After completing the alternative assignment for the Inquiry Institute held at Penn State and facilitated by Ms. Jessica Grundy, I'd like to take some time to reflect on what I learned. I used one of the Inquiry-based labs to create a lesson plan and I even had the great opportunity to zoom with Ms. Grundy to learn more about the material she presented us. Learning about Inquiry-based teaching has showed me the importance of fostering lifelong learning in your classroom and creating an intriguing and engaging environment for students that motivates them to want to learn.
On November 10th, I was able to zoom with Ms. Grundy to talk about what I missed from the Inquiry-based institute. She emphasized that Inquiry-based labs are based on open-minded instructional strategies that encourage students to thinking critically to solve a problem. Ms. Grundy shared a great idea that she uses all the time when teaching students important terminology and vocabulary. You can create flip-charts using sticky notes that have the definition underneath. She said that students can use different colors and it helps them when it comes time to study for an assessment.
Another great idea that she shared with me is to use a creative story prompt to summatively assess students at the end of a lesson or unit. Provide students with a prompt such as what they need to include in their story and who they should include in it and have students write a story using characters and describing the setting. For example, Ms. Grundy has students write a creative story about Ms. Frizzle's trip through the digestive system of a cow and they have to describe the setting and create dialogue using important terminology. Another great tool I learned from Ms. Grundy is to create QR codes for students to scan in-class rather than providing students with links that might be difficult to type out. This saves on time in class and can lead students right to a website or form for them to complete.
I was able to use the Tracking the Spread lad and adapt it into a lesson plan for my animal science reproduction unit. In the spring, I will be teaching students about animal reproduction diseases and how to prevent and track them. This lab about tracking infectious diseases is perfect for this lesson and will teach students the importance of finding out the original carrier of the disease. After learning about Inquiry-based learning, I now know the importance of creating a lesson that enables students to work collaboratively to solve a problem.
- Lauren M
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