How the Information Theory was enacted

Inquiry learning activities implement a social constructivist approach that enables students to interact with the information they discover. Students are strongly encouraged to ask questions to help build their understanding and comprehension and in so doing construct their own concepts and knowledge. The questioning approach, so fundamental to inquiry learning, is used throughout the inquiry process thus enabling students to progress from simple fact finding to the application of new found knowledge in new and unrelated circumstances (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, & Caspari, 2007).

The most important educational implication of constructivist learning is that it is student centred.  According to the constructivist view point knowledge is a creation of the mind and is constructed as we network with our surroundings. It is an active process of selecting and interpreting information and is influenced by our own unique, existing schemata as well as by our interests and motivations. The ultimate aim of all guided inquiry learning is to develop the initiative, confidence and problem solving skills required for open inquiry. Students need to develop this skill over time and this is where guided or structured inquiry tasks come in. Slowly, as students are scaffolded and facilitated through increasingly less structured tasks they develop the skills and mental stamina needed to accomplish these tasks.It is vital; therefore, that learning is student centred and active (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, & Caspari, 2007; Coffman, 2009).

Inquiry learning can be viewed on a continuum ranging from confirmation inquiry that is highly teacher directed, to open inquiry that is entirely student led. The ILA that I witnessed would be placed at the midpoint of that continuum as it is Guided Inquiry with sufficient teacher scaffolding as required by young adolescents. (Bell, Smetana and Binns, 2005)

The role of the teacher in guided inquiry learning includes:-

·         Encouraging curiosity:  During the ILA the teacher accomplished this by beginning the task with an online survey that enabled students to discover how many planets it would require for humanity to survive if everyone lived they way they do. This served to pique student interest about their ecological footprint.

·         Engaging extrinsic and intrinsic motivation:  students are more inclined to pursue something if it interests them personally. The teacher engaged students’ intrinsic motivation by asking them to identify one ‘footprint factor’ that was of interest to them in order to focus their inquiry research on that particular topic. Intrinsic motivation was further encouraged by making some of the goals personal, for instance “strategies that you, your family or local community could take to reduce your footprint”. One of the ways that extrinsic motivation was accomplished was to display excellent examples of past students work, this encouraged students to have a goal to work towards.

·         Facilitating:  this teacher guided the learning process by asking questions, commenting and relating new and unfamiliar experiences with established ones.

·         Creating a learning environment:  the teacher creates an environment in which the students can have the kinds of experiences they need to have in order to learn. The ILA was designed to lead the learner through a number of excellent learning experiences and not just to “teach” students about their environmental impact.

·         Diagnosing problems:  creating situations which will confront misconceptions held by the student to help them to reorganise their schema. This is often accomplished by using the “Zone of Proximal development” as discussed by Vygotsky 1978 in Kuhlthau, 2007. Using this technique students are able to master tasks that are almost out of their reach with the assistance of someone who is very familiar with the process. One way I was able to assist a student with this was by explaining and illustrating the meanings and implications behind primary and secondary research.

·         Modelling information literacy skills:  Students needed to use a number of information literacy; many of these skills were “taught” by an instructional team. Skills such as observing, collecting, analysing, synthesising, search strategies and technology strategies assisted students to make predictions and draw conclusion.

References


Bell, R., Smetana, L., & Binns, I. (2005). Simplifying inquiry instruction. The Science Teacher, 72 (7), 30-33

Coffman, T. (2009). Engaging Students through Inquiry Learning and Technology. Lanham, Maryland. The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 

Kuhlthau, C., Maniotes, L., & Caspari, A. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Westport, Connecticut, Libraries Unlimited