Engaging Students With Questions -- Leveraging Inquiry in any Classroom

The Center for Teaching and Learning presented a workshop on Friday October 18, 2013 on tools and strategies to help teachers to better leverage inquiry in the classroom.  Inquiry activities are powerful means to engage students in developing their own understanding of a concept.  Inquiry activities lead students in a particular direction.

THREE ASPECTS OF INQUIRY BUILDING

1. Explore -- students have some model, example, or manipulative that provides new information/content -- typically revealing an aspect of the underlying structure of the discipline
2. Build understanding -- rules or definitions are built by students as a result of a carefully engineered, teacher-created environment (which may include discussion, activities, experiences, teamwork, etc.); rules/definitions students develop are "owned by the student -- increasing the likelihood of long-term retention and the ability to use the information in examples that are further removed from the original example.
3. Application -- once students have a personal understanding of the concept/content, they apply that knowledge in various ways -- a way of testing the boundaries of their understanding -- and revising that understanding as a result of the new knowledge gained.

WHAT I LEARNED.  We the participants were engaged in a couple different inquiry exercises to help further our understanding of how questions and the inquiry process can help students become more engaged in their own education.   It was a very hands on training.  At the end of the workshop, one of the participants mentioned feeling out of his comfort zone with this kind of instruction, which I can relate to, but we (Jenn, Teresa and I) were ahead of the game since we do that in our COMM 582 class every week :).  It is good to note that this kind of learning can be troublesome for some learners who may feel shy in a group and unequal to the task of providing on the spot answers.  I can see how important it is for instructors  to be sensitive to these learners and provide safe, encouraging means to help students overcome their fears in this area.

Because this kind of instruction is different from the traditional model, it is also common for teachers who have been trained in the traditional method to have difficulty adapting to this new type of learning.  You have to engage on a deeper level when using inquiry activities and it can be draining as you learn to think in a different way.  However, I found it enlightening to see first hand the value in these exercises and how we can empower our students to be more responsible for their own education by using these methods.  I definitely want to experiment with this method in the future.

Our CTL instructors did an excellent job of moving the material along and providing a variety of activities.  They were very organized and worked well together.  Both instructors were easygoing and approachable and were successful in creating a comfortable, safe environment.  Their preparation was key to a successful workshop.  This CTL workshop was a great example as we get ready to present our own workshop in a couple of weeks. 

KEY THINGS I WANT TO REMEMBER

• Be prepared
• Know the material
• Have a variety of activities prepared
• Be warm and inviting
• Use questions to engage learning
• End on time