Heidi+Mills

__**Transformations: Teaching And Learning Through Inquiry**__ Presented by: [|Heidi Mills]

[|Center For Inquiry] Their mission? **-To promote and defend science, reason, and free inquiry in all aspects of human interest.** - **To contribute to the public understanding and appreciation of science and reason, and their applications to human conduct.** - inquiry is the stance that guides all of the work that they do... - inquiry is the stance that they take with regard to learning and learners - all students are looped with teachers for two years

- at the Center for Inquiry, they've developed narrative progress reports to assess the students as readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists and social scientists - students learn about the real strategies and tools that are used in their field of study - whatever the students do at school, the teacher scaffolds their learning so that it can be extended at home - students collect primary and secondary sources of data to guide their research - it's important to teach students how to ask great questions (i.e. 'I wonder...' questions) - you must teach children how to slow down and become careful observers of the world

- rather than school rules, use rights and responsibilities - all students deserve to be respected and to be listened to...

How much of inquiry-based teaching is student initiated, rather than teacher initiated? - over the last few years, they've been coming up with planning templates that reflect how teachers teach a unit of study that encompasses several subject areas. - teachers must plan for and with the students - teachers list their beliefs before initiating the field of study so that they're more deliberate with their planning for the unit of study - planning on paper takes place, but it's more of a 'possibility guide' rather than a curricular guide - they never cover the curriculum, they uncover the curriculum :-) - there are some units of study that are so critically important that all students work through these units and they've become institutionalized - it's also important to engage the students in many mini-inquiries within the larger inquiries

- kids start their day with exploration time and they're allowed to engage in activities of their choice. - following exploration time, students move into a sharing circle to begin sharing and discussing their learning

Judith Lindfors: [|Children's Inquiry]

- when students have been taught inquiry skills, they can really help themselves to learn better - for example, students can find and access their own secondary information sources - students are provided with a shared atmosphere to the information - for kids who are not directly involved in an exploration, they can still have a role in the discussions - in some classes, students maintain journals for a variety of subject areas and they record their own reflections - students move in and out of mentor and apprentice roles and they appreciate each other - a shared history also empowers students to turn to each other as experts, or resident mentors all students pose questions and make connections through process

Use the language of inquiry: - I wonder... - I noticed that... - I made a connection to... - This reminds me of... - I was surprised by... - I have a feeling that...

When students move up through the grade levels at the Center For Inquiry, students begin to guide their own inquiry-based units of study --> i.e. The magazine projects...

Use literature to launch inquiry-based units of study

Carol Hurst's [|Children's Literature Site] grew out of an inquiry project initiated by her students

Listen to a portion of Heidi Mills presentation at the Engaged Learner conference:

media type="file" key="Engaged Learner - Heidi Mills.mp3"