Comments on: Kath Murdoch Seminar

By: Graham Wegner

Graham Wegner — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 12:19:11 +0000

Tammy, I’ll take a look but I am no expert on inquiry learning at all. I’m flat out plugging the holes in my own practice and process to be dishing out too much advice to others. Kath’s seminar was the classic example of feeling like I knew less at the end of the day about inquiry learning because it exposed how much I have to learn. What I see at your webquest site looks pretty good and does comply with Kath’s statement that good inquiry learning is heavily scaffolded and supported - it’s not just letting the kids find their own way. I like the authentic activities like organising a Bike Day and having students create their own safety presentations. Good luck - great to see more “open educators” like yourself making your way into the Australian education system.

By: tam

tam — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 06:12:25 +0000

Hi Graham,
I have been reading little bits of your blog lately and have found it really interesting. I am new to blogging and am new to education being in my first year of a graduate entry teaching course, however I am really excited to see such a strong online community of educators that are willing to share ideas. I like your badge of open educator - how has that been received?
I have done an assignment for uni that was supposed to be a webquest but has sort of evolved into a website that would be a rough guide for inquiry based learning on a whole range of topics loosely grouped together under the themes of cycling. I would really appreciate if you have a bit of time to have a quick look at the site and what we are trying to get kids to do - it still needs some fine tuning but the essentials are there and we would like to get some schools using the site next year, so I would appreciate any advice you have to offer. To have a look, go to http://www.cycling.edublogs.org

Thanx in advance,
Tammy

By: Kim Pericles

Kim Pericles — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:14:22 +0000

Graham,
I’m really enjoying your posts on Inquiry learning. The quote from Brooks & Brooks runs close to my feelings about learning - I have been gliding around inquiry learning the past few years, but have had no real T&D on it until your posts. Thanks for the links and references - I have been following them up (inquiry learning about inquiry learning ) and some of the structures and planning ideas have worked well in my room recently.

Can’t wait for your reflections on this event!

By: gregc5

gregc5 — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:30:32 +0000

Thanks Graham … a good summary of your day. For me the key point of Inquiry is the focus on concepts and understandings rather than simply collecting facts - pouring them into children’s heads and squeezing them (via assessment) to see if enough drips out to prove some stuck in there.
Action and actually doing something with what you now know is also crucial. You have been learning, but ’so what?’ Sharing of learning and social action are also key factors in children’s engagement in many topics.
It is also great FUN!