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Changing Learning Habitat Video

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Being Rich Is Not How Much You Have but How Much You Give

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Reflections on Shifting to a Flexible Classroom | Edutopia

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A middle school teacher shares the benefits of giving students voice and choice in their learning environment.

Courtesy of Brooke Markle

The author's classroom, ready to go for the new year.

Changes to a learning environment are often driven by the teacher's philosophy regarding how students learn best. When I decided to remove the student desks from my grade 7 English classroom for the last school year, I was motivated to do so after observing the way my students learned and analyzing how I could best support them in that learning.

According to the NEA article " Understanding Universal Design in the Classroom," the learning space is an important aspect of the whole educational experience: "One cannot have a community of learners without having a positive instructional climate. Instructors help to create this climate by everything that they do, from the way they respond to student questions to the arrangement of the classroom chairs." For my students, traditional seating hindered their ability to use the classroom in the ways they needed to accomplish the learning goals I set for them as modern learners.

The classroom environment should mirror what students will encounter in their future careers, and collaboration, problem solving, and meaning making are at the forefront of most job descriptions. Standard desks situated in rows do not foster open communication and collaboration. Before I moved the desks out of my classroom, I had typically arranged them in partners or small groups to try to facilitate conversation, but traditional desks in groups didn't foster the personalized, collaborative learning environment my students craved.

My Journey With Flexible Seating

Once I started researching options to shift the classroom environment, I was careful not to attempt a "Pinterest perfect" classroom and instead maintained focus on the purpose of flexible seating: allowing students a voice and a choice within their classroom. I incorporated various types of seating at different levels throughout the room, and students were able to find workspaces where comfort met capability.

Since I wrote about changing my room a year ago, educators from across the country have reached out with questions regarding how to manage flexible seating in a middle school classroom. Middle school students offer a unique challenge since they are in the midst of adolescence, which brings with it a great deal of change for them. I've answered questions on everything from student feedback, funding, parental concerns, and planning for substitutes to basic logistics and materials. There are many ways to address these questions-in the end, a classroom environment is all about the needs of the students within the room.

Although I started last school year with no traditional desks in my classroom, I did have traditional options available, such as standard tables with ergonomic plastic chairs. I tried to be sensitive to the needs of all the learners-many students enjoy nontraditional seating options, yet an equal number prefer a standard learning space.

Last year I used student feedback surveys in each marking period to determine "home base" seats for my students-where they sit each day for attendance and initial instruction. Having home base seats helped with the distractions and confusion that come with transitions between classes.

I also asked whether they wanted any traditional desks-the answer was no-and if they had opinions about the placement of furniture. This feedback was really helpful, especially with multiple classes using the room every day.

I made changes to the classroom several times throughout the school year based on what my students suggested, which I strongly believe was a key component to the success of the pilot program. My classroom was in fact their classroom, and being responsive to their changing needs was critical.

As summer ends and I think about the furniture I have in my classroom and the new items I acquired through various local grant opportunities, I'm planning multiple placement options for each piece.

The Benefits I Saw

One benefit of flexible seating that I didn't anticipate was that when I incorporated station work and students moved to new seats to work with a new group, they seemed more open to collaborating with an assortment of peers in a variety of locations than had been the case with traditional seating.

I admired the way my students took an active role in their educational journey when provided with a choice as small as where they preferred to complete an assignment. As the NEA article notes, "Students know how they learn best. Give them credit for the knowledge they bring to the classroom, and make them partners in the creation of a positive instructional climate."

Students are completely capable of doing their best work while stretched out on the classroom floor, sitting in an Adirondack chair, or even curled into a tire seat. I've been amazed at the discussions that occurred among my students and the ease with which they shared writing samples and ideas about literary questions with an array of peers.

Flexible seating is about more than simply having a variety of different, fun seats in the classroom. It's about utilizing student voice, creating buy-in, heightening collaborative learning, and prioritizing students' needs concerning the environment in which they learn.

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Reflections on Shifting to a Flexible Classroom

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A middle school teacher shares the benefits of giving students voice and choice in their learning environment.

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Dos and Don’ts of Classroom Decorations

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What you put on your classroom walls can affect your students' ability to learn.

The walls in Kenita Sutherland's classroom are lively but not overwhelming.

Heavily decorated classrooms can bombard students with too much visual information, interfering with their memory and ability to focus, a new study finds.

