Workshop Resources

Teaching for Inquiry

Workshop hosted August 16th, 2024

Workshop Agenda & Outcomes

Workshop Agenda Workshop Outcomes
  • The Inquiry Orientation in the Core Curriculum
  • Sparking Curiosity
  • Frameworks for Promoting Inquiry
  • Activating Inquiry
  • Designing an Inquiry-Oriented Lesson Plan
  1. Articulate what it means to take an inquiry orientation toward course design
  2. Draft a course framing that aims to spark student curiosity
  3. Identify discipline-appropriate methods for guiding student inquiry
  4. Construct a draft inquiry-oriented lesson plan

 Designing for Curiosity

In designing a course to spark curiosity, ask yourself:

  1. What should students be able to do upon successful completion of the course?
    • Should state your goal(s) at a high-level, and a course should have between 1-3 overarching goals
    • Use the stem: “Students should be able to…” to ensure a focus on performance
    • Emphasize authentic performance: Students should be able to do something that experts in the field, professionals, or active participants in a free and democratic society should be able to do
  2. What are the questions or problems that frame and motivate the course?
    • Should capture the course narrative at a high level, unifying and providing context to narrower questions/problems/topics
    • Use the stem: “In this course, we will ask why…” to emphasize complex questions rather than purely factual ones
  3. How might some of the topics of the course be (re-)framed as problems or questions to be investigated?
    • Here you may end up with a different question/problem for each week or unit, providing a ‘goal’ for that period of the course – students should be better able to answer that question/engage that problem by the end of the week/unit
    • Think of these as how you may provide your course schedule in the syllabus

Examples of Designing for Curiosity

Example 1: Introductory Political Philosophy

“The Free & Just Society”

  1. Overarching Goals
    • Construct a nuanced and sophisticated analysis of a contemporary political issue through the application of political philosophical frameworks
    • Defend a vision of a free and just society with a clear view of its limitations and drawbacks
  2. Guiding Questions
    • What is a free and just society?
    • Why does the government get to tell us what to do?
    • How should diverse peoples live together?
  3. From topics to questions
    • Social Contract Theory -> Have we consented to be governed? Do we need to?
    • Political Freedom -> Can we ever be free when others tell us what to do?
    • Distributive Justice -> Should we eat the rich?

Example 2: Introductory Psychology

  1. Overarching Goals
    • Critically evaluate popular psychology claims in the media using scientific principles and research methods
    • Design and conduct a simple psychological experiment, analyzing the results and discussing their implications
  2. Guiding Questions
    • What makes you who you are?
    • What does it mean to be ‘normal’?
    • Is it nature or nurture?
  3. From topics to questions
    • Classical & Operant Conditioning -> How do we change harmful behaviors and promote beneficial ones?
    • Structure and function of neurons -> How do changes in neural structure and function relate to psychological disorders, and what implications does this have for treatment?

Example 3: Introductory Physics

  1. Overarching Goals
    • Apply physics principles to analyze and solve real-world problems, such as optimizing the energy efficiency of a building or improving the safety features of a vehicle
    • Develop and use mathematical models to predict the behavior of physical systems under various conditions
  2. Guiding Questions
    • Can we have free, unlimited clean energy?
    • Could we ever travel back in time?
    • Should you try it at home? (The physics of action movies)
  3. From topics to questions
    • Newton’s Laws of Motion -> How can we make football helmets better?
    • Electromagnetic Waves -> Does 5G give us cancer?

 Frameworks for Inquiry

Some Common Frameworks

Inquiry-Based Science Education

  1. Orientation to a topic
  2. Conceptualization through questioning and hypothesis generation
  3. Investigation through exploration, experimentation, and data interpretation
  4. Conclusion through solution, theory generation, modeling
  5. Discussion through communication and reflection

Moore Method in Mathematics (i.e., “Discovery Method”)

  1. Students engage with a prescribed list of problems, without any reference material
  2. Students present solutions to the class (i.e., on a whiteboard)
  3. Class comments toward revision and acceptance

Guided Inquiry Design

  1. Open: Stimulate curiosity and prompt naïve discussion
  2. Immerse: Build background knowledge and connect content
  3. Explore: Dig into particularly interesting ideas
  4. Identify: Ponder, identify inquiry question, and decide direction
  5. Gather: Gather important information for engaging the question
  6. Create: Reflect on learning, make meaning of the research, and aim to communicate
  7. Share: Learn from one another, share what you learned, tell a story
  8. Evaluate: Evaluate achievement of learning goals, reflect on content and process

5E Instructional Model

  1. Engage: Use short activities to promote curiosity, connecting prior knowledge to new learning experiences
  2. Explore: Investigate the problem through engaging in some sort of activity/process
  3. Explain: Present results, with a focus on communicating understanding of relevant concepts, theories, etc.
  4. Elaborate: Apply knowledge to new experiences and extend conceptual understanding
  5. Evaluate: Students evaluate their learning and demonstrate understanding and mastery of key ideas

