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Reflect on interrogative forms and inquiry (PYP)

To begin with, I think the three examples are pretty appropriate to illustrate how the inquiry method, as a process, and way of learning, can happen in a variety of (i) scenarios such as school, home, daily life, or community. (ii) Types of communication like verbal or non-verbal. And (iii) relationships including teacher and students, family members or friends. On the one hand, ‘The Baby’s Inquiry PPT’ shows that the inquiry does not necessarily request verbal language to emerge. Here the use of the inquiry method in teaching babies aligns with Aristotle's idea that "All men by nature desire to know." In the way that in the PPT, the use of pictures allows babies to actively explore, investigate, and satisfy their innate curiosity, fostering a natural inclination to learn. A sign of this and how the thinking occurs is the body language shown by the baby in different moments. Like looking at the women, pointing o out a picture, opening a mouth while listening to the watch, or leaning on the clock photography.  It is definitely another type of communication than the verbal one that exposes how the inquiry process can promote thinking even from the early years.

On the other hand, ‘The Story of Wilfred Gordon’ and ‘Lindfor-Wells for PYP’, exemplify that the role of questioning in the inquiry method is to encourage critical thinking and active engagement by encouraging students to explore and analyze different perspectives and ideas about a concept. It makes me remember Plato's dialectic method, which emphasizes the importance of asking questions to stimulate deeper thinking and uncover the truth, as Plato stated, "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think". And actually, it was what he did across all the masterpieces of ‘Dialogues of Plato’: inquiring his interlocutors with questions to think about different concepts. Hence, questions such as “What’s a memory” in ‘The Story of Wilfred Gordon’ can lead dialogues to inquiry about concepts, in this case 'Memory'. Or for instance, in the text of  ‘Lindfor-Wells for PYP’, whereby exchanging questions, a boy can learn new knowledge around the question of “Who lays eggs?”.  Besides, there is possible to distinguish that expressions such as ‘Uhn uhn [no]!’ indicate that thinking occurring.

In both cases, some expressions are not properly verbal. But they still are valid to conclude that a thinking process is happening, o learning is comprehended. Same, that in other disciplines such as science, psychology, or ethnography where those expressions are valid to describe a situation or to comprehend a behaviour or community. Even to interpret a deduct perspective or social phenomenon.

References:

Aristotle, A., & Aristotle. (1933). Metaphysics (Vol. 1, pp. 980a-981a). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Plato. "Meno." In The Collected Dialogues of Plato, edited by Edith Hamilton.

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Cooperation vs Collaboration in Early Years Education

In the early year’s education context, I agree that cooperative learning is a crucial first step toward preparing students for collaborative learning. However, while the video highlights the role of the teacher as central to cooperative learning, I believe that the focus should be shifted to the students themselves. Children at this stage are developing social and interpersonal skills to shape the learning styles that will help them to achieve a goal. In this sense, children still needed a structure of interactions guided by the teacher. Thus, I think the role of the teacher could be more of a guide to regulate the interaction and re-direct the learning, but the center of cooperative learning to achieve a goal are the students.

In that regard, the brothers Johnson assure that "Cooperative learning involves students working together as partners or in small groups on clearly defined tasks. They help and support one another, challenge one another to think critically and creatively, and celebrate one another's successes. Students work through their assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it." (Johnson and Johnson, 2018) This notion supports the idea that students should be at the center of cooperative learning rather than the teachers. And they should allow children to take ownership of their learning, fostering a sense of autonomy and independence.

To end with, through cooperative learning in the early years, teachers can foster a sense of community and cooperative play, do group activities, share ideas, improve communication skills, and listening skills: learn to respect diverse perspectives, take turns; and have a sense of empathy and cooperation. All of those skills boost children's ability to work together effectively and be ready to collaborate with their peers since it enhance essential skills such as problem-solving, negotiation, and compromise.

Reference:

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (2018). Cooperative learning: The foundation for active learning. Active learning—Beyond the future, 59-71.

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My philosophy of teaching and learning.

During my first four years of professional experience,  I was working on social and educational projects with children surrounder of vulnerable conditions. It led me to realize how fundamental is to guarantee an appropriate cultural environment and emotional, social, physical, and cognitive development in early childhood to:

1. Prevent social problems in the new generations.

2. Generate equitable development and economic growth in the countries.

3. Children in their future as adolescents and adults, feel happier and loved and be resilient in the face of the different challenges in life; to contribute more to society to make a better world.

These three reasons led me to decide to specialize in early childhood education, and today are the basis of my teaching philosophy. That is why, as an educator, I believe that my role is to motivate children to have fun learning. Arouse in them the curiosity to discover, explore and reflect on what surrounds them. Provide tools for them to build healthy relationships with their peers and adults. Strategies to solve everyday problems in the classroom and learn from mistakes. Teach them to regulate themselves when feel frustrated, nervous, angry, etc. I believe in the importance of generating a healthy learning environment in which children become familiar with healthy habits, routines that promote independence, and activities that allow them to effectively adapt to different environments and achieve goals. During child growth and development, children experience different changes on physical, emotional, social, psychological, and intellectual levels that correspond to the particularities of their age and the unique characteristics of each child. For this reason, as a teacher, I feel close to the theories of Howard Gardner, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Freire, as guides to generate practices to promote optimal child development in the classroom.

My learning style

Regarding my learning style, well, it is pretty linguistic and visual. I do prefer to read on my own and try to complement the knowledge imparted by my professors by reading the literature recommended under my rhythm. I enjoy and can spend hours exploring visual materials to increase my knowledge about a concept, problematize a topic or learn something new. I used to study on my own first, more over than groups. But it was something that I used to do in my bachelor’s studies, which is in Philosophy. Since it demands more solo academic creation. However, when I have conversations about my academic assignments, ideas, or concepts with others (family, colleagues, professors, and peers) I learn a lot. Also because I enjoy talking.

After, when I started to work, I had to train myself to work in a group, as is the way we can have done things in social and educational projects. Not to mention, when I decided to specialize in Early childhood Education. The teacher’s work, demands plenty of collaboration and workgroups. So, now I am also learning from teamwork. Besides, now I realized how much I can learn by doing, when I go out from my books and lectures, I can learn every single day from my students, conversations, from what happens while I am working and from my mistakes.

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PYP concepts in a bilingual school environment