Transcript Fostering Inquiry-based Learning in Technology

Inquiry Page:
Putting Technology into
Practice
Sharon L. Comstock, Bertram (Chip) Bruce, and
Brent Palmer
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Delwyn Harnisch
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Inquiry and Technology:
The Role of the Inquiry Page

Web-based
teaching/learning tool
that facilitates inquirybased learning in the
classroom
 Acts as a resource,
curriculum map,
artifact, and
community

www.inquiry.uiuc.edu
What is “Inquiry-based
Learning?”

Learner-centered ,

Teacher as facilitator and
“co-learner” in the
educational process

Problem-based, projectbased, and computer based
learning

Each teaching/learning
partnership has some
elements of inquiry
Inquiry is…

Examples from National Research Council
definition
 Examples from Center for Inquiry-based
learning
 Examples from humanities classes
 Examples from science classroom: use of
Inquiry Page supported work in the GK-12
Program
What is “GK-12”?

NSF-funded, nation-wide program, Graduate
Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education
 Partners advanced graduate students in science,
mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET)
with K-12 teachers
 Integrates computer-based modeling, scientific
visualization, and informatics in science and
mathematics education.
Key Components


Create sustainable
relationships between the
scientific and education
communities
Grow in our
understanding of teaching
and learning in the SMET
disciplines; particularly
via technology
Inquiry Page in the
“Real World”

What effect does salting the roads during
the winter have on lawns?
 How do we use bioinformatics in biology
classrooms?
 UNIT SELECTED by BRENT
 HUMANITIES UNIT
Inquiry and You: Participatory
Design

Development of web
page based on userfeedback
 Customizable based
on users’ needs: U of
Chicago Lab Schools,
Ayfa SisterNet
 Templates as
guidelines, not as
requirements
Now It’s YOUR turn…
Creating an Inquiry Unit

Create a Member Profile
 Log in
 Create an Inquiry Unit for you to
use/adapt at home
www.inquiry.uiuc.edu
Inquiry Page Resources





Benson, A. P., & Bruce, B. C. (2001, August). Using the web to promote
inquiry and collaboration: A snapshot of the Inquiry Page's
development. Teaching Education, 12(2), 153-163.
Bruce, B.C. (2001). The Inquiry Page: A collaboratory for curricular
innovation. Learning Technology, 3(1).
Bruce, B. C., & Bishop, A. P. (2001). Using the web to support inquirybased language learning. In Y.-S. Chuang & S.-T. Li (Eds.),
Proceedings of ROCMELIA 2001, the Fifth International Conference on
Multimedia Language Instruction. Kaohsiung, Taiwan: Multimedia
English Learning and Instruction Association in the Republic of China,
National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology.
Bruce, B. C., & Easley, J. A., Jr. (2000). Emerging communities of
practice: Collaboration and communication in action research.
Educational Action Research, 8 (2), 243-259.
Robins, J. (2000). The Inquiry Page: A K-12 collaboratory using socially
intelligent agents. Paper presented at the American Association for
Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Fall Symposium, 'Socially Intelligent Agents
- The Human in the Loop,' November 3-5, North Falmouth, MA.