Gina Morgan (EDIM 513- Inquiry Based Learning)

I am excited to continue to learn how to integrate inquiry-based learning into my classroom. I learned about the Discovery Education Techbook which has a plethora of activities to not only engage students, but to easily allow students the opportunity to have inquiry at their fingertips. There are many STEM activity ideas and they all go by unit. This will be a place where I go this year to find new ideas for both science and social studies!  The Optics videos were great and got me thinking about a variety of ways I can engage my students in Inquiry-Based Learning. I looked around and there are more great videos to use on that platform.  I also continue to be reminded that my content areas are key to involving students in inquiry-based education. It is also important to remember that these subjects and this type of learning also ties in with other curricular areas, while also building process skills.  I do not have a specific burning question, but I am interested in contin...

The main insight I have developed over the week was that I actually already do more inquiry based learning than I realized. I never really sat back and reflected on my lessons and what type of learning they would fit into. As technology became the forefront over the past 5 years or so, I feel that I shifted the learning a lot more to the students. Students have become much more independent and their ability to work and learn on their own has improved. Virtual learning did help this to a degree. However, I think it also hurt in some ways. Students really need to be taught how to collaborate in effective ways.  My view of inquiry based learning did not really change, but I did realize that my way of teaching along with the subjects that I teach lend itself to inquiry based learning. I don't really have a question that I want answered by the end of the unit, but I am excited to hear from my peers and gain new ideas and perspectives.