Week 5: Inquiry, Inquiry, and More Inquiry

This week in ESCI 310 we read not one, not two, (you guessed it, not three), but four examples of inquiry based learning being implemented in the classroom in very unique ways. The first inquiry based learning experience comes from a teacher named Velvet who teaches grade 3 at The Grove Community School in Toronto. Velvet uses inquiry based learning to teach her students how to be allies for marginalized groups. In this inquiry unit she used the theme of Journey Stories to explore the curriculum through an Indigenous lens. She collected some big ideas that she wanted students to achieve along the way and began their journey to investigate the impact of settlement and migration in Ontario. She also used elements of place based learning by connecting the unit to her classroom and their community. My favourite part of this inquiry based learning project was how she gave her students many opportunities to engage in action and share their knowledge with their peers and build upon the Natural Curiosities fourth branch of sustainability.

The second story we read comes from Lisa who also a grade 3 teacher. Lisa teaches at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Laboratory School. Instead of a social justice lens, Lisa worked on an environmental inquiry with her students. This unit focused on the theme of ECOSYSTEM. The students built upon their previous knowledge and together came up with investigating questions they research. A reoccurring question was whether or not their own classroom was an eco-system. At the beginning of the unit most of the students concluded that no, the classroom was not an ecosystem because to them eco-systems were found outside and in nature. By the end of the unit the students had concurred that actually the classroom was an eco-system because it still had abiotic and biotic interactions. The change in mindset in regards to this question showed how significant their learning was. The students moved on to creating their own biodomes of ecosystems that allowed them to study and research their questions, they even created their own worm compost farm. What was most interesting to me in this chapter was the biodomes and the worm farm being implemented in the classroom. I think bringing the outdoors inside we create many valuable learning experiences and it also relates back to the fourth branch of natural curiosity by teaching students the importance of caring for the environment and sustainability.

The third story comes from a teacher named Marlo who teaches a grade 3/4 split classroom in Johnny Therriault School on Aroland First Nation. This environmental inquiry learning experience was centred around rocks and minerals.  Marlo did an amazing job at connecting the curriculum to Indigenous teachings and western knowledge using place based inquiry. My favourite part of this story is how Marlo encouraged students to find a rock that they “connected” with, and how that rock would come with them wherever they went to remind them of “home”. I think this was a great way to get students to connect with their environment and build a relationship with a place. One of his students was very particular about what rock they chose because it had to be the exact “right” one, they had to feel a connection with it, which to me is very powerful. Marlo also took the students on a field trip, had them do a research project, engaged in Knowledge Building Circles and had an elder come into speak with the students. Marlo states that at the end of the unit the students had changed their perspective about the land on which they live and they now connect with the teachers of the elders who told them that everything comes from the earth.

The last story came from a teacher named Robin who teaches grade 4 at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Laboratory School. In my opinion this story was not so much focused on environmental inquiry although it had some connections throughout the inquiry learning journey to the environment. In my opinion this inquiry project followed more of a social studies outcome as it focused more on people, cultures, history, and social justice. This was the most interesting of the inquiry learning projects because I felt that the topics were very heavy but the grade 4 students tackled the subjects very well. In this story there was a lot of teacher-student dialogue and I felt that for fourth graders some of what they were saying was very advanced for their age. Some of the topics discussed were residential schools, assimilation, slavery, racism, and truth and reconciliation. You would think that these topics are too difficult or too heavy for students this age but the conversations and ideas that resulted from the topics were truly amazing. Robin ends this story with a quote from one of his students “I think it was an important topic to study because you learned what has happened and how you could make it better.” I think this quote speaks for itself because it is EXACTLY what we are trying to achieve by teaching these difficult topics. We don’t teach/learn history for nothing, many historians would say it’s important to learn so we can avoid making the same mistakes in the future which is exactly what this student said.

I think these example of inquiry shows that students are very capable and competent and when they are facilitators of their own learning amazing things can happen.