Inquiry Based Learning: Final Thoughts

What a crazy seven weeks it has been in my Inquiry Based Learning class. Many of the things I thought I knew about IBL were a little off base.

Things I thought I knew...

• A project has to be involved.
• Teachers have to do most of the planning
• Students must work in groups on the same topic all the time

However, I found, while these things may be true part of the time, they are not true all of the time.

Things I Now Know About IBL:

• A project is something that can be used as an outcome of the lesson.
• IBL units can be teacher directed, student teacher shared, or student directed.
• There is opportunity for students to work on different aspects of the same topic to reach a greater goal.
• Formative assessments are a must in order to provide students an opportunity to learn from what they are doing.
• Technology should be involved in order to keep students engaged.
• The 5E instructional model is a great way to plan an IBL unit.

I am currently working on integrating STEM into my Language Arts classroom. This integration will lead to more inquiry and opportunities for my students to learn outside the box. Overall, I am so glad that I took EDIM 513. I have learned many new things and feel that I will be able to successfully integrate more inquiry into my classroom.