Promoting & Structuring Inquiry

A General Inquiry Framework

  1. Identify a topic of interest
  2. Formulate a research question
  3. Gather resources: Conduct background research, formulate investigative strategies and procedures, etc.
  4. Conduct an investigation: Analyze the research, conduct an experiment, etc.
  5. Draw Conclusions: Synthesize results, formulate models, communicate results

Structuring & Scaffolding Inquiry

Traditional Structured Guided Student Directed Student Research
Topic Identification Teacher Teacher Teacher Teacher Teacher

Student
Question Formulation Teacher Teacher Teacher Teacher

Student

 Student
Resource Gathering Teacher Teacher Teacher Student Student
Analysis and/or Experimentation Teacher Teacher

Student

 Student Student Student
Synthesis/Communication of Results Teacher Student Student Student Student

 

How Might You Guide Inquiry?

  1. What stages of inquiry will you guide or direct (rather than leave wholly closed or open to students)?
  2. How might you scaffold the inquiry process throughout the course?
  3. What sorts of learning experiences, activities, and/or assignments might you use to guide and structure student inquiry?

Designing an Inquiry-Oriented Lesson Plan

In creating or revising a lesson plan for an inquiry orientation, answer the following sorts of questions:

  1. What is the topic of inquiry?
  2. What problem or question will students be investigating?
  3. How will students be actively engaged in the resource gathering stage of inquiry (if at all)?
    • It is not uncommon for this step to be wholly completed by the instructor, for instance by providing students with readings, videos, and other resources
    • If information literacy is a core competency for the course, you should emphasize activating students in this step over time
  4. How will you structure and guide students in the analysis/experimentation stage of inquiry?
    • How will students make use of the resources and information gathered?
  5. How will you structure and guide students in the synthesis/conclusion stage of inquiry?
    • How will students make meaning of their investigation?
  6. How will students be expected to communicate their findings?
    • Aim for authentic forms of communication whenever possible
    • Consider whether written or oral communication is a core competency of the course

Examples of Inquiry-Oriented Lesson Plans

Example 1: Philosophy of Happiness

  1. Topic of Inquiry: Friendship in the digital age
  2. Problem or question: Are digital friendships making us lonely?
  3. Resource Gathering
    1. Instructor provides philosophical readings on friendship
    2. Students are guided in researching contemporary psychological studies on online relationships and well-being
    3. Students collect data on their own social interactions for a week, both in-person and digital, following instructor-provided structure
  4. Analysis & Experimentation
    1. Students analyze their own personal data to identify patterns in interactions and associated emotions
    2. Instructor guides student groups in comparing personal experiences with philosophical and psychological literature
    3. Student groups analyze instructor-provided case studies of individuals with varying levels of social connection
  5. Synthesis & Conclusions
    1. Students (individually or in teams) formulate an answer to the question with a philosophical defense
    2. Students (in groups or as a whole class) formulate a set of guidelines for nurturing happiness-promoting relationships in the digital age
  6. Communication
    1. Individual essay defending an answer to the question
    2. Collaborative presentation defending an answer to the question
    3. Teams or whole class publicly share their guidelines either on campus or through the internet

Example 2: Anatomy & Physiology

  1. Topic of Inquiry: Bone structure and its relationship to function
  2. Problem or question: How do differences in bone structure relate to their specific functions in the body?
  3. Resource Gathering
    1. Instructor provides a set of bone specimens or high-quality 3D models
    2. Instructor provides a series of lessons and/or resources discussing bone physiology and biomechanics
  4. Analysis & Experimentation
    1. Students examine and compare different bones, noting structural differences
    2. Instructor guides a session on microscopic bone structure
    3. Students conduct simple stress tests on model bones to observe mechanical properties
  5. Synthesis & Conclusions
    1. Create detailed anatomical drawings of assigned bones with annotations explaining how structure relates to function
  6. Communication
    1. Small groups present their drawings and answer questions
    2. Individuals or small groups submit their drawings
    3. Class creates an online lesson plan that uses the anatomical drawings

Example 3: Sociology

  1. Topic of Inquiry: Social media’s impact on local community engagement
  2. Question: How does social media usage affect individuals’ engagement with their local communities?
  3. Resource Gathering
    1. Instructor provides readings on social capital and community engagement theories
    2. Students are guided in the collection of academic articles on social media’s societal impacts
    3. Students design and conduct a survey on social media use and community involvement
  4. Analysis & Experimentation
    1. Instructor guides students in proper survey data analysis techniques
    2. Students analyze survey results, looking for correlations between social media use patterns and community engagement levels
    3. Small groups compare their findings with published research
  5. Synthesis & Conclusions
    1. Synthesize survey findings with existing research
    2. Use findings to produce recommendations for healthy social media behaviors to promote community building and social cohesion
  6. Communication
    1. Academic article, written individually or in small groups
    2. Groups create presentations or videos, to be shared either in class or publicly

Additional Resources

License

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CSU Core Curriculum Handbook by Core Curriculum Committee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.