Explicit Teaching of Inquiry

School: Brooklyn

Year Level: 7/8

Teacher: Liz Rhodes

Focus area: Authentic Learning-To investigate ways to improve student capability to implement authentic learning with the inquiry process as per the Brooklyn School curriculum.

Research Questions:

Question 1. Implementation: How can we develop student knowledge and awareness of the inquiry process in the Brooklyn School Curriculum?

Question 2. Engagement: How engaged were they during this process? How engaged were the students during this inquiry?

Question 3. Competency: How well do the student’s apply the inquiry process?
Can the student’s describe the steps in the inquiry process as per the Brooklyn School curriculum?
Can the student’s use the steps in the inquiry process as per the Brooklyn School curriculum?
How effective was this approach in assisting students to develop the capability to use the inquiry process?

Success Criteria for Competency

Expert: I can independently define the steps of the inquiry process, I know my strengths and weaknesses and I have a plan to work on my areas of weakness.
Practitioner: I can define the steps of the inquiry process and I can use each of these steps.
Apprentice: I can define the steps of the inquiry process and I can represent this to someone else.
Novice: I can define the steps of the inquiry process.

Learning Story:

1. The inquiry process is part of the authentic learning pillar of the Brooklyn School Curriculum. The inquiry cycle we use is based on the Information Process Learning Overview (ILPO) which includes 6 steps -Defining, Locating, Selecting and Analysing, Organising and Synthesising, Creating and Presenting through to Evaluating the work and planning for next steps.The first step of this action research process was to define the inquiry process at Brooklyn School as a continuum from year 1-8 based on ILPO. This entailed creating a resource for teachers/students to refer to. This resource would then be used for explicit teaching of the inquiry process.

2. The next step involved establishing a clear understanding of the inquiry process with staff involved in this project using the resources developed. (ongoing PD)

3. Baseline data was then gathered through individual conferencing with students of their understanding of the inquiry process. Students rated their understanding of each of the 6 steps of the inquiry process using the poutama.

4. I then collated the interview information. The questions I asked the students:
a). Can you tell me the steps of the inquiry process at Brooklyn School?
b). (Show the inquiry cycle) What happens at the defining stage, locating etc?
c). If descriptions of the inquiry process and the steps are accurate then ask them to describe how you would use the inquiry process to learn or to help you learn.

This photo represents the questioning process where the students are actively taking part in defining their focus for learning.

5. The Teachers directed an inquiry using the above resource to model each step. (Brooklyn School inquiry poster, the steps at each stage and then the overview of the expectations). During this research the children inquired into a topic however the process of the inquiry is the teaching focus. This will achieved through explicit teaching and modelling of the inquiry process and the expectations for year 7/8 children. Each class had a different inquiry focus.

Each part of the inquiry process was broken down with the students.

Collating the end product.

6. The interviews were repeated to measure student’s understanding of the inquiry process.
Questions for the students:
a). Can you tell me the steps of the inquiry process at Brooklyn School?
b). (Show the inquiry cycle) What happens at the defining stage, locating etc?
c). If descriptions of the inquiry process and the steps are accurate then ask them to describe how you would use the inquiry process to learn or to help you learn. It is important at this stage to point out that I could not rate a student as a 7 or 8 as an expert. This was because I didn't ask them what their strengths of weaknesses were. The class teachers did address this in class.

7. Collate interview information.

8. Compare before and after information- note changes and challenges.

9. Feedback results to staff and students. Areas of focus to be targeted in term 2.

Results:

Outcome 1. Competency:

Number of students who were ...

8. Proficient experts - at start [0]; at end [0]
7. Beginning experts - at start [0]; at end [0]
6. Proficient practitioners - at start [0]; at end [40]
5. Beginning practitioners - at start [0]; at end [17]
4. Proficient apprentices - at start [0]; at end [5]
3. Beginning apprentices - at start [2]; at end [2]
2. Proficient novices - at start [6]; at end [2]
1. Beginning novices - at start [60]; at end [0]

Competency effect size = 2.05

Standard error = 0.14

Conclusions:

My research questions focussed on developing student's competence in applying the inquiry process. In the initial interview 60/68 students couldn't recall the inquiry process at Brooklyn School at all. The questions I asked were:

1. Can you tell me the steps of the inquiry process at Brooklyn School?
2. (Show the inquiry cycle) What happens at the defining stage, locating etc?
3. If descriptions of the inquiry process and the steps are accurate then ask them to describe how you would use the inquiry process to learn or to help you learn.

I did not need to ask this question in the baseline data phase as the student's depth of knowledge wasn't there. After 4 weeks of explicit teaching of the inquiry process I found a huge difference in the student's knowledge and understanding of the inquiry process. This was due to the teacher's having a deeper understanding of the inquiry process themselves coupled with explicit teaching of each step of the process. The classes discussed and defined each step of the process, allowing the students to gain in their understandings.

Here are some comments from the students when asked to describe how they would use the inquiry process to learn or to help them learn.

• "Using the inquiry process can help you break down your inquiry into smaller parts so it is easier to find all your information. I think it was better to use the process so you can slowly got through the stages."
• "I would use it in everyday life. I would look at individual steps and use parts in everyday life. It helps you think about what you are doing in assignments. It breaks down what you should do in your head to help you understand better."

My research questions were:

Implementation: How can we develop student knowledge and awareness of the inquiry process in the Brooklyn School Curriculum?

This can be achieved through explicit teaching.

Engagement: How engaged were they during this process? How engaged were the students during this inquiry?

This information was anecdotal: the students were all really positive about their understanding of the inquiry process. One teacher wrote up the steps in a poutama which the students found useful as they were then aware of the expectations for an expert in the defining stage etc. This is just like setting out the learning intentions and success criteria for the task.

The students found this really useful as they could see what was expected of them and could then make changes to their inquiries as the expectations were really explicit.

Competency: How well do the student’s apply the inquiry process? Can the student’s describe the steps in the inquiry process as per the Brooklyn School curriculum? Can the student’s use the steps in the inquiry process as per the Brooklyn School curriculum? How effective was this approach in assisting students to develop the capability to use the inquiry process?

Again these questions were answered with the results. Each of the 3 classes showed a significant improvement in the students capability in using the inquiry process.

This video sums up one child's response to the process.