This is just the latest study to examine the relationship between classroom environment and students' executive functions, which include skills like memory, attention, and self-regulation. While teachers have good intentions when decorating, many classrooms end up being "sensory-rich" in a way that "could hamper children's learning gains rather than help," according to psychologists Pedro Rodrigues and Josefa Pandeirada, who coauthored the study.

To understand how decorations affect learning, Rodrigues and Pandeirada recruited 64 children between 8 and 12 years old to perform attention and memory tasks in two groups. For the high-decoration group, the walls of the room were covered with numerous pictures of ordinary objects and scenes, such as cars, musical instruments, and trees. Walls in the control group's room, on the other hand, were bare.
© Kendra Caralis
The children performed a series of tasks designed to test their attention and memory. In one attention test, for example, they observed a laptop screen, pressing a button if an X appeared and doing nothing if a K appeared. In a memory test reminiscent of the electronic game Simon Says, the children observed nine blue squares that changed to yellow in varying sequences, which the children attempted to repeat. A total of four tests were given-two for memory and two for attention.

Compared to children in the bare-wall room, children in the high-decoration room performed worse on all tests, which suggests that too much visual stimulus can be a distraction.

"Overall, the results from these studies indicate that children could have difficulty in ignoring visual distractors when these are embedded in the surrounding environment," the study authors explain.

Classrooms Should Be Engaging, Not Distracting

That's not to say that every wall must be bare. In 2015, a team of researchers in the U.K. analyzed 153 classrooms and found that students benefited most when the walls had some decorations. "The displays on the walls should be designed to provide a lively sense to the classroom, but without becoming chaotic in feel. As a rule of thumb, 20 to 50 percent of the available wall space should be kept clear," the researchers wrote.

So what do researchers say teachers should do?

Display student work. Students not only feel a greater sense of responsibility for their learning but are also more likely to remember the material (Barrett et al., 2015).

Feature inspiring role models. Putting up images-and short stories or quotes-featuring heroes and leaders can help students gain a greater sense of belonging and aspiration, especially when their backgrounds and interests are represented. Strive for inclusion, but avoid token or stereotypical representations-they can be damaging to students' self-esteem (Cheryan et al., 2014).

Avoid clutter. Keep at least 20 percent of your wall space clear, and leave ample space between displays so they don't look disorganized. Resist the temptation to keep adding decorations-it's better to swap them out than to keep adding more (Barrett et al., 2015).

Visual aids-like anchor charts, maps, and diagrams-are OK. Posters that reinforce a lesson, rather than distract from it, can boost student learning. But don't forget to take down ones that are no longer helpful (Carney & Levin, 2002; Bui & McDaniel, 2015).

Avoid displays of student scores or grades. Many teachers use data walls to motivate students, and while they can work for high performers, they can backfire for struggling students, leading to feelings of shame and demoralization (Marsh et al., 2014).

Let in natural light. Don't cover up your windows with decorations unless you have a problem with glare or outside distractions. Students who are exposed to more natural light in their classrooms outperform peers who get less natural light in math and reading (Cheryan et al., 2014). If you don't have windows, making sure the room is well lit can boost achievement (Barrett et al., 2015).

Balance wall colors. You don't have to stick with four white walls-try having a single feature wall painted a bright color, with the rest being muted (Barrett et al., 2015).

Developing Brains

While decorating walls is a favorite pastime for many teachers, young children may not respond as teachers hope.
Courtesy of Amy Mileham
"Our findings could be related to the fact that children's cognitive capacities are still under development, including executive functions responsible for the filtering of irrelevant information for a given task," explain the study authors. A teacher may have little difficulty ignoring a wall full of decorations, but young students may find themselves unable to look away and focus on a lesson.

Children aren't born with fully developed executive functions-they have to develop these skills over time, according to Harvard's Center on the Developing Child. Children who have adverse experiences-such as neglect, abuse, or violence-or learning disabilities are at greater risk of impaired attention and self-regulation skills. So classroom distractions may be harming the students who need the most help.

