Web Inquiry Projects

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Web Inquiry Projects

• Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Philip Molebash San Diego State University
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Ways of Thinking Acting Associated with Inquiry

• Asking questions
• Planning and conducting investigations
• Using appropriate tools and techniques to gather
  data
• Critical thinking about relationships between
  evidence and explanation
• Constructing and analyzing alternative
  explanations
• Communicating results/arguments

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Ways of Teaching Commonly Associated with Inquiry

• Science Experiments
• Problem-Based Learning
• Socratic Dialogue
• Constructivism
• WebQuests

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Defining Inquiry

• Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry (1996)
  developed the following definition Inquiry is
  an approach to learning that involves a process
  of exploring the natural or material world, that
  leads to asking questions and making discoveries
  in the search for new understandings.

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Core of Inquiry

• Exploring the world
• Asking questions
• Making discoveries
• Coming to new understandings

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The problem is

• Teachers and students understandings arent
  always correct
• 5 basic elements earth, water, air, fire, and
  ether
• Earth is at the center of the universe
• The world is flat
• Heavier objects fall faster
• Leaves change color because it gets colder
  outside

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Four Stages a Learner Must Go Through to Accept
New Explanations

1. Dissatisfaction
2. Understand new explanation
3. New explanation must be plausible
4. New explanation must be fruitful

This is also true for teachers
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Four Stages a Teacher Must Go Through to Accept
New Methods

1. Dissatisfaction
2. Understand new explanation
3. New explanation must be plausible
4. New explanation must be fruitful

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Four Stages a Teacher Must Go Through to Accept
New Methods

1. Dissatisfaction Theres got to be a better way
2. Understand new explanation
3. New explanation must be plausible
4. New explanation must be fruitful

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Four Stages a Teacher Must Go Through to Accept
New Methods

1. Dissatisfaction Theres got to be a better way
2. Understand new explanation This other way of
   teaching/learning makes sense
3. New explanation must be plausible
4. New explanation must be fruitful

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Four Stages a Teacher Must Go Through to Accept
New Methods

1. Dissatisfaction Theres got to be a better way
2. Understand new explanation This other way of
   teaching/learning makes sense
3. New explanation must be plausible I believe it
   can be applied in my classroom
4. New explanation must be fruitful

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Four Stages a Teacher Must Go Through to Accept
New Methods

1. Dissatisfaction Theres got to be a better way
2. Understand new explanation This other way of
   teaching/learning makes sense
3. New explanation must be plausible I believe it
   can be applied in my classroom
4. New explanation must be fruitful I can apply
   this approach in other contexts

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Why is it so important for teachers to experience
inquiry?
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Whats a teacher to do?

• Give yourself inquiry learning experiences
• Discover the scaffolding required to be
  successful at providing inquiry learning
  environments
• Opportunity to use technology appropriately
• Finding information needed to solve problems
• Manipulating information to solve problems

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Spiral Path of Inquiry
Reflect
Report Findings/ Draw Conclusions
Ask Questions
Define Procedures
Analyze/ Manipulate Data
Analyze/ Manipulate Data
Gather/ Investigate Data
Gather/ Investigate Data
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Onion Layers of Scaffolding Inquiry
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Scaffolding Inquiry Developing Thinking Skills

• Analyzing, comparing, contrasting, predicting,
  hypothesizing, making conclusions, etc.
• Ask students to explain, to infer, to interpret,
  to transfer what theyve learned and to predict
• Listen to (and watch) students
  explanationsLanguage of Learning (Karen Gallas)

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Scaffolding Inquiry Developing Strategies

• Knowing when and how to apply thinking skills to
  solve a problem
• Providing problem-based situations to students so
  that they can apply their acquired thinking
  skills
• Let students questions drive learning

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Scaffolding Inquiry Developing Habits of Mind

• Being inclined to put problem solving skills into
  action
• Consistently model listening, being curious,
  striving for accuracy, and asking new questions
  based on new understandings
• Desire these traits from your students (most
  teachers do not)

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Levels of Inquiry Learning(Herron, 1971)

• 0. CONFIRMATION/VERIFICATION confirmation of a
  principle through an activity with the results
  are known in advance.
• 1. STRUCTURED INQUIRY students investigate a
  teacher-presented question through a prescribed
  procedure.

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Levels of Inquiry Learning

• 2. GUIDED INQUIRY students investigate a
  teacher-presented question using student-selected
  procedures.
• 3. OPEN INQUIRY students investigate
  topic-related questions which are student
  formulated through student-selected procedures.

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Levels of Inquiry Learning
Level Problem? Procedure? Solution?
Not Inquiry No problem Complete worksheet Locate answers
0 ? ? ?
1 ? ?
2 ?
3
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The Internet to the Rescue?

• WebQuests developed as an early step in answering
  the questionHow can Internet resources be
  effectively used in the classroom?
• When the WebQuest concept was created over seven
  years ago, there was no formal method of using
  the Internet to support learners thinking
  levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation

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WebQuest definition

• A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in
  which most or all of the information used by
  learners is drawn from the Web
• How inquiry-oriented is a WebQuest?

http//webquest.sdsu.edu
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How Do We Scaffold in a WebQuest?

• by
• Specifying the Task
• Specifying roles and perspectives
• Providing links and offline resources
• Providing outlines, guides and templates
• Guiding thinking through visual and other means
• ?Sounds a lot like structured inquiry (Level 1)

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Fading the WebQuest Support

• TASK Gradually allow more flexibility in how and
  what to produce in the task
• PROCESS Gradually provide fewer URLs and expect
  learners to find more
• PROCESS Gradually move scaffolding of
  notetaking, information organizing, writing
  prompts, etc. from required to implicit.
• CONCLUSION Put more resources here for learners
  to explore on their own later

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WebQuests 1. Structured Inquiry
RemoveScaffolding Learners Responsibility
Web Inquiry Projects 2. Guided Inquiry 3. Open
Inquiry?
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Web Inquiry Projects

• Use online uninterpreted data/information
• primary sources, weather data, sports statistics,
  music lyrics
• used in ways that allow learners to actively
  pursue answers to questions that are both
  interesting and relevant to their required
  studies.
• Facilitated learning plan for teachers to promote
  guided and open inquiry

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Web Inquiry Projects
Reflect
Hook
Defend
Report Findings/ Draw Conclusions
Ask Questions
Focus
Tools
Methodology
Define Procedures
Analyze/ Manipulate Data
Resources
Gather/ Investigate Data
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Web Inquiry Projects
http//edweb.sdsu.edu/wip/
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Aiming for

• self-directed learners

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Stages of Self-Directed Learning

• 1. Dependent
• 2. Interested
• 3. Involved
• 4. Self-Directed

http//www.longleaf.net/ggrow/SSDL/Model.html
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It All Starts With the Learner

• Conceptual Changes
• Learners must have personal experiences
  confronting the inconsistencies in their theories
  about how the world works (Posner, Strike, Hewson
  Gertzog, 1982 Watson Konicek, 1990)
• Learning is not complete until knowledge can be
  applied in a problem-solving situation (Arthur
  L. Costa)

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Philip Molebash

• molebash_at_mail.sdsu.edu