T5 ProgramT5 Program

Inquiry Based TeachingInquiry Based Teaching

Rob SchadtJim Wolff

Srikrishna S. RamachandraJune 3, 2008

Rob SchadtJim Wolff

Srikrishna S. RamachandraJune 3, 2008

Advantages of Discussion Based Advantages of Discussion Based TeachingTeaching

• Context and authenticity

• Focus on real, professional issues

• Lends itself naturally to discourse and debate

• Promotes deep learning

• Promotes complex skill set development

Disadvantages of Discussion Disadvantages of Discussion Based TeachingBased Teaching

• Take time to prepare

• Less effective in communicating facts and theories

• Limits coverage of course content

• Require participation

• Requires skillful classroom management

Teaching with Your Mouth ShutTeaching with Your Mouth Shut

• “ Because I organized the course as an inquiry, I freed my self from the restricting restraints of coverage. ..The course title implied a question, not an amount of territory, and I taught the course as a means of pursuing the question. With a good question like this one I could never run out of pertinent material; there was thus no hope in covering it all.

• All I could do was examine enough material to stimulate a good inquiry. But the point of examining material had now shifted. It was not to gain familiarity or knowledge of it; it was to use it to attack an interesting problem.” (p.69)

Teaching with Your Mouth ShutTeaching with Your Mouth Shut

Preparing Good Case QuestionsPreparing Good Case Questions

• What is the purpose, goal, or point? • What is the problem or issue being solved or

described? • On what data or evidence is the decision /

definition / problem based? • What inferences are being made from what kind

of data, and are these inferences legitimate? • What is the solution, outcome, or resolution of

the problem or issue?

Preparing Good Case QuestionsPreparing Good Case Questions

• What are the short-term and long-term implications of the solution?

• What are the biases or assumptions behind the inferences, selection or collection of data, or framing of the problem / experiment?

• What are the basic concepts or terms being used? How do these definitions affect the framing / understanding of the problem?

• What point of view is being expressed? How would someone from a related but different discipline look at the problem / solution / issue,

Leading Effective DiscussionsLeading Effective Discussions

• Preparation

• Motivation

• Absence of fear

Developing Probing QuestionsDeveloping Probing Questions

“Let me see if I understand you…. Do you mean ____or_____?”

“Would you say more about that?”

“Would this be an example….?”

Clarification

Developing Probing QuestionsDeveloping Probing Questions

“What is Jenny assuming?...”

“What could we assume instead?”

“Is that always the case….?”

Assumptions

Developing Probing QuestionsDeveloping Probing Questions

“What would be an example….?”

“What would change your mind?”

“Who is in a position to know that that is true?”

“What evidence can support that view?”

Reasons and Evidence

Developing Probing QuestionsDeveloping Probing Questions

“But if that happened what else would happen as a result?”

“What is an alternative?”

Viewpoints/perspectives

Developing Probing QuestionsDeveloping Probing Questions

“How can we find out?”

“To answer this question what other questions do we need to answer first?”

“Why is this issue important?”

Implications/consequences