Knowing Inquiry as Practice and Theory: Developing a Pedagogical Framework with Elementary School Teachers (original) (raw)
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A teacher's perceptions of inquiry: Where inquiry experiences, beliefs and practice intersect
2013
Nana & Tata. Love you everything! I want to thank my brother Rene, and my sisters Lisa and Yvette for always being there for me. Being Mexican means my family is everything, so it's my privilege to acknowledge the other members of my "immediate" family for their continuous love and support: Beka, Robbie, Monique, Isabella, Zach, Christian, Sophia, and our angels, Grandma Dolores, Grandma Chris, Uncle Frankie, Auntie Gina, Bob, and Ryan. I also want to thank my extended family, my many aunts, uncles and countless cousins as well as in-laws, who have always been fun to be with. A special thank you to Rose for being a wonderful mother-in-law and Gramgram to Beto. Thank you to my baby boy, Beto. I started this process when you were just nine months old, so you only know mom as spending most of her time doing her school work. Thank you for being patient when I had to study or write. No matter what work I had to do, though, I always made sure to put you first and I am so proud of the way you are growing up to be a kind soul. No matter how big you get, you are always, always welcome to sit on my lap so I can wrap my arms around you! Finally, thank you to Robert for being the best supportive husband. I feel so blessed to have you in my life. You are always there for me and put me first. You are my best friend. I look forward to continuing our life together. My love for you… "Multiply it by infinity, and take it to the depth of forever, and you will still have barely a glimpse of what I'm talking about." vi ABSTRACT Linda Darling-Hammond (2008), a member of President Obama's education transition team, published a collection of chapters, each written by prominent researchers in the field of education. Throughout this compilation, the idea of using inquiry in the classroom was heralded again and again. Darling-Hammond argued for the "implementation of inquiry-based curriculum that engages children in extended, constructive work, often in collaborative groups, and subsequently demands a good deal of self-regulated inquiry" (p. 13). Significant in Darling-Hammond's message was that educators need to provide students with experiences that allow them to become inquirers who can construct their own knowledge. However, while the professional literature provides many examples of inquiry in action in classrooms, there has been less written on teachers who adopt an inquiry stance. By focusing on the beliefs and practices of a veteran teacher, this study fills a gap in the existing literature and has implications for pre-and in-service teacher educations as well as teacher educators. Through the use of qualitative research methods (Merriam, 2009; Wolcott, 2008), life story interview methods (Cole & Knowles, 2001; Rossman & Rallis, 2003), and interview data analysis (Spradley, 1979), the purpose of this study was to understand the life experiences, beliefs, and practices of an educator, Kathryn Mitchell Pierce, who embraces inquiry in her classroom and beyond. Kathryn's story and her beliefs about inquiry have deepened and broadened my understandings of what it means to live a life of inquiry. Her story brings to light the vii belief that inquiry is a not a series of steps that a teacher follows in the classroom. Rather it is a way of being, a way of living a life. To Kathryn, living the life of an inquirer means being reflective of her actions in both her personal life and her classroom, being open to continuous learning, and constantly seeking opportunities to learn with others. viii
2020
There is a need to prepare teachers for a changing educational landscape as more schools and states are adopting and mandating the use of inquiry-based instruction alongside curricular mandates (ISBE, 2017a, 2017b; National Research Council, 2012; NGSS Lead States, 2013). This study brings into focus novice teachers’ inquiry stances with regard to coconstructed practices such as inquiry-based learning and pedagogical documentation. Additional empirical understandings about how novice teachers engage with inquiry-based pedagogies will inform education initiatives geared at promoting inquiry practices. I adopted a Deweyan (1904, 1933, 1938a) theoretical framework using his theories of teacher growth, inquiry, and progressive education as a means of engaging with and viewing the empirical realities faced by teachers new to inquiry teaching. I used an embedded case study design to look closely at three individual novice teachers’ learning and inquiry stances within a single case K-1 cla...
