Part 1: Does I nquiry make a difference

There are many aspects that need to be present in order for a classroom to be
inquiry based. One main characteristic of inquiry based learning is that students are
involved in their own meaningful learning experiences. They explore themselves and
formulate their own questions and ideas. Instead of just supplying information, the
students explore, research, pose questions and construct models, graphs, timelines and
charts. In the article A Long Time Ago it talked about kindergarteners learning what
discover means. Instead of the teacher talking to the students about the word discover
(the definition) or reading a book about a discovery, the students got to experience what it
means to discover. They focused on what had been discovered by the students during
their adventure around the room to examine things. During the class conversation
afterwards the students talked about what they saw. As they voiced a certain discovery
other students that found something similar or related in some way chimed in too.
Students also talked about what discovery means to them, their relation to the word, not
just the definition of it. The author also talked about wanting the students in the class to
take ownership of their learning.
The second characteristic of inquiry based learning that I found to be prominent in
these readings is the students participating their learning by self evaluation and reflection
upon experiences. In the Does Inquiry Make a Difference? the students in Kathleens
class decided on their own that they needed to create some way to keep track and show
what they were finding in the research. At the end of the exploration of the ocean, all the
books and materials were left in the classroom so that students could go and learn more
as the year went on. The article stated, As they explored the ocean, many students
became interested in environmental issues, so the class decided that this topic would be
their next class focus (Does Inquiry Make a Difference? 14). There are two key things
from this statement. One, that the way in which the oceans were studied (through inquiry)
provoked students to want to study other science and social studies topics that are related.
Two, that it was the students who decided this. They participated in the conclusion of the
lessons and decided where they wanted to go next. When students are able to do this, they
are going to get more involved in their learning which will result in a deeper
understanding of the material being studied.

Part 2:

A long time ago when I was four by Julie Laird has many great ideas and stories
about children learning through inquiry. She really allowed the students in her class to
take ownership of their learning and when a child would have an idea or question
throughout a lesson or activity, she would use that to take their learning to the next level.
Because of this her students willingly explored and learned about more in depth issues in
social studies and science.
One of the things I found really effective was the student centered discussions that
the author had with her students before, during or after a project, activity or exploration.
These discussions werent extremely guided which allowed the students to pose questions
to other students and learn from one another instead of looking to the teacher for all the
information and answers. I loved when the students were talking about being married
verses not being married when having a child. The teacher observed as the students
debated over this issue. She states, I felt the students were trying to come to terms with
the human life cycle (Laird 146). This is true inquiry. Students are looking at their own
families and then comparing and connecting them to the families of others around them.
While doing this they are able to look at the bigger picture by formulating thoughts and
ideas about different families in society and culture around them. When they are able to
inquire about the differences in families and society they are gaining a deeper
understanding of the community and world in which they are immersed.
One thing that I found to be really meaningful was when the students all charted
and graphed their interests (food, color, animals, toys) and then explored the concepts of
perspective. Through this they learned about being an individual and that people dont
always have the same opinion, which is okay.
I found it really meaningful that the teacher had the students bring in objects that
are important in their family. She prompted students to go home and talk to their families
about a story that they wanted to share that pertained to the family. She took into account
the some kids might not bring in stories, but that they still had something they could
dictate to the teacher. She allowed them all to be typed and displayed so that they could
be read and explored by other students and parents. This allowed students to bring a piece
of them at home to school and share it with their classmates.

I really loved the teachers lesson and activity about the students family timelines
and the timeline at the end of the year. I thought about how I could modify that idea for a
third grade classroom. When looking up the Ohio Academic Content Standards for third
grade social studies I found two standards that I thought I could use in order to modify
this lesson. The two standards I found are:
1. Events in local history can be shown on timelines organized by years, decades and
centuries.
3. Local communities change over time.

Instead of students going home and asking their parents to help them create a timeline of
their own lives students will create a timeline of events in the community. First, students
can go home and talk to parents and family members about the community and its past.
They can ask questions like: When was the town founded? Who lived there? What
buildings were there then and now?
After they talk to their parents, students can converse as a class and see what they all
found out from their families. Then as a class we can do some exploring and researching
through books, I pads, computers, maps, art, music ect. Students can even pick one aspect
of the history of the community that interest them and see what they can find out about it.
Then as a class we can piece together the history of the community through pictures and
words. It would even be cool to bring in a city council member from the community both
past and current to talk to the students about issues that they deal with about the
community. Some may be drastically different; some issues may be the same. Students
can gain an understanding of what major issues in the community they dealt with in the
past, and what they are dealing with now. What the community really valued and was
centered on then and what it is now.
One learning goal I would have for this lesson is that students would be able to
use a wide variety of resources (both primary and secondary) in order to gain information
about the communities past and current happenings. A second goal I would have for this
lesson would be for students to be able to organize main events and turning points of their
local community onto a timeline.