Inquiry has changed my classroom tremendously. Students who were once timid and shy began to take on new roles as they discovered that through inquiry--they were free to make mistakes and learn from them. To me, inquiry is all about doing and "acting" like a scientist--and since scientists do their investigations over and over students felt that it was o.k. to make mistakes as well. This type of learning environment allowed my students to begin to develop their understanding in different ways. They began to problem solve about their ideas and to make changes. They began to predict, observe and draw interesting conclusions all because they were allowed to develop their ideas together. There were no directions to follow, no recipe for instruction--just creative ideas which were created from a single topic. For example; we were reading a piece of literature which discussed how ice melted on the road during winter. Many students began to wonder how the slat from the salt trcks effected the plants / grasses along the sides of the road. By using inquiry students began to develop their hypothesis and organize an investigation. They worked in research groups to develop a method and all groups had very different ideas. They tested different concentrations of salt, types of salt and much more. They best part was having them share their knowledge to each other--they began to make connections between research and life. To me, that is inquiry--the ability to challenge and share ideas that are real world and interesting to kids because it is their idea and their learning.
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