Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Weekly Investment 9:Inquiring about Inquiry Based Instruction

As I travel on this journey,  I keep learning about new and different methods and techniques of teaching.  The past few weeks I have felt like a sponge just absorbing up all of the information being presented to us and the gears in my head start to turn thinking about how I am not only going to be using these methods and techniques in the spring as I student teach but also how I will use them down the road as the educator in my own classroom. 
So far we have learned about things that I know I will end up using more than other techniques such as lecturing, in class discussions, both forked road and effect/cause problem solving approach, and all types of sheets but I know that I need to stretch myself and reach to use other techniques to help my student grow as learners.  A great way to add variety to the class and to really help develop students' critical thinking skills is through inquiry based instruction (IBI). 
This week were are really digging deep into inquiry based instruction and I have to admit that thus, far I am kind of confused about it.  I have only one experience using IBI prior to this week was a lesson that a group of the cohort members taught while we were on the Penn State Teach Ag Domestic Study Away to Wisconsin this past summer.  It was a time for us to get our feet wet and to really just touch the tip of the huge iceberg when it come to IBI. 
We also did problem solving approach a few weeks ago and in my mind I though that inquiry was going to be almost identical to problem solving, the only thing different being that inquiry does not have a set in stone correct answer.  I though that inquiry was when you pose a question to students that could end up having a variety of correct answers as long as you have the evidence to support your answer. 
That being said, this week's readings have  my mind kind of flip upside down.  As I went through the readings and the way that they organized the information, I am now having a hard time differentiating IBI from an experiment.  I know that  they must different however I am hoping that by the end of the week I will be better able to categorize exactly what makes IBI different from both experiments and problem solving approach. 
All teachers start to become comfortable with a few techniques that they used over and over.  I want to be a teacher who can always pull the tray out of my toolbox and find something new and interesting that will engage my students. It might take me a little to completely understand and be able to successfully utilize IBI but I know at some point, I will be able to reach down into my toolbox of methods and pull out an amazing lesson that is completely IBI centered. 

3 comments:

  1. Macy, what specific questions do you have about IBI? What types of resources would be helpful for you as you learn more about it? I agree that it is a great tool to have in your teacher toolbox!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Macy, I had a lot of the same thoughts as you about this topic. Do you know how you might be thinking of using IBI in your classroom or while student teaching yet?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Macy - I have the same confusion. It seems that there is a lot of overlap, so I am wondering what makes them distinctly different. After attending the pre-service teacher workshop what tool do you plan to pull out of your toolbox in the spring during student teaching?

    ReplyDelete

All Good Things Must Come To An End!

I've been sitting here the past two days working on wrapping up my assignments and getting ready to head back to Penn State to be with m...