Guided Inquiry Exemplar

Table of Contents Guided Inquiries .................................................................................................................................... 1

Possible Topics for Guided Inquiries ............................................................................................ 2

The Four Phases of Guided Inquiries ............................................................................................ 3

An Exemplar: Balancing Body, Mind, and Spirit Each Day ................................................... 4

Phase 1: Entering .............................................................................................................................. 4

Phase 2: Investigating ..................................................................................................................... 6

Phase 3: Sharing and Taking Action ....................................................................................... 11

Phase 4: Reflecting ......................................................................................................................... 13

Photo Credit Front Cover: Young Hunter’s Winter Catch Photograph by: Tessa Macintosh

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Guided Inquiries

Guided inquiry is an approach to learning grounded in the present. It encourages active learning, choice through investigations, research and projects where students wonder and explore issues, and questions about the world around them.

Students are naturally curious and investigate, analyze and evaluate as part of the human need to construct personal understanding. This understanding does not happen without others. With parents, Elders, siblings, and other students, they can co-construct understanding. This approach can allow teachers to plan for multiple subject areas, and multiple ages or grades at one time, with a focus on literacy, numeracy and/or health and wellness.

In a guided inquiry, the possibilities for group learning could be led by the teacher at a distance or could be led within a household. The teacher will need to adapt particulars to suit their situation and may want to include other resources, such as graphic organizers. The process for guided inquiry involves four phases:

1. Entering; 2. Investigating; 3. Sharing; and 4. Reflecting.

Opportunities to develop students’ literacy, in any of the official languages, exist in all phases of this model. For example, in the Entering phase, the teacher may provide written texts at the reading ability level of their students with expectations for summarizing and note-taking or retelling. In the Investigating phase, students might interview people and as students Take Action, their activity to share their findings might involve literacy. Reflecting could include drawings and captions.

Depending upon the students’ choice, numeracy may exist in all phases as well. Possibilities for numeracy certainly exist in the Investigating phase, depending upon the method students use to gather their data. Numeracy activities also exist in the Taking Action phase. Students may be looking for trends or patterns in the data to make predictions. Also, in this phase, findings may be presented in charts, graphs or tables to support their mathematical thinking, and students might consider how statistics and probability impact the significance of the contribution they make.

Inquiry-based learning for younger students is play. The learning that results from exploring, predicting, gathering information, testing ideas, and sharing their findings, provides a foundation for the guided inquiry process in later years.

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Possible Topics for Guided Inquiries

The guided inquiry exemplar chosen for this document, Balancing Body, Mind, and Spirit Each Day highlights specifically health and wellness, considering how this global pandemic has inadvertently placed health and wellness on the minds of most students and their families.

However, the potential topic areas are endless; teachers might also consider the following topics for further guided inquiries:

• The transition to spring;

• How everyday heroes approach life challenges;

• The lives of animals in and around the community;

• The benefits of creative activities;

• Home economics;

• Machines that run the community;

• The impact of the global pandemic on the natural world;

• How the community has changed over time; or

• What makes people happy.

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The Teachers Role in Guided Inquiries

There are four phases in the guided inquiry; the teacher has a role in each. Phase 1: Entering In this phase, students connect with their prior knowledge and gather observations from the resources provided or suggested by the teacher.

• The teacher provides an outline of the steps for the inquiry and questions/common resources so the group has the same background information.

• An inquiry group could connect via telephone to “kick off” the investigation or a household group could host a conversation.

• Norms for working together should be established. (If the group is a household, the teacher can help suggest roles for each person.)

Phase 2: Investigating In this phase, students gather and record data or information.

• The teacher suggests ways for undertaking and sharing information and findings with one another.

• The teacher notices what is missing from what the students shared and provides or recommends resources to address omissions.

• The teacher helps shape the inquiry, based on student interest, relevance, and taking into consideration what is accessible.

Phase 3: Sharing and Taking Action In this phase, students plan an activity that will make an impact on others, based on what they found of importance in their inquiry.

• The teacher finds a way to have the group consider how their learning can make a difference.

• The teacher supports the student(s) to take the action they proposed.

Phase 4: Reflecting In this phase, students reflect on aspects of individual and group learning. For example, the teacher may ask individuals to reflect on their learning to consider how the learning could change their practices.

• The teacher asks the group to reflect on the impact of their contribution in the community.

• The teacher helps the group to find ways to reflect, which might include interviews on the telephone or the use of a rubric.

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An Exemplar: Balancing Body, Mind, and Spirit Each Day

The goal, for this inquiry, is expressed in an outcome which sets the parameters for what will be investigated and why. For this guided inquiry, the outcome is to:

Examine balance of Body, Mind and Spirit at home in order to contribute to improved self-concept, stress reduction, happiness and strength.

Phase 1: Entering

This phase is about making sure the outcome is understood and to help students consider what they already know. To ‘unpack’ the outcome, it may be helpful to:

Step 1: Explore what it means to be ‘in balance’. The teacher might choose to make an analogy, for example, of how people attend to priorities when arriving at a camping spot.

