Learning+through+inquiry


 * Background reading for the morning workshop**

'Visible thinking' by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education is a very informative website illustrating how guiding student inquiries will support the development of thinking skills. []

In the PYP, thinking skills are one of the five Transdisciplinary skills which teachers should be developing as part of their daily teaching routines. The other transdisciplinary skills are research skills; communication skills; self-management skills and social skills. (PYP teachers - please bring your copy of the 'Making the PYP Happen' framework to the workshop).

In the MYP document "From principles into practice" ( please bring your copy if relevant to your age-group), there is a strong argument included in the section on Areas of Interaction (from p20) describing these as the basis of student inquiry. The five areas of interaction are: approaches to learning; community and serivce; health and social education; environments; human ingenuity. It is in 'approaches to learning' that similarities to the PYP transdisciplinary skills can be found: organisation; collaboration; communication; information literacy; reflection; thinking, transfer.

These are all part of supporting and guiding students to inquire into their own learning.