Creating a Concept Based Inquiry Lesson - Part 1

What is inquiry and what is an inquiry lesson? I hope to begin to address these questions in this blog post.  The following paragraph has been taken from Page 29 of Making the PYP Happen and is the definition of inquiry that I have heard used on the different IB courses I have taken. It is a good start at defining inquiry, now lets figure out how to make the PYP happen!

Inquiry, interpreted in the broadest sense, is the process initiated by the students or the teacher that moves the students from their current level of understanding to a new and deeper level of understanding. This can mean: exploring, wondering and questioning, experimenting and playing with possibilities, making connections between previous learning and current learning, making predictions and acting purposefully to see what happens, collecting data and reporting findings, clarifying existing ideas and reappraising perceptions of events, deepening understanding through the application of a concept, making and testing theories, researching and seeking information, taking and defending a position, solving problems in a variety of ways.

The work of Lynn Erickson helped me further understand how to plan quality lessons and deepen my understanding of the inquiry way of teaching. In her book Concept Based Curriculum  and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom she does a great job of unpacking what a concept based education should look like. The following is taken from Chapter 4 of her book, the chapter is on lesson planning. 

Quality lesson plans meet certain criteria. They are:

• coherent - There is a clear link between what students must know (factually), understand (conceptually), and be able to do (skillfully).
• interesting - The lesson is motivating to students. They want to participate. 
• time-worthy - The lesson is worth time spent.
• standards aligned - The lesson supports the deeper intent of academic standards (the often-implied conceptual intent) as well as the factual and skill-based expectations. 
• differentiated - The lesson meets the learning needs of different kinds of learners to maximise successful learning. 

On the final point of differentation the work of Tomlinson and Edison (2003b, p.3) is quoted. I will again use it here as a reminder to myself and others of the classroom elements that can be differentiated or modified.

• Content - The subject matter and skills
• Process - How students create a personal connection to what they must know, understand, and be able to do
• Products - The evidence for what students know, understand, and are able to do
• Affect - The synergy between thought and emotions
• Learning environment - The classroom "climate" and operating procedures

I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me understanding how to develop an inquiry lesson. If you would like to have a closer look at the PYP curriculum documents they can be easily found by doing a Google search. I found them here.

References

Erikson H. L., 2007, Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom, Corwin, CA.

International Baccalaureate Organisation, (2009), Making the PYP happen:  A curriculum framework for international primary education, (2009) International Baccalaureate, Cardiff, Wales.

Tomlinson, C.A., & Eidson, C. A. (2003b). Differentation in practice: A resource guide for differentiating curriculum, grades 5-9. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.