The Third Teacher
© Nichole Murray
This study is the latest in an emerging field looking at classrooms as the third teacher-after parents and the teacher-which views the environment as essential to supporting learning. The idea is hardly new; approaches such as Reggio Emilia and Montessori put it at the forefront of pedagogy, giving classrooms a prominent role in shaping how students learn. Recent studies have shown evidence for the role that classrooms play in learning: A 2014 study, for example, found that young students spent more time off-task when classroom walls were highly decorated, while research on flexible classrooms shows that optimizing physical characteristics of classrooms such as light, color, and seating options can improve academic performance by as much as 16 percent.

The takeaway: Classroom walls should feel warm and lively but not overcrowded-keep 20 to 50 percent of the wall space clear, and fill the rest with student work, inspiring pictures, and learning aids.

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What you put on your classroom walls can affect your students' ability to learn. The walls in Kenita Sutherland's classroom are lively but not overwhelming. Heavily decorated classrooms can bombard students with too much visual information, interfering with their memory and ability to focus, a new study finds.

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1. Create a flexible and equitable learning environment.
2. Involve students in making some decisions about specks of the learning experiences/units.
3. Use a “split screen” approach (Not just focus on WHAT is being learned, but HOW the learning is happening
4. Provoke, model, and celebrate creativity.
5. Allow time for students to figure it out for themselves...”🤬” the lesson strategically.
6. Allow for some open-ended exploration time.

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Flexible Seating:  21 Awesome Ideas for Your Classroom

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Flexible Seating:  21 Awesome Ideas for Your Classroom

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https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/flexible-seating-classroom-ideas/

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Activities That Prime the Brain for Learning

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Activities That Prime the Brain for Learning

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Brain breaks and focused attention practices help students feel relaxed and alert and ready to learn.

©Shutterstock/Robert Kneschke

I've enjoyed creating and sharing brain breaks and focused attention practices here over the past few years-practices that benefit every student as their brains prepare to learn. Brain breaks create a state of relaxed alertness, while focused attention practices help students slow down and focus on a stimulus, enhancing their executive functions of sustained attention and emotional regulation. These practices address discipline proactively, before any problems arise.

I hope you and your students enjoy these activities as you prime the brain for attention and a state of relaxed alertness. These all work well with elementary students, and some can be used with older students as well.

Brain Breaks

Peeling a tangerine: Give every student a tangerine. To begin, ask them to guess what they might be doing in the next couple of minutes before they eat the fruit. You can prompt them with a question such as: How is this tangerine like our brains?

Next, ask them to hold the tangerine behind their backs-or just close their eyes-and peel it without looking. Can they peel it without splitting the fruit? Was this easy? Harder than they expected? How fast could they do it? As they eat the fruit, ask what sensations, feelings, or memories they experienced.

Paired mirror drawings: Have students find a partner. Each student will take a pen or pencil and a sheet of paper, and sit facing the other. One student will lead and the other will follow: The leader starts drawing an image related to the class subject matter, and the follower copies the drawing and tries to guess what the drawing is supposed to represent.

Have students switch roles, so the other person can lead. Once again, as the leader begins to draw, the follower should mimic the leader's drawing and guess what the drawing is.

Pouring water: Give each student two small paper cups, and fill one with water. Have students practice pouring the water back and forth from cup to cup, finding a rhythm in the pouring. After a few times, have students close their eyes and see if they can continue to gently and carefully pour the water back and forth without spilling too much of it. Give them 30 seconds for this, and then see who still has water in their cups.

Focused Attention Practices

Breathing: Have students inhale deeply, lifting both arms in the air over their heads and holding their breath for four seconds. As they exhale, have them slowly place their hands on the back of their neck and massage their neck. They can repeat this three or four times until they feel more relaxed.

Tracing a hand: Have students take a marker, crayon, or pen and trace their nondominant hand without lifting the pen as many times as they can until they begin to feel calmer. They should focus on their breathing during this activity.

Swimming in the deep end: Have students lay on their bellies and move their arms and legs, breathing in and out five times; on the sixth breath, they should slowly relax their arms while still kicking their legs. On the seventh breath, they should stop kicking and lay still, imagining that the water is pulling them down or the clouds are pulling them up into the sky. Tell them to imagine they're weightless and drifting or floating to their favorite place. They can imagine the colors and sounds as they breathe deeply for a minute.

Melting an ice cube: Give each student a small ice cube to place in their mouth or hold in their hands. Ask them not to crunch or chew it but to notice how it slowly melts. They can imagine a worry or concern meting away with the ice chip, taking deep breaths until it has disappeared.

