JeanMarie+Inquiry+Learning

1. **__Inquiry__**: Inquiry is a form of knowledge acquisition that does not follow teacher centered instruction in which one obtains learning. Inquiry seeks out truth, information, knowledge, and understanding through the required applications: questioning, investigation/discovery, discussion, creating, and/or reflection. Inquiry requires an individual to synthesize material and continue on the journey of learning without the guidance of an educator after they have achieved this process.

2. Inquiry Based Learning Rubric: 0 || ** Partial ** 1 || ** Exemplary ** 2 || Score ||
 * || ** Not Evident **
 * Student poses higher order **questioning** to express understanding of knowledge/information || Student does not pose questions that are related to the task || Student poses basic questions that somewhat relate to understanding || Student poses several truth-seeking questions that demonstrate complete understanding ||  ||
 * Student engages in **discovery** in which he/she finds related knowledge to better his/her understanding || Student does not engage in furthering his/her knowledge through seeking answers for his/her self. || Student attempts to further his/her own understanding through applying his/her new set of skills or knowledge to exploring other topics that are related to the unit || Student fulfills complete understanding by searching for new ways to apply their acquired skills or information by exploring how other information or topics relate to the unity ||  ||
 * Student engages in a related **discussion(s)** with his/her peers || Student does not converse with his/her peers || Student briefly speaks to teacher and peers about the topic throughout the class || Student speaks openly and comfortably to teacher and peers about knowledge throughout the class ||  ||
 * Student is able to **create** new ideas or projects based on the learning from the task || Student does not continue learning through creating new ideas || Student begins to think about and outlines ways to create new ideas || Student is able to create new ideas in the form of written/visual/verbal work and put these ideas into practice ||  ||
 * Student poses a form(s) of **reflection** from his/her own work or the work of his/her peers || Student does not reflect on his/her own progress of the task || Student is able to but cannot insightfully critique his/her own work. || Student comprehensively critiques his/her own thoughts/ideas/work and can compare their progress with others using insightful suggestions . ||  ||

While your definition is very well worded, the final sentence is incorrect. In fact, the teacher's job in inquiry learning is to guide the children through the process. However, it was extremely well said and clear. The rubris is clear, but I feel that there is too much focus on the students' performance rather than the process itself. The idea of reflecting on what affect the project had afterwards is very interesting. -- Jane Villella

Jane- Thank you for the feedback. It is duly noted! When I reread my last sentence, what I meant to say is that inquiry based learning allows students to take what they learned in the classroom and apply it later on without a teacher guiding them after the teacher taught them these skills to think outside of the box. JeanMarie

JeanMarie I really liked the way you worded your definition too. I didn't see what the original last sentence looked like, but it's certainly correct now that you said the techer should step aside after first teaching those application skills. As a whole, you got it all in there with questioning, investigating, discovering, reflecting, discussing and creating. That's the most important part of it. I'm not sure if the rubric changed since Jane's observation, but I do like bolding those words in the first column and the expectations being concise. I especially liked the explanations in the exemplary column too. Nicely worded! Brian