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The Joy of Inquiry-Based Teaching
These two diary entries by Ellen
Berg, a St. Louis language arts teacher, first appeared in MiddleWeb's
diary section. We combine and reproduce them here as an excellent demonstration
of the power of inquiry-based learning that is both challenging and highly
engaging.
"I have never been quite
so excited in my classroom."
A loud argument broke out across the room.
"You're wrong!"
"No I'm not! Besides, we all voted against you."
"Mrs. Berg!"
I summoned the two students to a more private area of the room, and the
two little faces of Tina and Rod, obviously distraught, appeared in front
of me. Tears began trickling down Rod's face.
I went through the routine of asking each student to tell his and her own
side of the story. When I found out what they were arguing about, I broke
out into a huge grin, hugged them, and congratulated them both.
It might be one of the proudest moments of my teaching career.
The Great Fairy Tale Debate
Last week my students were split into five jigsaw
groups to read one of five common fairy tales. In their groups they
were required to create story maps, to decide what if any lesson there was
to be learned from the story, and to see if any magic was involved. Once
each group completed their task, I broke them into five new jigsaw groups.
Each jigsaw group had one member from each of the previous groups so that
all five stories were represented.
The jigsaw groups shared their stories and the information they collected
in the previous task. They were required to find five things that the five
stories had in common and to use that information to create their own definition
of a fairy tale. At the end of it all, they had to create a visual aid and
give a presentation to the class. I was more interested in their critical
thinking rather than a textbook definition or a specific set of five common
elements.
Back to the arguing students. Usually when arguments or disagreements break
out in my classroom, they are about Johnny talking about Sue, or Sue tripping
Johnny, or Johnny refusing to participate. I was ready to give the usual
talk about personal space, staying on task, or respect for others, but this
time I was faced with something new.
They disagreed about the definition of a fairy tale.
Tina explained that the group had settled on a definition that Rod agreed
with, except for the last part. They believed that a fairy tale always had
a happy ending, while Rod believed that wasn't necessarily so. Both sides
offered evidence to support their positions. It was apparent that both sides
had put a lot of thought into it, and they definitely understood what they
had read. They were debating something related to their work even though
they knew I wasn't going to take off for imperfect definitions.
THEY CARED ABOUT THEIR LEARNING!
I have never been quite so excited in my classroom. Somehow, after years
of practice developing high-interest lessons, I had succeeded. My students
were looking past the grade to a higher level, a need to know and to understand.
They were moving beyond the trite answers that we sometimes get when we
ask probing questions. They were thinking!
Some of what I saw
I had done this particular activity earlier in the year when we studied
myths. I was pleased with the results then, so I decided to use the same
structure with fairy tales. The results this time were even better.
I observed groups who systematically went through their stories, looking
for commonalities. Some found that the specifics of each story were different,
and commented, "We've got to look for bigger things. Like in the myths,
they had different gods in them, but they usually had gods." Other
groups debated what "magical" meant; some thought that talking
animals were magical, while others believed that magic had to be performed
by a wizard, witch, or other supernatural being. When they asked me what
I thought, I told them it was up to them to think it through and come to
a consensus. They did.
I saw group members chastising other members for being unprepared. "We
need your information to do this," they said. "You shouldn't have
been playing around when you were supposed to be working." The offending
party looked properly humbled and came to me to ask for a copy of the story
he was supposed to have read. "I'm sorry Mrs. Berg. It won't happen
again."
As groups prepared their posters and presentations, I watched as they ran
through the requirements, checking and double-checking to see if they were
at a 4 level (on our scoring guide). More debates erupted around this topic.
Many groups included more information than I asked for to ensure their preparedness.
As the groups presented, they touched on many of the textbook elements of
a fairy tale. Among them were, all fairy tales have a good guy and a bad
guy; the good guy always wins; men are usually the heroes; they are make-believe
worlds; they often start with, "Once upon a time..."; there's
something supernatural happening in them. I could go on. The depth of their
understanding never ceases to amaze me.
What can I learn from this?
So, that is one lesson that has been successful for me. I could put that
in my files to use again next year, believing that it was the topic, the
group of kids, or just a fluke that it worked so well. However, this is
where the real reflection needs to take place so that I can learn a lesson
about why and how this particular activity was such a success. What can
I learn from this that will help me apply it to future lessons?
I don't have all the answers. I do know that every time I use jigsaw groups,
it is successful. Not only do students have the opportunity to collaborate,
but they are also held accountable for their knowledge with their peers.
Their peers can put more real pressure on them to perform than I ever can.
I also think it worked because it hooked into their prior knowledge. To
my low readers, fairy tales are very non-threatening. Except for my Bosnian
kids, most of them have read them, heard them, or seen the cartoon version.
Even though the stories I used are written on a higher level, not one of
my students expressed a difficulty or unwillingness to read. They were familiar
with the subject, so they were more comfortable with it. I must remember
to hook into their prior knowledge with all future assignments.
I think that requiring my students to problem-solve open-ended tasks is
a motivator as well. The first time I did this activity with the myths,
my students expressed a lot of anxiety, constantly asking me if they had
the "right" answers. Once they finally understood that I was looking
for their understanding of myths and later fairy tales, they relaxed. The
only requirement was that they had to explain their thought process if I
didn't understand. I learned a lot from their creative interpretations of
what they read. They were more than valid. They reflected their own lives
and experiences.
