September is here and ushers in another school year for students and teachers throughout the country. Many may be apprehensive and, some, excited wondering what the school year will bring. Hopefully there will be new friends, sharing ideas, and solid "student achievement." What, exactly, does that mean anyway?
For many educators, student achievement is related to standardized testing designed by the state. These assessments are said to measure "what students are expected to know and be able to do" at intervals through the K-12 years. Whether we agree or disagree with the practice of using standardized testing to measure student progress the fact is, it's here to stay. My feeling has always been that if it's the law, we're going to do it---but we're going to make it fun.
Learning should be fun-and teaching should be, too. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is one method that is fun and engaging for both teachers and students. The advent of IBL as an instructional methodology began in the 1940s as a creative way to teach upper level mathematics and science. It has since been used to teach all core curriculum subjects (mathematics, science, social sciences, and English language arts) and I believe it has the potential to revolutionize how we teach and how students learn.
There are several advantages to IBL. First, it embeds differentiated instruction and is far easier to understand and use. The process of learning and its product are automatically differentiated for each student. Second, IBL embeds Bloom's Taxonomy in every lesson. Using critical thinking skills is second nature with IBL as students discover, analyze, create, and assimilate. Third, all students are engaged in IBL. What does that mean for the teacher? Less classroom management issues. Finally, teachers are not responsible for being the all-knowing- giver-of-information. Students define a problem, investigate, reflect, create, and discuss their results-all within a carefully designed sequence that includes both formative and summative assessments. It doesn't get any better than that, does it?
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