The use of inquiry in the classroom is something I have become more acquainted with in reference to the arts. It encourages students to validate their own inquiry and reach learning potential by inviting questions rather than prompting answers. Mr. McKnight in the videos used this process to his benefit and with necessary humility. I have noticed that sometimes teachers are too concerned with using the classroom as a stage to showcase their knowledge on a particular subject. Yes, you have mastered the content, but that does not default to great teaching. Mr. McKnight acknowledges that he is a learner himself and not an expert. Certainly, as teachers we cannot be experts on every subject that we want to introduce to students. Teaching students how learn and to want to learn is much more valuable process than pure dissemination. Which leads next to asking ourselves how do we use the information that is available, textbooks, encyclopedia and the internet.
Based on the videos, teacher can foster good inquiry by using resources effectively to facilitate good questioning. Learning cannot happen in a vacuum. Students start scratching their heads when someone (either a teacher or another student) introduces them to articles or research that invite their attention and peak their interest. This confrontation between students and the knowledge of how something works, prompts them to respond with questions and begins a process of understanding that is tailor to their own style of thinking and observing. An idea I have for motivating students who feel removed from the classroom discourse is to ask these students to bring articles that discuss topics related to class and ask them to read them with family members and create questions they can present to the class. In this situation these students can feel like they are guardians of special information. Creating an environment, in which, all learners feel included in a primary goal of my work this year.
A community of inclusion and knowledge ownership is essential to the inquiry based classroom. Everyone appreciates the validation of their opinions. Therefore, children need to understand that they are scientists, and beyond that have a responsibility to discover and respect the knowledge gained from scientists throughout human history. As scientists, no one’s input is rejected. In this community of learners students also gain insight from live comparison and collaboration. In the classroom, the video and commentary discuss the event of paradigm shifts in understanding. More often than it may occur in education, students happen upon a paradigm shift when they become more conscious of their ignorance on a particular subject. This consciousness must be the precursor to questioning and the renewal of any learner’s craving for answers. In order to get this process going, it is the teacher’s responsibility to prompt the natural questioning that arises from observing the world around them.
As curious observers conscious of their role as scientists, students are engaging in a natural process of the knowledge creating and at the same are expanding the intellectual resources. Especially as children, we ask questions and seek answers. This is very compatible with how people form knowledge and how we have used our intelligence to survive. Teachers are not being wedged out of the dynamic, however, it is that their role is shifting. We are always told to be the “guide on the side,” rather than the, “sage on the stage.” Student inquiry facilitates paradigm shifts in their own thinking and that process is organized and accelerated by skillful teaching.
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