood is not preparaAon for life; childhood is life. A child isn't geEng ready to live; a child is living. No child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparaAon. How much heartache we would save ourselves if we would recognize children as partners with adults in the process of living, rather than always viewing them as apprenAces. How much we could teach each other; we have the experience and they have the freshness. How full both our lives could be."
- John A. Taylor, Notes on an Unhurried Journey

Kath Murdoch 2013