Implementation of Inquiry Project
Introducing Students to the Inquiry Project
Based on the background research that I had done, I understood that student participation and involvement would be a key component of this inquiry project. Therefore, it was imperative that I introduce the topic to my students from the beginning of the semester. In January, classes were shortened for three days because of the Keystone exams, making it the perfect opportunity to explain the project to my students and get suggestions on ways that they could be autonomous. This seemed like the ideal way to start the project because it gave students autonomy from the start and allowed them to give suggestions that would be used for the rest of the year. Although I had an idea of what I wanted to teach, I planned on incorporating students’ suggestions into my lesson plans and using their ideas to create completely new lesson plans if necessary.
I used the first two shortened days to introduce students to the ideas of enjoying learning and being autonomous learners. On the first day, I wanted students to think and write about a time that they enjoyed learning or that learning was memorable. The purpose of this was so that the students would begin to explore different ways that they liked to learn and how they thought they learned best. I then had several of the students share their answers with the class and we discussed how we could apply some of these experiences to history class. Look here for examples of student responses. Although we did not reach any conclusive points, it was interesting to hear about their personal narratives and helped us begin thinking about ways to enhance the class..
On the second day, I wanted the students to begin thinking about the word “autonomy.” I asked the students what they think it means for them to be autonomous. To begin the discussion, I shared the Dictionary.com definition of autonomy, which is “a state or condition of having independence or freedom,” and other relevant information from the literature. During our discussion, students decided that autonomy included “self-learning, learning how to be self-sufficient,” “being a good leader,” “helping other students,” and “having a free mind to learn about different things.” Once it seemed that the students had a clear idea of what autonomy is, I wanted them to consider different ways that the class could have autonomy and independence in the classroom. To end the discussion, I asked each student to write down three suggestions on ways that they could increase student autonomy. Later that day, I went through all of the suggestions and grouped similar ideas together so that I could go through the recommendations with the rest of the class.
On the third day, I proposed the different suggestions to the students in order to gauge their interest and thoughts. We then discussed what were plausible ideas and what would be difficult to implement and why. The following chart depicts the students’ suggestions and the reactions I received. I also included several updated comments from April based on how I was able to follow through with the students’ suggestions.