Inquiring Minds Want to Know

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Inquiring Minds Want to Know

• Emily M. Castleberry
• Pamela W. Hines

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Building A Community of LearnersInquiry Based
Learning Teachers Students
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Research shows that professional development is
most effective when

• Centered on the critical activities of teaching
  and learning planning lessons, evaluating
  student work, developing curriculum rather than
  abstractions and generalizations
• ( Lave Wenger 1991 Loucks-Horsley et al. 2003,
  p. 205 Sutton Krueger 2003, p. 26)

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Key FindingsHow We Learn

• Learners come to learning situations with prior
  knowledge. Those understandings must be engaged
  in order to learn from new knowledge.
• Learners need to learn subject matter in greater
  depth. Possess a command of facts, ideas and
  contexts that translate to new understandings
  applicable to new circumstances.
• Learners should be given the opportunity to think
  about their learning. (Metacognition) Reflection
  helps learners take control of their learning by
  goal setting and self monitoring of progress.
• --National Research Council, 1999

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What is a Community of Learners?

• Groups of learners who have similar interests, a
  desire to learn, and are willing to share ideas
  and opinions. (Collaborative Learning)
• Members must have mutual commitment to the
  group's goals and engagement in the process.
• Members grow through interaction with other
  members.
• Key Conceptmembers learn best from each other.

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Online or Face-to-Face

• A group which meets frequently and regularly to
  discuss educational reform is able to cover the
  issues in much greater depth than a one-time
  event.
• There is time to reflect, experiment in a
  classroom, share successes and failures, and
  receive feedback from other teachers experiencing
  the same thing.
• Professional development becomes a long-term
  continual process with far greater results than
  can be achieved through a short workshop.

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Online Learning Communities

• Time for learning is flexible and available 24/7
• It's an anywhere, any time environment whose
  focus is determined by the members providing
  "just-in-time" learning.
• The ongoing nature, and focused structure of
  online conferencing facilitates the creation of
  online learning communities geared toward
  providing professional development
• A listserv can be an excellent resourcebut the
  the flow of information is primarily one way, the
  interactive discussions possible in an online
  conference are essential in creating a learning
  community where real growth relies on the active
  exchange of ideas.
• The conversation is relevant, timely, and
  utilizes the group's experience.

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Face-to-Face Learning Communities

• EX Classroom community is a specific type of
  community based on the following characteristics
• (a) Settingworld of education
• (b) Primary purposelearning
• (c) Communitybased on fixed organizational
  tenure (set length of course or program)
• One should also make a distinction between
  classroom community, which is a community of
  learners, and school community, a workplace
  community of principal, teachers, and others who
  are primarily managers of learning.

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Current Thinking Research

• No single approach can build a professional
  community of learners (Bransford, Brown
  Cocking, 1999 Kilbride, 2000 Short Burke,
  1991).
• A continuum of possibilities must provide
  opportunities and support for teacher-generated
  learning, discussion, and reflection offered
  alongside access to outside knowledge(Barth,
  2000 Senge, 1997 Sergiovanni, 1994).
• Flexibility is essential for shaping content and
  process for adapting to individual approaches,
  needs, and preferences and for responding to
  expanding teacher leadership roles (Campione,
  Shapiro and Brown, 1995 Chisholm Wetzel, 1997
  Collis, Vingerhoets Moonen, 1997 Reeves
  Reeves, 1997 ).
• Building community requires the development of a
  community mind represented in shared values,
  conceptions, and ideas about schooling and human
  nature (Chen, 1998 McCahill, 1998
  Sergiovanni,1994)

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Community of Learners and the Inquiry Based
Learning Connection

• Inquiry Based Learning began as a natural part of
  a community of learners with the practice of
  Socrates
• Recent years have seen a growing call for inquiry
  to play an important role in science education
  (e.g., American Association for the Advancement
  of Science AAAS, 1994 Blumenfeld et al., 1991
  Linn, diSessa, Pea, Songer, 1994 NRC, 1996).
• Inquiry experiences can provide valuable
  opportunities for students to improve their
  understanding of both science content and
  scientific practices.

