11READING/Effective Inquiry LearningREADING/Effective Inquiry Learning

Dynamic Reading Strategies Dynamic Reading Strategies Begin with Inquiry LearningBegin with Inquiry Learning

Susan Kohler, M.Ed.Susan Kohler, M.Ed.

Director of Teacher Training ProgramDirector of Teacher Training Program

Florida Gulf Coast UniversityFlorida Gulf Coast University

FASCD ConferenceFASCD Conference

Nov. 30-Dec.1, 2007Nov. 30-Dec.1, 2007

Orlando, FloridaOrlando, Florida

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Why Inquiry?Why Inquiry?

• Inquiry provides a compelling PURPOSE, POWER and FORCE - and without it, significant learning is difficult to achieve.

• INQUIRY is the process of addressing problems expressed by guiding questions. The big, underlying questions define and drive the activity of learning: observing the world, forming hypotheses, collecting data to confirm or disconfirm their hypotheses, etc.

• Students learn how to use problem-solving tools to construct understandings, just like the experts do.

Topical & Critical InquiryTopical & Critical Inquiry

• Topical Inquiry– Engages with a disciplinary

question

– Explores what is already known and thought

– Explains and interprets the data and identifies connections in the data

• Critical Inquiry– Elaborates and invents

(makes new connections, fills gaps with new data and insights)

– Extends and applies – extrapolates what has been learned and finds applications for the learning

– Evaluates and adapts – uses what has been learned in new ways, transferring, adapting, and revising understandings

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Inquiring Minds…Inquiring Minds…• Motivation is the key: Students want to

be insiders and members of the club. We must hook them and move them along a continuum of engagement with the subjects we teach.

• “When all life has been drained from a subject, we’re back to desperately trying to motivate kids with tests, grades, stickers and pizza.” Jeffrey Wilhelm, 2007

The Engagement ContinuumThe Engagement Continuum(Saxton & Morgan, 1994)(Saxton & Morgan, 1994)

• Interest: being curious about a problem or topic

• Engagement: wanting to be involved with the tasks associated with the problem.

• Commitment: developing a sense of responsibility to the task and its importance.

• Interpretation/ Internalization: making connections

• Application: finding new situations where the new understandings can be used

• Generation: generating new data and interpretations that build on the info

• Communication: wanting to share new understandings and questions with others

• Evaluation: Willing to refine one’s own learning process.

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Why study Lewis & Clark?Why study Lewis & Clark?• They opened up the West, which more than doubled

the size of the U.S.• $15 million Louisiana Purchase of the West from

Napoleon Bonaparte (1803) to President Jefferson.• They discovered and catalogued 178 new plants

and 122 new species and subspecies of animals, e.g:– Big horn sheep– Mule deer– Grizzly bear– Prairie dogs– Badger– Coyote– Jack rabbit

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Why study Lewis & Clark? (cont.)Why study Lewis & Clark? (cont.)

• Provided specific information on 122 different native tribes---their cultures, customs, populations, economies.

• 3/5 of the modern world’s agriculture comes from plants first domesticated by Native Americans (e.g. potatoes, beans, pumpkins, peanuts, tomatoes, chocolate, squash, tobacco, etc.)

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The Lewis & Clark Trail The Lewis & Clark Trail • It’s the path through the future states of

Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon – and back.

• 1804-1806:A snapshot of the Western US:– Geography and ethnography– Flora and fauna

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Targeted Skills:Targeted Skills: Critical Thinking, Critical Thinking, Research and Writing Skills Research and Writing Skills

• Objective. Students will ponder an inquiry question, and answer it via research, collaboration, assignments, and a final product, considering a variety of perspectives and lenses

Inquiry or Essential Question. In what way was the Lewis & Clark expedition a success or a failure, why do you think so, and from whose perspective was it a success or a failure?

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Introductory ActivitiesIntroductory Activities a) Students define “success” and “failure”

related to their personal experiences and discuss how to measure it (think-pair-share). b) Students debate this statement: “Journeys are always successful.” c) Students discuss journeys they have made and whether they would consider them successes or failures, and why. d) K-W-L Lewis and Clark Expedition.

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Research and WritingResearch and Writing• Using reference materials, students conduct

research to determine how they will approach the inquiry question (working in groups).

• Students will complete a research log with at least five sources (primary and secondary sources.) They may consider the perspectives of members of the Corps of Discovery, the slave York, the dog Seaman, President Jefferson or Lewis and Clark.

• Students must develop three “what if” questions based on the sub-questions (see Lesson Plan).

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Poetry – “Poetry – “Testing New Waters” and a Testing New Waters” and a Found PoemFound Poem

• Feelings about new journeys/exploration• What is a Found Poem?