They owned the learning
My students also had to take the responsibility for their own learning.
I was the facilitator, not the giver of knowledge. As they asked me questions,
I questioned them back, trying to help them clarify their own thinking.
It wasn't until every group had given their presentations that I finally
gave them the textbook definition of a fairy tale, and by then, I had their
undivided attention. Many took pride in the knowledge that they had created
a definition that was very close to the official one with nothing more than
their own mind power. How powerful is that?
I'm watching my children gain more and more confidence in themselves as
learners. Isn't it sad that so many teachers chase that out of them so early
in life with their endless lectures, knowledge level right and wrong answer
tasks? Yes, I agree that there are many facts that children (and adults)
need to know. However, can't we achieve that goal while striving to not
only make that information important to children while also teaching them
how to use that information to solve problems? We can be stuffed full of
knowledge, yet be perfectly helpless because we do not know how to use any
of it.
I choose to let my children help themselves become lifelong learners.
PART II
Creating a
"need-to-know" environment
"I love this project!"
This, overheard, as Tina left my classroom Thursday morning. I am thankful
to know that I'm on the right track.
We have moved on to the Cinderella project this week. On Monday and Tuesday,
my students worked alone, in pairs, or at the listening center to read the
Walt Disney version of Cinderella and complete a story map. As students
conferenced with me about their story maps, I learned a lot about their
thinking. I saw that many of them did not see the events in the story sequentially,
and they did not understand what "main events" as related to the
story were.
I had the opportunity to dialogue with them one-on-one to correct misconceptions
and explain parts of the story map in as many ways as necessary until I
saw the "A-ha" in their eyes. I have to make time to conference
more often. I learned a lot from those interactions.
On Wednesday, we charted our results from the story map on a class chart
that includes spaces for the five other versions of Cinderella they began
reading on Thursday. My students engaged in a lively discussion as they
debated about whether the mice were "important" characters or
not -- or if they should include the clock striking midnight as a major
event in the story. Eventually we reached a consensus, and we moved on to
the current phase of our project.
My students have chosen new groups to join, and each one of them is responsible
for reading one of five different versions of the Cinderella story: The
Egyptian Cinderella, The Korean Cinderella, The Persian Cinderella, The
Irish Cinderlad, and "Sootface," an Ojibwa Cinderella story. Each
group is charged with reading the story, creating a story map, and then
presenting their information to the class.
The requirements of the presentation are that the information from the story
map is shared, all group members have a part, information is correct, and
students use correct grammar. One group came to me to ask if they could
present their information as a play; another asked if they could create
a diorama; still another wants to make a poster. As I looked around the
room, I saw all students engaged in learning, helping their group members
out with unknown words or explanations of parts of the story they didn't
understand. The group that has decided to put on a play has made a list
of props that each member must bring.
It was after this part of the project that Tina left my room with such an
enthusiastic comment.
I have enjoyed this project immensely, and I am looking forward to the next
phase.
After my students give their presentations, we will fill in the empty spaces
on our class story map. I will give them all miniature versions of the class
map, then I'll jigsaw the groups again. This time they will have to decide
what all six of the Cinderella stories have in common so they can accurately
define what a "Cinderella story" is. We will use that information
to create the scoring guide for their final project; they will be writing
their own Cinderella stories or plays set in more modern times.
The benefits of delving deeper
I am seeing the great benefits of delving deeper and deeper into one topic
or area of study. I know teachers who fear they will not be able to cover
their curriculum if they spend too much time on one topic, and I must confess
that when I first began learning about inquiry I had some of the same concerns.
However, as I have actually become involved in inquiry and constructivism,
I have found that belief to be untrue.
I think the more time we spend on a topic, the better our students really
understand it. More connections to prior knowledge are made as our students
ask questions and explore. What our students learn becomes more a part of
them as they take ownership and responsibility for their own learning. I
think their learning becomes more permanent as all of our content is set
into meaningful frameworks.
It has just occurred to me that much of learning is affective. We certainly
have many cognitive opportunities on a daily basis, but how many of them
do we honestly pursue? Only the ones that have meaning or purpose to us.
Today my husband learned how to fix a toilet because ours was broken. I
can say with all truth that had our toilet not been broken, he would have
never investigated the fine art of toilet repair.
Creating a "need-to-know" environment
It is not enough for us to tell children, "Because you will need this
when you grow up," or "Because it is good for you," in response
to their question, "Why do I have to learn this?" In fact, perhaps
our true goal as educators is to create a need-to-know environment where
that question is never even asked.
Since I've started this project, I have not had one child ask me why we
were doing any of the activities we have done. I think I have successfully
tapped into that affective domain by honoring their interests, allowing
them choices, and creating challenging tasks.
Some may say, "But you will have spent a month on fairy tales by the
end of this project. When will you have time to cover everything else?"
In this month I am covering a large portion of my curriculum including essay
writing, speaking and listening skills, research skills, reading comprehension,
elements of a story, and using the text to defend an argument. Best of all,
my students are working at the higher end of Bloom's Taxonomy where real
meaning-making takes place.
Not too shabby, eh? Score one for the teacher. However, I cannot rest on
my laurels for too long. The challenge of creating another unit around what
I have learned from this one awaits.
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