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National Center for Outreach (NCO) Replicable
Workshop Project Partnerships for Learning with
PBSKids Go!
 

www.pbskidsgo.org

• You Have an Outdoor Classroom! How Can You Use
  Inquiry-Based Learning In the Schoolyard
• Inquiry-based learning (IBL) enhances
  critical-thinking ability as measured by the
  Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (J Nurs
  Educ. 2000 Nov39(8)360-4.)

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The Outreach
 

• The National Replicable Model
• Teacher Training
• Community Events with Children
• Train The Trainer Seminar

The overriding goal for the National Center for
Outreach is to assist PBS stations such as UNC-TV
to provide meaningful outreach to local
communities, helping to foster and deepen
existing community partnerships in the community.
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Our Students Are Different.

• Millennium Generation Echo Boom Generation Y
• Biggest generation since Baby Boomers 60 million
• Born 1979-1994 most enter adulthood this decade
• Diverse 1 in 3 is not Caucasian
• More than half (53 ) of 18-24 volunteer on a
  regular basis
• Consumer decisions based on word of mouth and
  Internet NOT television
• Their hot rods are tech gadgets, iPods, phones,
  digital cameras
• Communication for them is global and instant
  community is not bound by geography but by common
  interest.
• One in four lives in a single parent household.
• Three in four have mothers who work outside the
  home
• Grown up in a media saturated world more
  discerning than their parents.

Laura Hunter, Ten Leadership Lessons for
Technology Integration, February 2006 UTAH
EDUCATION NETWORK www.uen.org
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Inquiry Based Learning Still Connects

• Collaborative Learning and Learning Theory

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Constructivism

• Language is critical.
• It doesnt merely tell what a person is thinking
  it enables thinking.
• Social Constructivism
• Learning is not innate, but a process of the
  person within their environment. Learning cannot
  be separated from the social context in which it
  occurs.

Leo Vygotsky
Laura Hunter, Ten Leadership Lessons for
Technology Integration, February 2006 UTAH
EDUCATION NETWORK www.uen.org
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Vygotskys Ideas

• Zone of Proximal Development
• New info needs to fit with existing knowledge
  structures.
• Scaffolding
• New knowledge builds on existing knowledge.
• Learning happens across the lifespan.

Laura Hunter, Ten Leadership Lessons for
Technology Integration, February 2006 UTAH
EDUCATION NETWORK www.uen.org
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Use Primary Sources

• Students need to
• Learn science by being scientists
• Learn writing by being writers
• Learn history by being historians
• Students do this by analyzing and interpreting
  along with the experts

Laura Hunter, Ten Leadership Lessons for
Technology Integration, February 2006 UTAH
EDUCATION NETWORK www.uen.org
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Burton Elementary School

Inquiry Based Learning Visit to
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Clifford, The Big Red Dog promotes PBS KIDS GO!
In all things of nature, there is something of
the marvelous. -Aristotle
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Clifford, The Big Red Dog promotes READ, VIEW, DO
and character education
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• Adults working together

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Children working together to create a quilt
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Everything a school does teaches value
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The finished product-Burton Rocks Patchwork
Quilt
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Sample of PBSKids Go! Inquiry Based Learning
Resources

• EekoWorld (Environmental Education for Kids
  Online) engaging and interactive format that
  invites children to explore, experiment, and
  collaborate as they learn about conservation and
  the environment. http//pbskids.org/eekoworld/
• Download the DragonflyTV Educator's Guides to get
  kids started on their own inquiry investigations.
  The activities are developed with the National
  Science Teacher's Association. They're aligned
  with today's science standards, and they're ideal
  for the classroom or for after-school programs.
  http//pbskids.org/dragonflytv/

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pbskidsgo.org
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Emily M. Castleberry Literacy Coordinator
TeacherLine Manager [phone]
ecastleberry_at_unctv.org Pamela W. Hines PreK-12
Manager [phone] phines_at_unctv.org UNC
Center for Public Television 10 T. W. Alexander
Drive Research Triangle Park, N. C.
27709 www.unctv.org