Inquiry Learning
At Greerton, we value play. The complexity of thinking that play enables, shapes the brain we will have for a life time. Children play best when they are in environments that enable these curious learners to stretch their thinking muscles. Hence, at Greerton, we are focused on inquiry learning.
Why inquiry learning? It's such a fascinating notion. It conjures up all manner of explorations coming from the inside out. What makes the sky blue? Where does that ant trail lead? Tell me that story. How does it end? And why? It's what drives babies to look at those wriggly things at the end of their arms and wonder what they can do. It intriguingly invites connections between people. Where does that ant trail lead, and let's find out together. Rarely does learning happen in isolation from others, and when we see learning as connection, we realise the way relationships are the blanket that warms that learning spark, so it dances as flames across time and space. Learning is energy that finds its will to keep pursuing a goal when we often don't even know what this means at the beginning, long past the easy bits into practice and effort, inside what is imaginable and therefore possible.
Two writers that I familiarly call favourites have influenced my thinking about inquiry-based learning, causing me to re-consider the ways I connect with children to affirm and stretch their learning.
David Perkins makes these comments:
“It’s never just routine. It’s about thinking about what you know and pushing further. It involves open ended or ill-structured problems and novel, puzzling situations. It’s never just problem solving it involves problem finding. It’s not just about right answers. It involves explanation and justification. It’s not emotionally flat. It involves curiosity, discovery, creativity, camaraderie” (Making Learning Whole, 2009, p.29).
It's not ‘emotionally flat’ really resonates. When I think of children immersed in something of great interest to them, they are so clearly emotionally connected. Their whole bodies vibrate with interest. If we use this as a framework for the kinds of learning and teaching environments we help to co-create with children, the scope for inquiry learning, fuelling a passion for 'learning to learn', becomes limitless.
These further comments by Michael Fullan imbued with surprise, wonder, and awe catapult learners into what Michael describes as the 'Stratosphere'.
“Learning ought to be irresistibly engaging” (2013).
When these notions sit inside our 'moment by moment' conversations with children, we shift children into the driving seat, where they take responsibility for pushing to the edge and beyond. The determination for practicing the hard bits comes from them. We don't have to think of learning outcomes. In fact, when we do, these so often fall short of children's imaginative energy. In connection with children, though, everything is possible, and 'irresistibly engaging' is what it is!