– Find an interesting portion of text

– Choose which lines you’d like to use

– Choose which words in those lines you’d like to use

– Write your poem, which becomes a “snapshot” version of that portion of text.

– Now you have “found” a poem in the text!

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Found Poem – “Lewis and Clark”Found Poem – “Lewis and Clark”Ambrose, Stephen (1998), Voyage of Discovery, p. 79.Ambrose, Stephen (1998), Voyage of Discovery, p. 79.

Winter.Hunting, trading, building, repairing, writing:“America West of the Mississippi.”Flora, fauna, climate, fertility,Peoples, wars, economies,Observations and local inquiry---Sioux, Mandan, Hidatsa.Pirates of the Missouri.

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Predicting: “Slip-Seek-Say”Predicting: “Slip-Seek-Say”

• Read your slip of paper to as many people as you can within two minutes

• Sit down and offer predictions as to what you believe the passage is about

• Support your predictions with specifics• We then read the passage and check

our predictions afterwards. How close did we get to the “gist” of the passage?

The Captain’s DogThe Captain’s Dogby Roland Smithby Roland Smith

• Vocabulary– Charbonneau– Pirogue– Rudder– Treacherous– Cruzatte– Gunwale– Boudin blanc

• Slip-seek-say• Predictions about:

a) the vocabulary (in context), and

• b) what do you think the passage is all about? Support your predictions, please.

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““Ranking” for Critical ThinkingRanking” for Critical Thinking• Who are the four most important

members of the Corps of Discovery? Students write a persuasive essay in answer to this question, ranking them in order of importance. They must explain why they chose them and ranked them in this way, answering this question: In what ways did they contribute to the success or failure of the expedition?

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Expeditionary Learning: Students as Explorers!Expeditionary Learning: Students as Explorers!

Lewis and Clark at the Park! • Field trip to a park where students search out

flora and fauna in the park, narrow their tasks to cover five items each, and then: – a) draw a map of their journey,– b) draw each item they find and name it, – c) take detailed notes about each item, – d) label their drawings. – e) cut out drawings, create mobiles, hang them from

the trees around the picnic tables

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Inquiry Questions and TasksInquiry Questions and Tasks

• How does the natural world drive expeditions?

• How did natural events (weather, animals, nature) affect the success or failure of the mission?– Write a powergraph answering the questions

above.– Write a diary entry about your personal

“journey of discovery” in Lakes Park today.

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Defining “Inquiry Learning”Defining “Inquiry Learning”

• Please ponder this: – How do big questions drive the learning?– Create your own definition of “inquiry

learning,” based on the evidence.– Then we’ll share with the class.

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““Tell me and I forget, show me and I Tell me and I forget, show me and I

remember, involve me and I understand."remember, involve me and I understand." • Involvement leads to understanding• "Inquiry" is defined as "a seeking for truth,

information, or knowledge by questioning.“• Individuals carry on the process of inquiry

from the time they are born until they die. • The process of inquiring begins with

gathering information and data through the human senses -- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling.

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Do educators discourage inquiry?Do educators discourage inquiry?• Traditional educational systems have discouraged the

natural process of inquiry. Students become less prone to ask questions as they move through the grade levels. Students learn not to ask too many questions ---- instead, to listen and repeat the expected answers.

• Well-designed inquiry learning produces knowledge formation that can be widely applied.– BIOLOGY: Don’t start with molecules – begin with a provocative

question like: “Is sex even necessary?”– MATH: A cord of almond wood costs $190. I paid $190 for a

pile that was 4’ wide and 2’ wide. Did I get an honest deal?– SCIENCE: What diseases have you had that were caused by

viruses? How did you catch the virus? What kind of medical treatment did you receive and how effective was it?

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Applying InquiryApplying Inquiry• Inquiry has been used primarily in science

education, but it can be applied to all disciplines.• Individuals need many perspectives for viewing

the world. Such views could include artistic, scientific, historic, economic, and other perspectives.

• Disciplines should interrelate, maintaining the integrity of the various disciplines and their world views.

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Have we been successful?Have we been successful?Did the Students become Experts?Did the Students become Experts?

• Experts see patterns and meanings not apparent to novices; they have in-depth knowledge of their fields, structured so that it is most useful.

• Experts' knowledge is not just a set of facts -- it is structured to be accessible, transferable, and applicable to a variety of situations.

• Experts can easily retrieve their knowledge and learn new information in their fields with little effort.

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What did you learn?What did you learn?

• Post-it note responses to this presentation: a) Please write down a strategy or two that

you’d like to use in your classroom;

b) Write down one thing you liked about the presentation and/or something I could improve for next time.