Step 2: The teacher helps students understand the Body, Mind and Spirit aspects of human beings. This step could have two questions. Students will record responses and could use a graphic organizer. (The teacher can let them know that it’s okay if they haven’t got a lot of ideas around Spirit. The Spirit could be defined as the part of us that helps us feel connected to others and to the land. Refer to Dene Kede and Inuuqatigiit for meaning of Spirit to Indigenous people.)

The teacher may say or offer as a written example:

“If you went camping with your household and everybody spent the time on the same task - putting up a great shelter, for example - that would keep your group dry, but it would be only one of the things that needed to be done. What about

gathering wood to make a fire? What about preparing the food? There are many different needs, so we need to spend time on more than just one. To be ‘in balance’

means that the body, mind and spirit are all getting attention.”

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And / Or…

A teacher might ask, on the phone or in writing, something like:

How do the body, mind and spirit each contribute to our experience of life?

Further prompting for their thinking, depending upon how the teacher is engaging a question like this, might be something like:

“Body allows us to move and play...”

“Mind allows us to process information that comes from our senses, and to think, dream, imagine...”

“Spirit - What do we do when we want to show our care for others? What do we do to feel connected to nature? What do we do when we want to see or hear

something that we think of as beautiful?”

Teachers can get students started with one or two examples for each part:

“What do we notice when we don’t pay enough attention to (each part)… “Body - if we get too little sleep, we might get grumpy …”

“Mind - if we don’t let the mind have calming breaks, we might get anxious or can’t process thoughts as well…”

“Spirit – if we feel alone and isolated or if we don’t take time for connections, we might be less likely to notice things that are hopeful and or meaningful.”

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Phase 2: Investigating

In this phase, students will be using resources to answer the question “How can people take care of each part (Mind, Body, Spirit)? What do we do or what can we do?” The wording of these questions needs to prompt students to think beyond what they actually do on a regular basis.

Step 1: To gather answers to this question, students can make an ‘inventory’ of daily/regular practices, in a variety of ways. Below are a few suggestions. Teachers can offer practical ways to come up with responses, such as:

• Have students imagine a typical day in their life. Write down the practices that address mind, body or spirit in any way.

• Walk through the rooms of their homes to see how the room/items help them think of daily care for body/mind/spirit. What practices might they think of when they see beds, books, cupboards, sports equipment, pictures on the wall, windows...

• Students can also take a ‘walk’ through magazines. Ads and pictures can serve as prompts (toothpaste ad, picture of person in an athletic pose, people laughing around a dining table, someone taking a picture outdoors…

• For students who have access to the internet, they can get more examples of what are possible practices to do by typing into a browser - “How do people take care of their minds?”, “How do people take care of their spirit?” and so on, along with keywords “kid friendly” so they access resources at their level. From what they find, they can add to their lists.

Step 2: Once students have made a list of notes regarding what people can do for the body, mind and spirit, they can invite other classmates or household members to look at their lists and brainstorm to add more examples. Students may see how many more things can be added to the list through this conversation. This is important since they will most likely need to consider more broadly than what first comes to mind. Alternatively, the teacher may encourage ‘virtual’ sharing among the students. Step 3: At this step in the investigating phase, the students share their list (perhaps through a picture sent to the teacher) so the teacher can have a sense of what students have gathered. Knowing what is on the students’ lists, will help the teacher to shape the investigation. If the teacher notices that a student’s list is minimal, they can provide a list of accumulated ideas to the students.

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Step 4: After the list is as complete as possible, each student will reflect upon their items and decide on the new investigation to undertake.

A. Students will go to each item and ask the question: Is this activity for the Body (B), Mind (M) or Spirit (S), or some combination of the three? There is no right answer. The question is about what is true for them?

B. Students will review the list and underline the items that are true to their

own personal practice and are done regularly by them.

C. Once the underlining has been done, students are guided to look over the list with this question in mind: “What do you notice?”

Simply taking this step might help to remind students of other things they do that they neglected to write down, and it’s okay to add to the list. It’s also okay to notice an imbalance. Is it telling the student something?

Teachers can prompt students with this example:

“One person might go for an outdoor walk or ski each day, and it is clearly something that benefits the Body. But they would also say that it is for their Mind

or their Spirit. So beside this item, they would make a notation of B, M, and S. Another person would say that the act of eating healthy food is for them Body and Spirit because they say grace before the meal and feel thankful as they eat (B, S).

Teachers may wish to prompt students to consider some of the following:

“Notice the things you have underlined. What behaviour do you already do and are most proud of? Take time to imagine this part of your day and how it feels to

do this practice. What makes this special or important to you? “

“Now look at the list of underlined items again and notice the markings of B, M and S. Does any area (body, mind or spirit) seem to be ‘out of balance’ – it isn’t

getting a lot of attention?”

