Why should teachers use an inquiry approach to student learning?
Inquiry Process
“…students engaged in inquiry are more motivated to pursue learning on their own than students who are fed pre-organized
information that they are expected to remember” (Stripling 50)
“The inquiry process engages students in a way that promotes critical thinking, higher-
level processing, and the use of more varied and appropriate resources” (Carnesi,
DiGiorgio 32)
You are probably familiar with the 5Ws who, what, when, where, and why
Here are 8 new ones
8Ws
Watching
Wondering
Webbing
WigglingWeaving
Wrapping
Waving
Wishing
Children don’t just “do” information, technology, and Internet. A inquiry or project
based learning environment involves
Competitors
• Wondering about a topic
Strengths
• Wiggling through information
Weaknesses
• And weaving elements together (Lamb 1)
This will allow students to learn and express themselves in a unique way
The 8Ws: Information Literacy: is an inquiry model of information
literacy that features a variety of scaffolds to support inquiry
learning (Annette Lamb).
Steps Learners Engaged In
As first grade teachers you can collaborate with your teacher librarian and together work to edit the model to fit student’s individual needs
Our focus is first grade students. How can we use the 8W’s to teach first graders
to research a topic while still keeping their attention?
Watching is exploring.
Introduce the topic to the class. Have
the students make 5 columns in their
journal of the five senses. Then have the students fill out the columns about their topic. Discuss with the children about what their answers are and
what they are thinking. Watching is becoming aware of everything around
them.Example: If the topic
is a reindeer, how would the reindeer sound, smell, taste, touch, and look like?
Wondering is questioning.
Just like a science experiment, questioning is laying the foundation
for their topic. In this step they brainstorm
and talk and share with others. Have students
write down five questions or so about
what they want to know about their topic. With
first graders, first starting the questions as a whole group, then moving into individual
gives them time to brainstorm the topic
and also allows them to have an example to
use.Example: Do reindeers
lose their antlers? Where do reindeer live?
Webbing is searching. Students use their questions to
guide them through the webbing process. They are using their step to find the information
they need to go come up with the solution to their questions. There
are many websites that are student friendly.
Google is not a friendly resource for seven year
olds. Example: Nettrecker is a good resource to start
with. This website allows teachers to click in the reading level. If a
student cannot read, the information
provided is easy enough for a student to
comprehend if read too. Another great source is National Geographic for
Kids.
Wiggling is evaluating.
As a whole group, discuss what information
students found. Use one students’ finding to model a researcher chooses what information
they want to keep. Use the class questions as a
guide. Example: One way
to check for understanding is to
ask a couple of students to explain how they are going
to chose what information they are going to keep
and get rid of.
Weaving is synthesizing. This step is to organize their
information and make plans for their
finished product. Student should look
at the questions they wrote and write down the facts they found that answered
the questions. To make this simpler, first graders could write one question on an index card
then write the answer under the
question. This is not too over whelming for the student and
they are able to read their findings.
Wrapping is creating. Creating
their project to reflect their answer is what is required for this step. The product may be
redesigned many times to reflect what they are
trying to prove. After the students have decided what they want and know the questions they are
going to answer, they need to write down
what type of product they plan on making.
For the lower level student or students
that have a hard time making a choice,
telling them what their project is seems to
help.Example: The end
product for the reindeer is to make a
reindeer out of construction paper.
Students will then write five fact that they
learned and glue next to their picture.
Waving is communicating.
Communicating is a good way to revise
and edit their product. This steps allows them get the feedback they need from their peers or teachers. Now the
students can present to their peers. Having
students ask the presenter about
their project allows students to take
pride in knowing and understanding a
topic. This way they take ownership to
their research.
Wishing is assessing.Now is the time to sit
back and evaluate what went right and wrong through the project
process. This step allows the student to decide
what they would do the same or change for their next assignment. A good way to do this, is to ask
students what they thought was easy about
the project and what they thought was hard
about the project. Record their answers on chart paper so they can
read their own responses in order to introduce the next research project.
Do you want your students engaged in inquiry and more motivated to pursue learning on their own. With the 8Ws
inquiry model students CAN accomplish this.
Students will be provided with the tools to plan and conduct
MEANINGFUL RESEARCH!!
The 8Ws Inquiry Process Model
Works CitedCarnesi, Sabrina, and Karen DiGiorgio. "Teaching the Inquiry
Process to 21st Century Learners." Library Media Connection 27.5 (2009): 32-36. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 15 Feb. 2010.
Information Age Inquiry. Tue. 09 March 2010. http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/ws.htm Lamb, Annette.
Information Inquiry for Teachers. Ws of Information Inquiry. Mon. 08 March 2010 http://eduscapes.com/infooriginal/topic71.htm
Microsoft Office Power PointStripling, Barbara. "Inquiry: Inquiring Minds Want to Know."
School Library Media Activities Monthly 25.1 (2008): 50-52. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 26 Feb. 2010.
Yodi. Audio for fun, fame and fortune. http://www.yodio.com