Bringing Inquiry Based Instruction into the Classroom. TRY IT!

Photo By Daniel Foster :)

Today I had the opportunity to bring inquiry to the classroom and test it out! How did it go you may ask? Well to be quite honest, it didn't go as bad as I had expected. Planning was probably one of the hardest parts. I constantly asked myself: am I actually planning an inquiry lesson? And how much of the inquiry is student directed? This was a huge challenge for me and even after doing my lab, I find this method of teaching a bit difficult but completely worth it. Although challenging to prepare for, I realized through this process just how effective this strategy is for students in the classroom.

IBI encourages students to think at the higher levels Bloom's Taxonomy. I requires them to pull all their knowledge together and the information they don't know, they formulate questions. We often hear about teachers trying to avoid questions from students because it interrupts class time or it is disruptive; however, developing questions is the drive behind inquiry. This was a realization to me during my lab. Although I have been told this numerous times and have read different articles about inquiry, it was difficult for me to truly see it played out until I was the one articulating the lesson.

This realization came to me by playing the teacher role. While students were working in groups, what did I do? Well quite frankly, nothing as far as teaching goes! I observed my students and walked between the two groups but I wasn't teaching any content. I listened to the students and I heard them asking all sorts of questions. There were some frustrations, confusions, and others who just went with it. I wanted to just jump in and clarify all those confusions but I quickly realized the importance of inquiry based off their responses. They needed that bit of time for confusion in order to formulate questions about content they did not know yet. It was hard for me to stay quite, and not just because I am a talkative person, but because I wanted to give my students the answers right away. During this time I realized that it's not all about me talking and transferring the information. Rather student directed learning can be much more beneficial and challenges students' cognitive thinking skills.

I will admit that I am by no means a pro at conducting IBI in the classroom. However, everyone has to start somewhere and I am glad to have had this first experience in front of my cohort and advisor who could give me constructive feedback that will only help me improve next time. This was probably the toughest of the labs so far, but just getting up and testing it out has helped me to be more confident with IBI. I also truly believe that IBI is such a powerful learning tool for students, and if I truly believe this then I feel the need to develop the skills to carry out IBI in myself in order to develop the necessary skills in my students. Therefore, going forth from this I hope to put IBI into practice. IBI can be difficult for teachers but we will never improve ourselves if we don't keep practicing. So my message to other educators: keep trying it! Build and broaden your own teaching skills and expose your students to diverse learning environments that promote this higher order of thinking that will enable their own success.