10 Characteristics of the Inquiry Classroom

A long-time follower of Trevor Mackenzie and Holly Clark, I was fortunate enough to attend a great day of professional development with them. The graphic below got me wondering what we as educators do for these 10 characteristics.

As a keen user of technology in my classroom, I thought I would share what I do with my students and share what I have found other educators do. In this post I will cover ideas for Solving the problems of tomorrow in the classrooms today. 

One of the best places to start for teachers is to look at The Worlds Largest LessonHere you will find heaps of resources looking at 17 global goals that world leaders agreed to commit to and work towards by 2030. You can also complete a free (1 hour) Teaching Sustainable  Development Goals course. My students loved the material and the choice of exploration that was available on the Global Goals website.

I had my students select a goal that they are passionate about or had no previous idea about. They were allowed complete autonomy in exploring-researching their chosen goal. They were later asked to make a recording using Flipgrid (it is FREE!) where they simply had to ask as many questions as they could about any of the other goals. (Have a look at the video below on ways to use Flipgrid)

These questions were then posed to students who had covered the topic (again on Flipgrid). The back and forth replies on Flipgrid were phenomenal as students dug deeper and deeper into what the goals mean, why the goals are important and what they as individuals could do to help these goals. As the unit unfolded, I wanted to have my students hear other perspectives. Not wanting to have my students learn a new edtech tool, I chose to stay with Flipgrid for this. I used Flipgrid’s Gridpals  made connections with two schools in Africa. Here is another great resource on how to use Gridpals.

The students were then asked to relook at the 17 Global Goals and decide which they thought were a priority for the country they were in. Students left recordings explaining why they felt a certain goal needed more immediate attention in their region. For my students (in Beijing) this task was an eye opener. Not only was this the first time they had engaged with anyone from Africa, but they gained a completely new perspective of why a goal they might have taken for granted is a top priority for someone else.


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