What is inquiry-based learning?

Inquiry learning is a life-long learning habit which will benefit the learners a lot. As the learner profile requires, students are supported in becoming “inquirers”. Inquiry nurtures curiosity and promotes enthusiasm for life-long learning.

Effective inquiry encourages students to think, challenge and extend their ideas; it prompts students to reflect and take action. Through the inquiry process, students develop and demonstrate/practice the approaches to learning and attributes of the learner profile.

G2 UOI theme and this week’s focus

How we express ourselves

This unit of inquiry in Grade 2 is about festivals and celebrations around the world, which is under the transdisciplinary theme How we express ourselves. It is the third week of their inquiry-based learning. In the past week, they have learnt much about UK festivals, especially their favourite Halloween. This week, they put the focus on traditional Chinese festivals. We picked 8 important festivals to get detailed information from diverse materials.

Group inquiry learning

As most of the learners have Chinese cultural backgrounds, there is a possibility that they can combine their own experience with learning materials the teacher provides. Group work is an essential way of learning in UOI lessons. The learners have the chance to practice communication skills during group discussion. New ideas may be generated as well.

During the week the class broke into groups of 3-4 students, to create a poster by researching eight different Chinese festivals. Two groups did and completed the research in Chinese, while one did the research in English the finally group decided to translate and present their material in both English and Chinese. Each group shared the work, completing the information about each festival, answering questions such as, when the festival is, and what customs people observe at that festival. The students then proceeded to decorate and colour their posters.

Learning outcome presentation

Each group, after finishing their research and presenting their results visually on their poster, were given a short time to practice presenting. They chose the order of speakers, and which pieces each team member should talk about. When each group had finished presenting and explaining their posters, other students were encouraged to give feedback or ask questions.  Many students are already aware of our classes’ practice of giving feedback; first say something they did well, before saying something that could be improved. Although each group only studied four festivals by sharing the presentations, students were enlightened about all eight of the Chinese festivals.

Reflection

At the end of the week each student was asked to think about the things that we did during the week. They were given a reflection sheet to help them evaluate their performance and effort during the week. They were also asked to record the things that they discovered during the week.  There were also asked to reflect on something they did well, as well as something they found difficult. All the writing will be kept in their inquiry journal. Finally, they were asked to set a goal for the next week. This week was very eventful and the students enjoyed being given more freedom to find the answers themselves.