Submitted by:

Rosemarie T. Nayve

Submitted to:

Mr. Carlo M. Cornejo

Inquiry education (sometimes known as the

inquiry method) is a student-centered

method of education focused on asking

questions. Students are encouraged to ask

questions which are meaningful to them, and

which do not necessarily have easy answers;

teachers are encouraged to avoid giving

answers when this is possible, and in any

case to avoid giving direct answers in favor

of asking more question.

• Self-confidence in their learning ability

• Pleasure in problem solving

• A keen sense of relevance

• Reliance on their own judgment over other people's or society's

• No fear of being wrong

• No haste in answering

• Flexibility in point of view

• Respect for facts, and the ability to distinguish between fact and opinion

• No need for final answers to all questions, and comfort in not knowing an answer to difficult questions rather than settling for a simplistic answer

• They avoid telling students what they "ought to know".

• They talk to students mostly by questioning, and especially by asking divergent questions.

• They do not accept short, simple answers to questions.

• They encourage students to interact directly with one another, and avoid judging what is said in student interactions.

• They do not summarize students' discussion.

• They do not plan the exact direction of their lessons in advance, and allow it to develop in response to students' interests.

• Their lessons pose problems to students.

• They gauge their success by change in students' inquiry behaviors (with the above characteristics of "good learners" as a goal).

One of the advantages of teaching

inquiry is that through the

development of their own queries

and skills, they could link their

questions to their every day lives

and in that way, they could easily

learn new things since they can

relate to whatever they have

developed asking.

advantage for students who are not

the type who loves to read long texts

on books. Because of the hands-on

development of investigations, it

would be interesting for a student who

does not have the attention span to sit

and read books for hours. Those long

unbearable hours of trying to

understand each lesson in a textbook

could be the reason why a student is

categorized as a low-achiever. Schools

that have been using inquiry teaching

have reported that this method of

teaching has created wonderful results

out of low-achiever students.

This method of teaching could also be

an advantage for the educational

system issues pertaining to the racism

and the gender inequities. Studies

showed that educators who was

trained to do inquiry teaching was

more successful in maximizing the

students potential when it comes to

learning the subjects at hand. Teaching

inquiry is the key to the problems

about not giving fair equal education

that the American system could not

offer to all of the races or in both

genders.

Teaching inquiry is a great way to

teach students who are culturally

challenged or those who are in need of

special attention. In other words,

students who do not possess the ability

to learn and understand a lesson right

away are said to have maximized their

potential through inquiry teaching.

Through the hands-on teaching,

students are more likely to relate

themselves through their own

experiences, which is why it is more

effective for them than the traditional

way of teaching

There are some disadvantages associated with the use of the inquiry method of instruction used in isolation. It has been established that in an inquiry based classroom the teacher’s role is mainly that of a facilitator. Many of them experience interactional difficulty with their students. Teachers also face lots of difficulties in channeling and maintaining the interest of students as they engage themselves in inquiry activities and try to derive appropriate conclusions about nature (Bencze, 2009).

They need to be specifically trained in

methods that will enhance their abilities to

use directives in a polite form and

strategically share authority with their

students while at the same time

maintaining their authority in the

classroom. This would call for careful

planning. Careful planning and preparation

is also required for adequate content

information to be imparted to students,

which makes it difficult for some science

topic to be taught using the inquiry method

(Robertson, 2007).

It is possible for students to forget facts

given as rote memorization which is

sometimes used as method of imparting

information. Dewey was disturbed to see

rote memorization and mechanical

routine practices in science classroom.

This method of imparting information can

be done when using the direct instruction

method of teaching

The danger with this practice is

that there is no foundation of

knowledge built which the child

can draw from in the event that

he/she forgets the memorized

knowledge. Their process skills

and abilities to make judgment

would not have been significantly

developed (Wang & Wen, 2010;

Vandervoort, 1983).

Guidelines for

effective learning

Standards for Good

Teaching

• Principle 1. The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.

• Principle 2. The teacher understands how children learn and develop and can provide learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social, and personal development (Effective Learning and How Students Learn).

• Principle 3. The teacher understands how

students differ in their approaches to learning

and creates instructional opportunities that are

adapted to diverse learners (How Students

Learn and Teaching Special Needs Students).

• Principle 4. The teacher understands and

uses a variety of instructional strategies to

encourage students' development of critical

thinking, problem-solving, and performance

skills (Lesson Methodologies and Problem

Solving).

• Principle 5. The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation (What Is Cooperative Learning, and What Does It Do? and Motivating Your Students).

• Principle 6. The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom (Lesson Methodologies and Levels of Questions).

• Principal 7. The teacher plans instruction

based on knowledge of subject matter,

students, the community, and curriculum goals

(Lesson Plans: Using Objectives and The

Question of Homework).

• Principle 8. The teacher understands and

uses formal and informal assessment strategies

to evaluate and ensure the continuous

intellectual, social, and physical development

of the learner (Categories of Evaluation).

• Principle 9. The teacher is a reflective

practitioner who continually evaluates the

effects of his or her choices and actions on

others (students, parents, and other

professionals in the learning community) and

who actively seeks out opportunities to grow

professionally.

• Principle 10. The teacher fosters

relationships with school colleagues, parents,

and agencies in the larger community to support

students' learning and well-being (Special

Projects, Special Events).

