Roll the credits – this is the final post for the first part of my journey into the world of Inquiry Learning.
Looking back, the metaphor of space travel and space exploration seems even more relevant. There is so much out there to learn and discover! I’ve realised that the entire point of my Inquiry Learning journey was for me to experience all of the stages and emotions that my students would face when presented with an Inquiry based project themselves. Carol Kuhlthau‘s Information Search Process model is a very useful way of documenting the various stages of learning and thinking that student move through during the Inquiry process.
As I entered the first stage of Initiation, I was definitely feeling some uncertainty. I know that I can find many ways of procrastinating when my path isn’t clear, so this is a good reminder for me to make sure that my students move through the Initiation phase as quickly as possible and work to focus their thoughts in order to achieve success. Once my initial steps were clear to me though, I did feel the optimism of the Selection phase as I jumped straight in to forming my Initial re-search questions and formulating key terms for my expert searching. I spent a great deal of time reading and gathering as much information as I could in my exploration of the various search engines and databases.
By the time I moved into the Exploration phase, I began feeling quite overwhelmed with the task at hand. My initial searching wasn’t working in the way I had envisaged and I wasn’t uncovering the quality resources that I was hoping for. There were a number of inconsistencies in the way the databases were working and I started feeling doubt that I would complete what seemed like an enormously daunting task. Coupled with health issues and the pressures of full-time work and an adventurous toddler, I knew I had to try to focus my thoughts and work with increased intent in order to move through the process. In hindsight, I did eventually move through the clarity of the Formulation stage and into the Collection stage as I started to find more success in my searching and my confidence increased. As I started reading through the articles I had uncovered, my direction became clearer and I found a lot of joy in increasing my knowledge and developing my own interest in Inquiry Learning.
Finally, I moved to the Presentation phases of Kuhlthau’s Information Search process. The Presentation phase is typified by feelings of satisfaction or disappointment at the task completed. I definitely feel a sense of accomplishment at the amount I feel I have learned about Inquiry Learning principles and ideas for implementing these into the Music classroom. I feel satisfaction when reading through the various pages of my blog and am proud of the quality professional resource I hope I have created. When I reflect on my original search questions in my Initial Post, I definitely feel as though I can speak on the first and third questions with more ease:
1. How can Inquiry learning principles and tasks be used effectively in the Music classroom, leading to meaningful and worthwhile learning outcomes?
Or more simply- How is Inquiry Learning used effectively in the Music classroom?
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3. How important is the role of the teacher-facilitator and what amount of scaffolding is necessary for optimal results in Inquiry based projects
Or- What is the role of the teacher in supporting and facilitating the Inquiry Learning process?
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When it comes to my second original question, I still feel as though more research needs to be available to help support these ideas:
2. What evidence is there for relevant stakeholders (parents, administration etc) that Inquiry Learning truly empowers students and is a worthwhile usage of precious curriculum time?
While I definitely feel that Inquiry based learning is a worthwhile usage of curriculum time, and I have found some articles and authorities that document the positive outcomes, I would still like to find more evidence of the long-term effects of truly integrated Inquiry curriculums and how they can still support students in our current climate of standardised testing and external examinations. I fear that rigours of assessment and time constraints will cause some of these important teaching perspectives to be sacrificed due to the need to cover unit content for assessment, but I hope that, as Kath Murdoch says, the very best Inquiry teachers are skilled enough to know their curriculum and cover the content while still allowing for creativity, exploration and improvisation.