LLED 469 Learning Log 1a: Response #1

Module 2

Prompt 2: Identifying Evidence of the Inquiry Process

For this learning log, I decided to look at the example video from UBC Okanagan:

I connected with the example, as it is closely related to a project I worked on with my students while I was teaching in Victoria. This is a great example of an area where I could have as Coatney says "nudged an existing lesson(s), moving towards an inquiry approach." (2015, pg. 12).

First I will identify evidence of the inquiry, using the Spiral of Inquiry model. I felt this model really connected to the project and the way the teachers approached the project with the students. Once the students were able to move forward from the guided portion, they really found areas that meant something personally. 

Scan: What is going on for our learners?

• The teaching team originally wants to find a way to learn outside, but instead, looks into ways that they can accomplish this while also engaging in an action project of their choosing within their community. 
• Initial 
• I like the term "follow their noses" in the direction of environmental stewardship in the community. Allowing the students to find an issue they can then focus on to ultimately make a difference in their own community.

Focus: What will have the biggest impact?

• Identifying a common area that the team can focus on together. In this project, this begins with the learning intentions established (I can be a leader, contribute meaningfully, be an expert, and make a difference). 
• As a team, the classes make a difference by collecting garbage in the community which is an opportunity for concentrated team learning and gathering more thoughts and ideas about how to make a difference in the community. 
• The teacher then gather information and reflect on the experience and decide where to head next to move the project forward.

Develop a Hunch: What is leading to this situation?

• One of my favourite parts of this video, which is the teachers saying that "what happens one day, informs us what happens the next."
• A walk around town to find anything that may be a hazard when riding a bike or that contributes to riding a bike safely. This is a team focus that they can do something about, which for the students is to create a poster campaign.
• Ultimately this leads to students awareness of issues in their community and the chance to think about an area they might like to research personally. 

Learn: What do we need to learn? How will we learn this?

• Based on the previous learning, the teachers now address the students with some guiding questions, but ones that are broad an allow for the students to 
• Questions:
• What is an issue/problem in our local community?
• Why does it matter?
• Who does it affect?
• What could be the result of this project?
• How can I make a difference?
• How might we take action? What would we do? What is the first step?
• The students identified a wide range of topics that they care about personally (toad habitat, 

Take Action: What can we do to make a meaningful difference?

• The students took a wide range of actions with their projects:
• Writing a letter to Nak 4 a company logging the area around the toad habitat
• Petition and letter to the mayor about speed signs (slow people down)
• Questions to local guests: Mayor of Nakusp, local bee keeper, and wildlife biologist. The students approached as experts. 
• Advocating for environmental stewardship issues in their community (trophy hunting, bee extinction, etc.)
• Planted flowers to create nectar for the bees

Check: Have we made enough of a difference? How do we know?

• Students reflect on their projects and recognize that everything they have done is connected to each other. 
• Making a difference in one area can ultimately have an impact on other projects that their peers are working on as well. 
• Recognition that even thought they are only in Grade 5/6, they have the voice to make a difference with the environment. 
• Making small differences can have a large impact in the community
• These student reflections could easily lead to "what comes next" 

    While I'm not 100% sure that I have everything in the right spot, and I'm interested in the feedback as part of the process. I do see that these students engaged in an action project that allowed for a group exploration, with the end goal of having the students engage with an issue of interest. This makes the project more meaningful and allows the students to investigate the guiding questions with a purpose. 

    I was impressed that the teachers allowed each day to guide the next. To be flexible and allow for a different path based on the direction of the day. I also like that the teachers gave the students the opportunity to explore some guided topics and come up with a plan of action, before diving directly into their own topic of interest. 

    I also like the connection of the Spiral of Inquiry to the First Peoples Principles of Learning. Within the inquiry phases, it would have been very easy to connect with Learning:

• supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors
• is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational
• involves recognizing the consequences of one’s actions
• involves patience and time
• requires exploration of one’s identity

    With a focus on the environment and outdoor learning, it would be a great time to let the students explore the connection with the FPPL.    

    The guiding questions mentioned in bold above, were a key point for me. Five or six years ago, I worked with two other teachers at our school in Victoria on an environmental project to identify invasive species and learn how to become environmental leaders in their community. We partnered with a local high school and parks and recreation, to take part in hands on learning and workshops. We built a relationship with many local partners and continued to engage in projects to help support the environment. 

Click on the image above to see the BC Green Games Project!

    However, at the end of our unit, I had the students engage in research through a website created by the Royal BC Museum, to research and create a presentation on an invasive species in British Columbia. What I remember is the passion of the outdoor and hands-on learning seemed to fade. The students were now engaged in rote learning, filling out templates for information a species that may not have had personal importance. While the website was fun and interactive, the students were not "learning how to learn" but finding and reporting information. 

    For me, this is a moment of "nudging" and an opportunity to take a project the students really engaged in and turn it into a moment of inquiry. Allowing the students to identify an area of the environmental stewardship that is meaningful, rather than filling out worksheets with information and presenting facts to the class. This was a chance to have them expand on their previous learning and focus on an issue in their community that would have allowed them to make a difference. 

References:

Coatney, S. (2015). Essential Questions and Answers for Implementing Inquiry. School Library Monthly, 31(5), 11–13. 

Invasive Species Are Among Us!. (2016). Retrieved 17 July 2020, from https://www.bcgreengames.ca/project/invasive-species-are-among-us1695

Kaser, L. and J. Halbert. 2017. The Spiral Playbook: Leading with an inquiring mindset in school systems and schools, C21 Canada.

School District 10 - Arrow Lakes. (2016). Collaborative Environmental Stewardship [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6wuEFnUciE&feature=emb_logo