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Teachers can continue to prompt:

“Now look carefully at the things on the lists that you did NOT underline. Take your time here, looking at each item and the notes that you made (B/M/S). In your list of things that you do not yet do, that are not underlined, is there something that

interests you more than the others?”

Some things might be pulling at their curiosity or their imagination. Teachers may need to prompt a little more to get students thinking deeper.

“What would it be like to start doing that? What would you like to learn more about or to try? Draw a circle around these options.”

“If any members of your household have time to join you at this point, talk to them about your list and the things you have circled. You might like to use another

colour of pencil to make your own markings of what you do (underlined) and what you would like to try (circled). Just be sure that you can tell the markings apart.”

It’s also an option to have family members make their own separate list; whatever works for them.

D. The next step is to decide which new practice the student (or they and their family) would like to try.

They will narrow down the choice to ONE thing - draw a box clearly around it. Congratulate them, as whatever it is that they would like to try is a great choice!”

Let the students know that any choice is a great choice:

“Congratulations! You’ve made a great choice!”

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Step 5: The next part of investigating will involve doing research either by using the internet or conducting an interview, or both.

A. Internet option: Students may choose to search the web to investigate further. A recommended easy ‘go to’ site can be www.BrainPop.com (School usernames and passwords have been distributed to superintendents; teachers can request access through principals.) Some recommended videos from the BrainPop site for Body, Mind and Spirit are provided. The topics can be typed into the site search feature to access the video easily.

• Body – nutrition, teeth, sleep, fitness • Mind – mindfulness, stress • Spirit – empathy, imagination, thankful, stress • Brainpop Junior has a suitable video on empathy

Transcripts of the videos are easy to access for teachers preparing ‘hard copy’ packages. BrainPop is also available in ‘junior’ level if teachers are grouping younger/older students in a household to work together. Another great site (free!) for health topics is: https://kidshealth.org/, or students can check out this site on ‘thankfulness’ written for young students: https://www.cbc.ca/kidscbc2/the-feed/5-ways-being-thankful-is-really-good-for-you.

B. Interview option: Students can find a local expert (complying with

standards for physical distancing) who knows more than they do about the practice they have selected. Students can make a list of the questions they’d like to ask. They might want to connect with the teacher regarding the interviewing process. Students may need encouragement to reach out to others as connecting is an important part of any learning process. Encourage the students to consider speaking to people around them (including family and community members, or their Indigenous language teacher) who know valuable things about their chosen practice and who would be willing to share their experiences with them.

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The teacher could also offer a few examples of interview questions, such as:

“How does it help you, or how does it help others?”

“Is it for the body, mind or spirit, or a combination of these?”

“How did you get started, and how should a beginner start, so that they will be the most successful?”

“Does it matter that this practice is done in a certain way?”

“Any important tips?”

Step 6: Once students have conducted their research, the teacher will suggest a process for letting others know what they have found while investigating. This could occur within the household or online for the class or one-on-one with the teacher. It really doesn’t matter ‘how’ the students share what they have found, as long as the findings from their investigations are be consolidated somewhere.

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Phase 3: Sharing and Taking Action

This phase is centered on ‘mobilizing’ student learning and, as the title of the phase suggests, taking action.

Step 1: Together the group or household figures out how the significance of what has been learned can be shared with others. Most likely, in these times, this will mean sharing in their community or a safe online community or local radio station.

If possible, students should be encouraged to talk to others in the household about this plan for sharing learning.

Teachers may prompt students to ask:

“How can this information make a positive difference?”

“What action in our lives will support our ‘balance of mind/body/spirit’ and improve our overall well-being?”

“Is there a way that we can impact our own practice and also support others as well?”

The teacher might ask students to consider what they plan to do for themselves or for others, so they can act on this learning.

“Will your learning lead to a change in your daily or weekly schedule?”

“Is this a change that your whole group or household can do together?”

“Is this something that can be shared, even in a small way, with others in the community?”

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Step 2: The students, and perhaps other members of the household, can now make a plan for action.

• Is this going to affect them personally, including their household? • Can it impact their neighbours? • Can it impact their community?

For example, some young people have already taken steps in this way by posting signs in their windows that encourage others, or by making signs on rocks that are placed in natural settings. (Note: Community might be the actual town or hamlet but might also be an online community.) Step 3: The teacher supports the students to undertake the activity. If there are not options for sharing learning across the class, the teacher will guide students to adjust the ‘taking action’ phase to the scale possible (student makes a personal plan, a family plan, etc.)

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Phase 4: Reflecting

In this phase, the students are invited to reflect upon the learning as it pertains to them and also to the broader group, which could include family or community.

Students may share their experiences with the teacher online, through a written response they hand back in or over the telephone. They may reflect on what they learned in the inquiry and their role in it. Students may consider what ideas or practices they will encourage for themselves to improve their own stress reduction and contentment.