What is an Inquiry Unit?
Jenny Robins
(jrobins@uiuc.edu)
(not ready to use)
ASK
Subject Areas
| Arts, Education, Educational Technology, Foreign Language, Health, Information Science, Language Arts, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physical Education, Religion, Science, Social Studies, Vocational Education |
Grade Levels
| Kinder, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, Vocational, Undergraduate, Continuing |
Unit Keywords
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pedagogy, inquiry, constructivism, student-directed, progressive, classroom management, professional development |
Open Directory Category
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Education/Methods_and_Theories/Learning_Theories/Inquiry_Based_Learning/ |
Rationale of the Unit
| In a traditional classroom, the instructor sets goals, generates objectives, plans a curriculum, then delivers the curriculum, and finally, tests to see how well the learner has met the objectives. In contrast, an Inquiry Unit of instruction, the instructor sets goals, but students create their own objectives. The teacher coaches learners through the investigations, creations, and discussions necessary to achieve their objectives. Finally, both the process and the products of instruction are evaluated, by both the learner and the instructor. This unit generator helps guide learners toward their objectives. The instructor "spins" units designed to guide learners, then uses the original, master unit to manage and evaluate the learners inquiry. |
Background and Resources
BACKGROUND
The Inquiry Page has been under development for almost five years. It was first used in a professional development class for teachers. The unit is a way for learners to store both the process and the products of their learning. The unit was further developed so that it could be used by instructors to track, record, and journal their own inquiries. Units could then be used interchangeably in a number of classes. K12 teachers observed that they could also use units to direct their students' learning. Testing Inquiry Units used for this purpose will begin in January 2001.
READINGS
Theorists will recognize the debt owed to:
John Dewey
Lev Semenovich Vygotsk
ySusan Loucks_HorsleyJack Easley
WEBSITES
http://www.dmoz.org/
http://www.theGateway.org/
http://www.enc.org
RESOURCES
The World Wide WebThe curiosity of the learnerThe communicative ability of the instructorThe world around us
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Activities and Open-ended problems
TUTORIALS
Instructors create tutorials for learners using the Inquiry Unit. Tutorials can involve traditional teacher-directed approaches, or student-directed approaches, or anything in between.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
The unit generator can be used as a management tool for instructors who must manage a dozen of more simultaneous, individualized student learning experiences.
LABS
The unit generator can be used in conjunction with any web-based or physical labs.
OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES
Inquiry units can be used to journal student work, describing both the process and products of learning.
OPEN ENDED PROBLEMS
Are any valid problems closed-ended?
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Dialogues, Discussions, and Presentations
FACE-TO-FACE DIALOGUES
Learners take possession of their knowledge through their words. Talking to others also gives learners a chance to practice and rehearse what they know. Practice creates the readiness that leads to a feeling of professionalism for the learner.
GROUP DIALOGUES
Group discussions allow for informal criticsm which fine tunes thinking for all group members.
ONLINE DIALOGUES
The Internet and email, in particular, provide for non-intrusive, asynchronous conversations with others with similar interests, either peers or mentors.
WRITTEN DIALOGUES
Writing causes the learner to formulate and crystalize concepts. Writing also is a method to demonstrate what the learner knows.
CLASS DISCUSSIONS
Instructors and students can lead class discussions, providing a more directed discussion than would normally occur in the casual free-flow of group communications.
PRESENTATIONS
Computing technology allows learners to incorporate a variety of media in presentations. This is an ideal way for students who are visually, aurally and/or spatially oriented to display their understanding of their topics.
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Assessment, Related Questions, and Story of the Unit
RELATED QUESTIONS
Where do we go from here?
RESPONSES
This Inquiry Page will never be complete. Thanks to responses from others, the site keeps improving. We welcome any comments you have on ways this site can be made to better suit you needs.
UNIT STORY
This is a work in process. Progress has been exciting as new uses for this site and this tool are found. We welcome your participation.
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Credits & Acknowledgements
| Credit goes to our principle investigator, Professor Bruce, and the many colleagues and researchers that have contributed to this project over the years. |
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