Participants’ handbook Tintinara 09/03/12 Page 1 of 21

Name: Date:

Inquiring into Inquiry Learning.

A Professional Learning program for Upper Primary Educators focussing on

Inquiry Learning.

FULL DAY WORKSHOP

Participants’ version

See http://www.asms.sa.edu.au/pd/spi/Pages/default.aspx for online learning community support.

Australian Science and Mathematics School Telephone: +61 8 8201 5686

Flinders University Facsimile: +61 8 8201 5685

Sturt Road Email: asms@asms.sa.edu.au

BEDFORD PARK SA 5042 Website: www.asms.sa.edu.au

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TODAY’S ACTIVITIES. 8.30 AM Sign in, coffee, photography consent forms

8.45 AM – 12.30 PM Morning Session 225 minutes

Welcome 20 minutes

Group activities 20 minutes Intervention Methodology 20 minutes

Interventions for group activities 45 minutes

Taster lessons 20 minutes

BREAK (10.30) 20 minutes

Taster lessons continued 30 minutes

Intervention ideas 15 minutes

Reflections 10 minutes

Fertile questions 25 minutes

12.30 – 1.00 PM Lunch break 30 minutes

1.00 – 3.20 PM Afternoon Session 140 minutes

Elicitation 20 minutes

What is Inquiry learning? 30 minutes Bush Tea 15 minutes

Design your own 60 minutes

Reflection and promise to self 15 minutes

3.20 – 3.30 PM Workshop evaluation 10 minutes

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In this session you will be investigate the nature of an inquiry classroom and the

need for ‘strategic’ interventions in an inquiry classroom.

Participants will:

Be familiar with and have an enhanced understanding of the Year 7

Australian Curriculum Physical Science Understandings

Explore ‘Intervention Methodology’

Gain some insights into the look and feel of an inquiry classroom

Mapping your learning On your desk is an A3 copy of the ‘changes’ organiser. After reading the outcomes above

please start by recording your initial thoughts/ideas in the first shape on the A3 sheet –

The morning session

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Welcome Add facial features to the faces below indicating your current feelings about your readiness

to engage your students in-

Inquiry learning

Physical Science

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Group Activities Old salt

Phone book physics

Falling Moon

Water drop

You will be organised into groups and allocated an activity to complete.

Change to an object’s motion is

caused by unbalanced forces

acting on the object ACSSU117

Earth’s gravity pulls objects

towards the centre of the Earth

ACSSU118

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Intervention Methodology Inquiry based learning, intervention methodology & the quest for the autonomous learner, Tania Nethercote, 2011.

Reliance on teacher direction is strongly discouraged. Students can use reference books, the internet,

interactive software, design their own investigations and consult a variety of

people, including their peers, their teacher and any other sources of

knowledge to assist them.

Interventions are activities or actions that support learning, both of discipline based outcomes and outcomes focused

on the learner and their learning.

Interventions can be considered directed, scaffolded or responsive.

Of most obvious concern are the students who either oppose or find difficultly in the freedom and responsibility of the

learning environment.

Autonomous Learners

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NOW imagine that you had to describe the Intervention Methodology to the

parent of a student in your class.

In the space below you can:

Draw a flow diagram (or similar)

Write a one or two sentence description

Sketch the classroom ‘in full swing’

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Interventions for group activities

Each group is asked to prepare a 10 minute ‘taster’ lesson to engage workshop

participants AND add to their content knowledge.

The aim should be for all team members to ‘feel comfortable’ with the content

themselves.

To achieve this aim each participant should engage in an intervention(s) that suits their

individual learning style and prior understanding.

Ideally each participant will contribute to the planning, development and delivery of the

‘taster’ lesson.

Mapping your learning Take some time to revisit the A3 ‘changes’ organiser from the beginning of the session and

add any important thoughts or ideas.

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Taster lesson notes

Old salt

Falling Moon

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Water drop

Phone book

physics

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Intervention ideas

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Reflections Add facial features to the faces below indicating your feelings about your readiness to

engage your students in-

Inquiry learning

Physical Science

Mapping your learning Take some time to revisit the A3 ‘changes’ organiser from the beginning of the session and

add any important thoughts or ideas.

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LUNCH BREAK

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In this afternoon session you will begin to bring Inquiry learning to life and use a

Backward by Design tool to commence the development of a teaching and

learning unit.

Participants will:

Consider the different types of inquiry learning.

Explore the integral features of fertile questions.

Have commenced the development of a unit of work, using ‘Backward by

Design’, focused on a single Australian Curriculum Science understanding.

Consider eliciting prior knowledge, intervention methodology and inquiry

learning when documenting curriculum.

Become a member of a small team which will provide collaborative

support in the further development of the unit of work.

The Afternoon Session

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Elicitation Read each of these statements and record your thoughts in the space provided

"To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you can better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction."

Stephen Covey

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

"Teachers must take responsibility for challenging their students by providing opportunities for them to explore and inquire."

Neil Dixon

Perspectives on Education: Inquiry-based learning

Wellcome Trust

"Contemporary pedagogy challenges us to be deliberate and thoughtful in design, planning, organisation and evaluation."

SA TfEL Framework Guide

"The more the student becomes the teacher and the teacher becomes the learner, then the more successful are the outcomes."

John Hattie

Visible learning

My thoughts

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What is Inquiry learning?

open

guided

closed

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Bush Tea Ideas for interventions

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Fertile questions Yoram Harpaz describes six defining characteristics of a Fertile Question.

Undermining

Open

Rich

Charged

Connected

Practical

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Can you create your own Fertile Question? Be prepared to share!

Water is an important resource that cycles through the environment.

(ACSSU222)

Interactions between organisms can be described in

terms of food chains and food

webs; human activity can affect these interactions.

(ACSSU112)

Some of Earth’s resources are

renewable, but others are non-

renewable. (ACSSU116)

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Design your own

Commence planning a unit of work using Backward by Design principles.

• Form groups

• Choose one of the Backward by Design templates to trial

• Choose one of the Australian Curriculum Science Understandings to write a detailed plan against

• Discuss and plan

“The science curriculum emphasises inquiry-

based teaching and learning.”

“Opportunities for student-led open inquiry

should also be provided within each phase of

schooling.”

The Australian Curriculum www.australiancurriculum.edu.au

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Reflection