Inquiry on Inquiry: Practitioner Research and Pupils' Learning
1 Inquiry on Inquiry 2 How teachers learn to teach and how they should be prepared for teaching are currently matters of great debate and disagreement in the U.S. and a number of other places around the world. Regardless of one's views on these matters, however--and for better or for worse--the current emphasis in the U.S. is on how to recruit, prepare and retain teachers who know how to teach in ways that promote pupils' achievement. 1 Increasingly teachers' learning is being identified as a key factor in enhancing pupils' achievement, particularly teachers' ability to use assessment and other classroom data effectively in order to make decisions about practice . There is often a gap, however, in the ability of novice teachers to understand the rich data sources that are now available to individual teachers and whole school groups (Kennedy, 1999;. This paper begins by describing the epistemological assumptions of practitioner inquiry, a phrase we use as a conceptual umbrella for the various forms and genres of research conducted by practitioners about their own work. The paper also reviews recent research on teachers using classroom and school data to improve pupils' learning. Then the paper describes a mixed methods study carried out by a group of teacher education practitioners/researchers in order to examine how and what teacher candidates learned when they were required to conduct classroom inquiry focused on pupils' learning. The purpose of the study was to explore the outcomes and processes of this new focus and to determine whether the strengths of a long-standing emphasis on practitioner inquiry as a way of knowing about teaching could be retained when the emphasis was shifted from teacher candidates' own learning to the learning of their pupils. Specifically the study examined what happened when teacher candidates were required to conduct classroom inquiry that focused on pupils' learning and what the implications were for the local teacher education program as well as for teacher education more generally. Teachers for a New Era Evidence Team, Boston College, Symposium presented at AERA, April 2007 If you have any questions, please contact us at tne@bc.edu 2 Inquiry on Inquiry 3
Teachers Developing Exemplary Inquiry Practices
If students are to be successful in the ever-changing scientific world they need to be taught how to think critically, to manipulate materials, and to gather evidence to build knowledge. Most teachers fall short in providing students the inquiry instruction described in the Next Generation Science Frameworks (National Research Council, 2011). This study examined three elementary science teachers' processes as they developed inquiry practices over time. The Electronic Quality of Inquiry Protocol (EQUIP) was used to gather quantitative and qualitative evidence of the teachers' inquiry practices in terms of four factors, Curriculum, Instruction, Discourse, and Assessment. A chronological analysis was used to examine the teachers' professional development and curriculum experiences in relation to their teaching practices. The results showed that all three teachers did change their practice, although the changes varied among cases. For each case, multiple factors influenced the teachers' development. There was a strong positive correlation between the quality of the teachers' inquiry practices and the time spent in curriculum-contextualized professional development. This research indicates that when teachers are supported with curriculum and professional development over extended periods, they develop exemplary inquiry practices. Three recommendations are provided for those interested in implementing science education reform.
This paper analyses the attempts of an experienced mathematics teacher to apply principles of inquiry based teaching in her practice upon receiving training on the topic. Results of the analysis of teacher’s practices based on her reflective accounts, lesson plan forms and observations of videotaped lessons show that the teacher devotes very little time to non-instructional activities, while instructional ones are in line with activities presumed to be part of the inquiry approach. With respect to the particular Components of Inquiry difference between the two observed lessons was found for the Explain phase of the lesson, although both Explore and Explain phases were consistently coded as higher level order (e.g. students were focused on problem solving, combining and constructing new ideas). The process was also followed by appropriate discursive patterns. Results are discussed in the light of the training received and possible improvements to be made.
One Teacher's Journey toward Inquiry Methods
Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), 2024
In response to the increasingly complex social identity development of students, China's education reform focuses on developing students' core competence. The South China PLC is a professional learning community participated by Chinese teachers, which aims to provide support for teachers' professional development, help teachers design and implement inquiry projects, so as to cultivate students' core competence and implement the requirements of education reform. This paper reports on the trajectory of one teacher, Mr. Z, who gradually developed a student-centered teaching philosophy and understanding of inquiry methods with the help of researchers and other participants. Over the course of 2 years, Mr. Z designed and implemented an inquiry curriculum, enacted it in his classroom, then revised the curriculum based on his experience.
Inquiry, knowledge, and practice
… research and educational reform, 1994
Over the past decade there has been renewed interest among teachers, teacher educators, and researchers in exploring the potential of teacher research as a mode of professional development, an avenue for generating practice-based knowledge about teaching, and a catalyst for social change in schools, universities, and communities. In the literature and in popular usage, terms such as "research," "action," "collaborative," "critical," and "inquiry" have been combined with one another and/or with the term "teacher" to signal a wide range of meanings and purposes. These terms and the various ways they are connected reflect surface as well as deeper differences-contrasting paradigms for research, conflicting conceptions of professional development for beginning and experienced teachers, and different assumptions about teachers' roles in the production and use of knowledge. This admixture of terms is not surprising given the complex ideological, multinational, and sociocultural history of efforts by teachers and their school-and university-based colleagues to document, understand, and alter practice. Considered together, the diverse initiatives and conceptions in the burgeoning teacher research movement prompt new questions about how teachers understand their work, how they create and use interpretive frameworks, and how inquiry functions to inform and alter classroom practice as well as the cultures of teaching. In short, current iterations of teacher research have helped to reopen and reframe basic epistemological questions about the relationships that obtain among .inquiry, professional knowledge, and teaching practice and about the implications of these for school reform and social change.