There are many options for using historic places in methods instruction and a broad array of possible lessons/lectures professors might incorporate into their courses (see "'The Place of Place'" and a Sample Methods Course Outline). But thinking of historic places as 3-dimensional primary sources suggests the value of using places to prepare novice teachers to teach inquiry, also referred to as problem solving. The following sample lesson focuses most particularly on the inquiry process in history – a perennial methods topic across grade levels in U.S. methods courses (see Session Four in the Methods Course Outline).

1. To introduce a model of history/social science inquiry

2. To examine the role of evidence and the nature and use of primary sources in inquiry

3. To discuss historic places as sources of two-dimensional and three-dimensional primary sources

4. To consider what different primary sources contribute to building inferences and testing hypotheses in the inquiry process

5. To demonstrate the use of a historic place to carry out an inquiry exercise

6. To catalogue what a teacher needs to know and do to prepare for the use of places in historical inquiry

Introduce Steps in the Inquiry Method

A standard model for inquiry in history/social science is as follows:

A. Describe the Problem (What needs to be explained; the problem is often a puzzling question or other kind of

discrepant situation that must be resolved.

B. Generate Hypotheses (Educated guesses that provide possible explanations)

C. Test the Hypotheses (Use evidence to confirm or refute hypotheses and to generate new hypotheses)

D. Formulate a Tentative Conclusion (What is our tentative explanation or resolution of the problem, based on the

available evidence?)

A. Key to the inquiry process is the search and analysis of evidence and the making of inferences based

on the evidence.

B. Historians and other social scientists draw evidence from primary sources.

C. Primary sources (“original sources”) are materials (documents, artifacts, buildings, and the like) that were

produced during the historical time period being examined and provide first-hand descriptions of places

and events; secondary sources provide commentary or interpretation of primary sources and are derived from

original sources. Provide a couple of examples of each.

D. Historic places offer a range of primary sources with which students can make inferences and draw

conclusions about historical events and times.

Traditional primary documents

1. Letters, diaries, maps, newspapers,

public records, artifacts

2. Analyzing traditional primary

documents: see

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/

worksheets/ for worksheets used to analyze

documents

A. Use an existing TWHP lesson plan to demonstrate how a variety of evidence types presented (2-D documents,

maps, architectural drawings, and visuals of the place) work together to allow students to formulate and test

inferences and draw tentative conclusions about a historical question. (List of all TwHP Lesson Plans)

1. Present a photograph, map, or other piece of evidence from the historic place that generates a problem to be

solved or a circumstance to be explained.

2. Based on what students see/read, generate several hypotheses.

3. Provide additional pieces of evidence from that historic place that allow students to test the plausibility of

these hypotheses.

4. Allow students to construct a tentative conclusion that solves the problem or provides a valid explanation

based on the evidence.

A. Here are questions that a teacher must ask in advance of an inquiry lesson:

1. What is the problem to be solved, the situation to be explained, or the puzzle to be unraveled? For example,

what explains the different street patterns in different parts of our city? Why were the earliest mills in America

built where they were? What was daily life like in colonial New England village? How did towns and aspiring

cities in the Midwest and Great Plains attract settlers and businesses?

2. Based on current scholarship, what are reasonable conclusions one can reach with respect to the inquiry

problem? What are competing conclusions about which historians disagree?

3. On what evidence are these conclusions based?

4. How can I make this evidence accessible to my students, in the form of 2-D and 3-D primary documents –

accessible in the multiple senses of “proximity” (is it a place that can be visited), “retrievable” (is it a document

or an artifact that is available for examination/use) and “understandable” (for example, is the language of the

document comprehensible to my students)?

5. Is there an initial document, artifact, model, photograph, map, or physical setting can I present to students that:

a. will generate an awareness of the problem,

b. will spark interest in constructing an explanation that resolves the problem, and

c. will prompt students to propose several testable hypotheses for which additional evidence can

be brought to bear?

6. How shall I make that additional evidence available to students in a way that will help them analyze the

evidence, make inferences from the evidence, and test hypotheses leading to a well-reasoned tentative

conclusion?

7. In short, the teacher works backwards from the tentative conclusions to the evidence that is accessible to students. The teacher makes that evidence available to students, who can use it to test hypotheses and develop tentative conclusions (and perhaps also generate additional questions worthy of further

investigation).

A. Have students search the National Register online database for local places on the National Register.

B. Students can search for TWHP lesson plans that might be appropriate to use or adapt for their final unit plans.

C. With a partner, identify a place in the community that may be historically significant (even if not listed in the

National Register of Historic Places) and conduct a small research project on its history and significance.

Include the kinds of evidence you examined and how they supported your conclusions.

D. Using the resources described above, and others, plan for a field study in your local area that demonstrates the

kinds of evidence that place can provide in historical inquiry. This will allow your students to apply what they’ve

learned about using place in the inquiry process.

A. Provide students with two or three hypotheses about a given historic place and have students

1. identify a variety of primary sources (both 2-D and 3-D) that could be used to test the hypotheses and

2. explain how these sources could be used to support or refute each hypothesis.

B. Have students select a historic place, either locally or from the National Register database and construct an

inquiry lesson that uses sources from that place to make inferences and test hypotheses.

C. Have students select a lesson plan from the TWHP lesson database and identify the steps of the inquiry

process that are implicit in the lesson.

THANK YOU

FOR

WATCHING!!!

GOD BLESS!!!