What does 21st century teaching look like?  Inquiry-based learning...

Shared inquiry and student inquiry require students to formulate and ask questions as well as construct the means of answering these questions based on knowledge that they have collected or shared. Inquiry-based methods allow students to learn to support their reasoning to themselves and others.  The process of student inquiry requires critical thinking and reflection as students put forward explanations and presentations to others to justify their thinking.  In an inquiry-based learning model, students formulate questions, obtain information, and then construct new knowledge reflecting the original question… 

The World Wide Web can act as an excellent resource for inquiry-based learning, but it can also be used as the vehicle in which the teacher facilitates this process.  For example, blogging is the perfect platform to allow students to flourish under this model.  It’s relatively easy to set up a classroom community of bloggers.  21classes.com allows teachers to set up a private community where students can blog with each other about topics that are teacher-directed—whether inquiring collectively or as individuals.  This model is appealing to 21st century learners because student learning is centered on questions that they develop, and it can be largely self-directed within the framework that the teacher establishes.

But what if you do not have access to computers and want to create an inquiry-based unit of instruction?  Some suggestions would be to have student-led discussions, student-led projects, or small group activities based around essential questions that the teacher uses to guide student inquiry.  The key is to have kids asking meaningful questions and have kids searching for the appropriate answers—working collectively or as an individual—to construct meaning.

With or without Web 2.0 tools, this research-based approach is highly effective and engaging—definitely 21st century applicable.
 

 


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