is magazine 8.1 - Autumn/Spring 2005 - International Schools ...

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Inquiry teaching and learning Inquiry teaching and learning A focus for professional development: Vani Twigg describes a PYP workshop at the English School in Bogotá ‘The ability to question is the ability to see beyond the facts and opinions placed before you. The ability to see that most answers are only partial solutions and there are many more questions to explore, is a sign of a life-long learner, whether aged 2 or 92’ (Callison, 1997) Teacher: “So what are you trying to find out?” Student: “Which one will make more bubbles.” There’s lively chatter, exploration and discoveries around the room. Suddenly a student calls out “Come here and see what I have found”. The teacher goes over and the student proceeds to explain how shaving foam by itself is soft but between two rulers it acts as a sticking agent like glue. In the next classroom, a group of students is watching a video which shows a class doing a ‘challenge’. It involves working as a group, following their plan (or trying to in some cases) to make something out of recycled materials. After watching the video the students share their views about what they have just seen. Who are these students and which school is this? The students are actually teachers participating in an inquiry workshop (INSET) at The English School-Fundacion Colegio de Inglaterra, Bogotá, Colombia. As more schools around the world are adopting the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the issue of inquiry teaching and learning, which is at the heart of the PYP teaching philosophy, A group inquiry – into bubbleology. becomes the focus of professional development. As teachers begin to familiarize themselves with the philosophy of PYP, they also seek out pragmatic strategies that they can use in the classroom to promote that inquiry which will become a vital part of each student’s life-long learning. The teachers, students and parents at the school are in the process of developing units of inquiry among other aspects of the PYP implementation process. TES is a bilingual (English- Spanish) N–12 school of more than 1600 students. Most of the teachers in the pre-school and primary sections are bilingual speakers. Only a handful of teachers are English speakers. With the implementation of the PYP, the role of professional development becomes extremely important as teachers try to grapple with new information that will refocus and reconceptualise their teaching knowledge, style and experience. And since sending teachers out of school or the country to attend workshops can be very expensive, it is imperative that schools use the expertise and experience they have available inschool to provide workshop and professional development opportunities. Teachers can teach teachers. During one of these INSET sessions I was assisted in Spanish by Rosa Cely, a Transition teacher who majors in bilinguialism. Two hands-on inquiry techniques were available for analysis. The Challenge video mentioned above, and an Open Inquiry using foam and bubbles were explored. 16Spring is Autumn 2005
Teachers made discoveries, asked questions, collaborated, worked independently, reflected and shared. In the latter (adopted from the Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry) the teachers were themselves told to use the materials to explore foam and bubbles to find out what they could about their physical properties. During the discussion to close the session, teachers were reminded of the importance of not discarding their hard earnedknowledge and experience for someone else’s good teaching ideas (PYP Making it Happen) but rather to focus their attention on analysing the two inquiry techniques that they can use in their classrooms. Some of the issues raised in English and Spanish were: Strengths of the Challenge ● Working from a plan helped the children have an idea of what they were aiming for. ● Colaboracion de la profesora sin interferer en el proceso y en las respuestas de los ninos. (Collaboration from the teacher without interfering in the process or answers provided by the children). Weakness of the Challenge ● El idioma hizo que no participaran todos espontaneamente. (Due to language barriers not everyone participated spontaneously). Strengths of the Open Inquiry ● Through the exploration of materials, the objectives were achieved ● Procesos de pesamiento y resultados inmediatos. (Develops the thinking process and results are immediate). Weaknesses of the Open Inquiry ● Opportunity for disruptive behaviour. ● No hubo puesta en comun de los resultados obtenidos.(There was no sharing of results obtained). A great deal of discussion dealing with classroom management, time management, teaching styles, learning styles and the bilingual nature of the school was generated by these responses, as the teachers began to question, contribute their ideas, and clarify their thoughts. is Autumn 2005 Spring Inquiry teaching and learning Issues relating to our school’s curriculum, or lack of it were also raised. These assisted in the open dialogue of refocusing and reconceptualising teachers’ current personal practical knowledge and also their technical and tacit knowledge. As this inquiry session drew to an end it became clear that: ‘Professional development must satisfy the ongoing need of all prospective and practicing teachers to continue to grow, to increase their knowledge and skills, and to improve their value to students. A commitment to inquiry as something all humans must do to improve their lives and those of others is an important theme for professional development in addition to its other goals. The most effective professional development not only stimulates the need to continue to learn, it also provides knowledge about where to look for information, it provides opportunities to improve teaching and learning, and it introduces teachers to tools for continuous improvement. These tools include strategies to analyse classroom experiences, to observe and provide useful feedback to others, to record and document observations and important information from other sources, and to search databases for useful guidance and material.’ (Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards 2000). In sum, this session equipped teachers to think about how the inquiry process and inquiry abilities can be interwoven in their daily lessons and how the local milieu can be used to promote students’ learning. As one preschool teacher said “Wow, I have used foams and bubbles before with my students but only just for fun. I never realized their inquiry potential”. Bibliography Vani Twigg is a Grade One Teacher at The English School, Bogatá, Colombia. Callison, D. (1997) ‘Key Term: Questioning’, Vol X111, No 6 Indiana University: Bloomington Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry (2000). San Francisco, CA. http://www. Exploratorium.Edu/IFL/about/index.html Inquiry and the National Education of Science Standards – A Guide for Teaching and Learning (2000). National Academic Press, Washington DC Making the PYP Happen (2000) Switzerland. IBO 17
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