Reflection:
Prior to this research, I was familiar with inquiry-based learning more in name than in practice as I was not convinced that it was a meaningful classroom approach that would result in the learners’ skill development; however, as a result of reviewing current literature on the subject, I concluded that it is not only viable, but an excellent approach for engaging learners as they have choice over their inquiry questioning. This approach requires the teacher to become a facilitator who guides the learner through the inquiry process, asks questions to stimulate their critical thinking and problem-solving, develops their information and ICT literacy, and encourages citizenship through drawing conclusions concerning real world issues (Binkley et. al, 2012). As a facilitator, the teacher’s role is to scaffold and model skills that learners need to develop to produce effective inquiry-based research (Stripling, 2003). Literacy is blended into the process as needed since learners are in a constant process of restructuring their understanding of language conventions (Bruce & Bishop, 2002). This experience was pivotal in transforming my doubt into surety that inquiry-based learning is critical to our success with 21st Century learners. I began using this unit, and others structured like it, in senior high school English classes.
inquire
Artifact: tech supported inquiry-based learning environment
As the culminating project in this course, I paired with another student to complete the Arts-Based Project which allowed us to extend our research concerning online inquiry-based learning (Brown, 2004; Owens, Hester & Teale, 2002; Wilhelm & Wilhelm, 2009) in the humanities that embodied the four C’s of 21st Century Learning: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity (Binkley et. al, 2012). Jerry Mah and I created an inquiry-based learning environment titled i-BEC^4 using Google Sites that contains a media studies unit for the purpose of making cross-curricular global connections in the humanities. The design and features of the site developed from our literature reviews on inquiry-based learning. We created a video rationale to frame our work for our peers. The video to the right provides a commentary on the i-BEC^4 learning environment.
inquiry-based learning
A key focus of the ETEC 532: Technology in the Arts and Humanities Classroom was to develop a framework for distance learning for Arts and Humanities courses. Whether in a live classroom or a virtual one, transmission of knowledge is less effective than learners engaging in an active and creative learning process, and it is the relationships and interactions that occur during the process that assist individuals in generating knowlege (Palloff & Pratt, 1999). At the onset of high school e-learning courses, content was primarily text-based and composed of fixed content and assignments which is a duplication of classroom transmission teaching. Don Tapscott (1998) advocates that the net-generation should be taught differently since they have grown up digital; he identifies ten cultural attributes that extends ones ability to understand them and how they will best learn. In particular, their fierce independence and need for immediacy can be satisfied through inquiry-based learning as it allows learners the flexibility and independence to engage in research that is personally relevant. Transmission teaching produces the worst learning results and should be abandoned as a general teaching practice.
How does the theory of constructivism translate into classroom practice?