The+Process+of+Inquiry+Journal+Review

Review of Peer-reviewed Research Journal Marianne Wood EDU 713 June 1, 2010 References: Diggs, V. (2009, June). Ask-Think-Create: The Process of Inquiry. Knowledge Quest , 37 (5), 30-33. Conderman, G., Bresnahan, V., & Pedersen, T. (2009). Purposeful Co-Teaching (pp. 36-51). , CA: Corwin Press.  Introduction Today’s teachers struggle to help students understand a lesson’s purpose and why learning specific objectives is necessary. This process is often referred to as the “inquiry process.” Students who are encouraged by inquiry-based learning initiate “a process of learning that is driven by questioning, thoughtful investigating, making sense of information, and developing new understanding.” (Diggs, 2009, p.31) Collaboration among professionals improves inquiry-based units by developing a set of common goals derived from students’ abilities to think critically by demonstrating their own understanding of the “what” and “why” of a lesson. Professionals discuss how they can make a unit better through collaboration and incorporate how lessons can meet the needs of their unique learners. Research suggests that collaboration among professionals creates meaningful units geared toward helping students understand the common goals of each unit. It is implied that through such collaboration students will generate their own questions that will lead them to further knowledge. Research findings propose that students who encounter positive inquiry-based learning will experience the ability to be life long learners and think for themselves.  The Project A school librarian along with one spanish high school teacher collaborated to develop a unit for 30 high school seniors to investigate the current immigration policy in the Untied States. Both librarian and teacher wanted to develop a unit that encouraged a class of seniors to understand the importance of immigration in the United States and “why” it was important to their life. The teacher and librarian created activities discussing the students’ own roots, read an account of an illegal immigrant, listened to three different songs about immigration, and examined four positions pertaining to the United States policy on immigration and develop their own fifth option. Throughout the unit, students were encouraged to generate a list of any questions they had. The activities listed above helped the students think critically and create their own opinions and beliefs pertaining to immigration in the United States. The final class assignment was to develop answers to their list of questions formulated throughout the unit and write about their own opinions and thoughts discussing immigration in the United States. Method <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The school librarian and spanish teacher worked together to create a unit about immigration in the United States that utilized the inquiry process. The students in the Spanish Honors Six class were responsible for completing the following activities: a look at their own roots, read an account of an illegal immigrant, listen to three songs about immigration, examine four positions pertaining to the United States policy on immigration while developing a fifth option, and generate a list of questions throughout the unit. Finally, the students were asked to write about their own opinions and thoughts concerning immigration in the United States while answering the questions they compiled during the unit. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Results <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The students’ final writing assignment indicated that the students both understood the material being taught and were able to answer their own questions developed throughout the unit. The activities collaborated by the spanish teacher and librarian helped the students create their own background knowledge of immigration and how it personally affects their own lives. The students demonstrated their ability to individually write their own papers discussing immigration in the United States through their own perceptions both critically and creatively. The teacher felt that each student expressed their own feelings, questions and ideas about immigration and “why” and “how” it related to them. Results indicate how collaboration among professionals leads to the creation of inquiry-based learning and the impact it has on student achievement and understanding. The spanish teacher and librarian suggest that collaboration enhances units by creating essential questions and outcomes desired by both the students and teachers. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Discussions, Implications, and Recommendations <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The author demonstrates the positive impact an inquiry-based unit had on high school seniors. The collaboration among the spanish teacher and librarian demonstrated their ability to create a fully engaging unit, which encouraged the students question their own beliefs and thoughts throughout the entire process. The students’ final writing assessment showed evidence of their own personal growth and understanding of the immigration process in the United States. The author suggests that collaboration among teaching professionals not only benefits teachers but students as well. Inquiry based units result from in-depth collaboration among school personnel. The author notes that it is the job of teachers to create inquiry-based units to allow students the opportunity to think critically and develop their own personal relevance to specific topics. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Although the author shows positive evidence of inquiry-based learning, the study was only conducted on one high school spanish class consisting of thirty seniors. Research is limited to this particular class. Collaboration among professionals was limited to two school personnel members: spanish teacher and librarian. Collaboration among other professionals was not indicated. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">My Thoughts <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">I believe inquiry-based learning is extremely beneficial to both the learners and educators. Often, students do not understand the “why” and “what” they are learning about and “how” it relates to them. As the research indicates, I believe students gain more knowledge about a certain topic if they know why they are learning about it and can draw correlation to their own lives. Students presented in the above research provided more thought provoking questions to immigration in the United States because they were given the opportunity to take control of their own learning experience and formulate their own questions of relevance. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">I find collaboration among professionals to be beneficial to creating unique units geared toward the students’ needs and wants along with meeting the essential questions provided by the curriculum. Collaboration encourages educators to demonstrate what works best in their classrooms as well as expose students to the views of others and accomplishments of success. As research suggests, I believe teachers are able to create more student geared learning activities by planning with other professionals sharing unique ideas. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">I am curious to know what the research would have indicated if this assignment had been completed with younger students on a topic in their curriculum. Would their responses have been based on their own questions and ideas or more geared to what students thought the teacher wanted to hear? Younger students, such as middle school aged, have a harder time when given the opportunity to explore their own opinions, feelings, ideas and questions. The the research did indicate, however, that students are able to formulate their own questions if prior lessons gave them the basic background knowledge needed. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Research was limited to one classroom of a high school honors spanish class. I wonder if the research would indicate the same results of a regular-leveled class. Also, research was limited to only two school professionals’ collaboration exercises. I wonder what the other outcomes would have been if more than two educators were involved in the planning process. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The above research demonstrates the positive rewards of planning inquiry-based learning units with other individuals. Although the research was limited to one class, I liked the premise of the inquiry-based unit created by the two teachers. Allowing students to formulate their own ideas and questions is a product of inquiry based learning. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Connections to Course Material <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Conderman, Bresnahan, and Pedersen (2009) suggest that teachers should design lessons around the “big ideas.” Big ideas correlate with inquiry-based learning in that a “big idea is a concept, theme, or issue that gives meaning and connections to discrete facts and skills.” (Conderman, Bresnahan, and Pedersen, 2009, p. 37) As research indicated in the above study, students gain more knowledge and appreciate learning when they are able make connections between what is being taught and their own understanding. The inquiry-based learning approach centers units around students creating their own questions regarding specific ideas expressed in the unit. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Conderman, Bresnahan, and Pedersen (2009) discuss how educators can collaborate to develop the essentials from specific learning units. They also suggest different modalities teachers can use in their classroom while co-teaching. By co-teaching, it is suggested that students will benefit by having two adults in their classroom helping them formulate their own connections between what it is being taught and their own understandings. As research indicates in Valerie Diggs’ study and Purposeful Co-Teaching, students benefit by the collaboration among individuals creating lessons based around inquiry-based learning or the “Big Ideas.”