Inquiry Learning - A Beautiful Thing

Inquiry Learning.  A few years ago I was sitting in a job interview for a job I really really wanted and I was asked what my understanding of Inquiry Learning was.  My first thought was that I had blown it.  All my ideas about the topic flew straight out of my head and I drew an absolute blank.  How could I wing the answer to this question and actually come out with a job at the end of it?  However wing it I did and the job is still mine.  What's more, when I was hired I was given the responsibility for developing the school's Inquiry Learning curriculum and to embed it in our teaching practice across the school.

Enter an intense phase of research.  Winging it just wasn't going to cut it anymore.  Professional Development in the form of road trips to Auckland to attend a Bek Galloway course, a Lane Clark conference, trips to high performing schools - Island Bay School in Wellington and Stonefields School in Auckland.  Professional Learning in the form of personalised research and readings, talking to other educators, undertaking a Teaching As Inquiry/Action Research into Inquiry Learning and key competencies.  My journey has been a full one and it is ongoing even now.  A real life inquiry into Inquiry Learning you could say.

Now fast forward a few years... I am proud to say that winging it has became actual knowledge, intense application of skills and a complete reworking of how we do things at our school.  We have a school wide process that we follow in all classrooms, posters we use as signposts along our Inquiry Road to Success.  We have held a Trolley Derby and a Space Sharing day - both amazing celebrations of the learning that has taken place through Inquiry Learning.  It's my school-baby.  And I love it.

Inquiry Learning is a beautiful thing when it is allowed to happen.  People often say they 'do' Inquiry.  I don't believe that it is something that is 'done'.  It is a way of constructing learning that takes place through exploration, wondering, the gathering and refining of ideas, of generating solutions and making informed decisions, of taking action, sharing and celebrating.  You don't 'do' Inquiry.  It is woven into the fabric of your classroom or school, nurtured by thinking and questioning, given the freedom to grow and blossom into a creature you may never have dreamt of in the beginning.  Students own it, they love it and crave it in their learning.

Our Inquiry Road to Success - a living document of our learning - it grows as we do.

Constructing our trolleys in preparation for Trolley Derby Day - 15 weeks of awesomeness.

A big thank you to all those who have helped me move from 'winging it to embracing it' on my journey in Inquiry Learning - Stonefields School, Island Bay School, Bek Galloway, and Lane Clark.