Balancing tree: Have students place both feet solidly on the ground. They should slowly lift one foot and touch it to the inside of the other calf or upper leg, and raise their arms in the air over their head. Next have them wave their arms as if they were a tree with its branches blowing in the wind. Have them switch legs and repeat this motion. Next ask them to show a tree in a rainstorm and to notice how the trunk of the tree-their body-stays strong: Even though they might wobble, they're still standing tall.

Focusing on balance: Ask students to stand on one foot, holding the other foot off the ground and keeping their balance. With each breath, they should try to lift their foot higher. Have them pay attention to how high they can lift each foot.

Not chewing gum: Give each student a piece of gum and have them hold it in their mouth for one minute without chewing, just feeling the sensation. Ask what they noticed as they tasted the gum but did not chew.

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Activities That Prime the Brain for Learning

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Brain breaks and focused attention practices help students feel relaxed and alert and ready to learn. ©Shutterstock/Robert Kneschke I've enjoyed creating and sharing brain breaks and focused attention practices here over the past few years-practices that benefit every student as their brains prepare to learn.

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Be Open-minded; bring a positive attitude to our workspace

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Be Open-minded; bring a positive attitude to our workspace

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The Learner, Learning & Teaching, The Learning Community

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The Learner, Learning & Teaching, The Learning Community

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Global Issues : social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all - Global Issues

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GlobalIssues.org provides insights into global issues that may be misrepresented but are all closely related. List of topics covered include social, political, economic and environmental issues, including human rights, economy, trade, globalization, poverty, environment and health related issues.

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Science Inquiry Activit

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About Inquiry in Action

Inquiry in Action is a FREE teacher resource of fully-developed lesson plans in physical science for grades K-5. All Inquiry in Action Lessons:

Are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for "Weather and Climate" (Kindergarten) and for "Structure and Properties of Matter" (2nd and 5th).

Are based on phenomena students observe and explore through hands-on investigations.

Are presented in a 5-E format (Engage, Explore, Explain, Evaluate, and Extend) and include student activity sheets for 2nd and 5th grades.

Have been reviewed for safety with notes added where necessary.

Include embedded animations to help explain science concepts to students.

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Inquiry in Action - Free Elementary Science Lessons and Activities - American Chemical Society

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Inquiry in Action is a FREE teacher resource of fully-developed lesson plans in physical science for grades K-5. All Inquiry in Action Lessons: Are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for "Weather and Climate" (Kindergarten) and for "Structure and Properties of Matter" (2nd and 5th).

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What does an inquiry-based first week of school look like?

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What does an inquiry-based first week of school look like?

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UN 17 Goals for Sustainable Development

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Page 25 The Power of Inquiry: Are you an inquiry teacher?

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Page 25 The Power of Inquiry: Are you an inquiry teacher?

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Questions and “Warning Bells” RE: Habitat for Inquiry

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Questions and “Warning Bells” RE: Habitat for Inquiry

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I was reading an interesting post from @langwitches in which she refers to @brholland's slideshow from a recent ASCD conference. In true domino style, Beth's post got Sylvia thinking and blogging and Sylivia's post got me thinking and blogging! The issue being explored by these two educators was around what we are 'looking for' when we walk into a learning space/classroom. Beth raised a number of key questions that we can ask to help reflect more closely on the effective use of technologies. The post and slideshow are great...as is Sylvia's sketched response to it. You can find them here: http://langwitches.org/blog/2015/04/09/used-effectively-or-simply-used/ As readers of this blog know, I pretty much obsess over all things inquiry. So of course, this got me thinking about the questions that roll around in my head when I enter a classroom. Most of the time, I am looking through an inquiry lens ... looking for connections between what I see (and hear) going on and inquiry learning/ teaching. I am lucky. I get to walk into many, many different classrooms in many different places and I am often intrigued by the things that signal 'inquiry' to me and, equally, by the things that, well...don't. So I am wondering: what questions do I ask?

Below are some that come to mind. Brainstorming this list has been a useful exercise in considering what might count as 'evidence' of inquiry - albeit in a 'snapshot' visit to a classroom. Obviously, one needs to spend more than a lesson in a classroom to really get a feel for the kind of learning habitat it creates BUT, Here's my list anyway...I would love you to add to it!

Are (thoughtful, connected) questions being asked by students?

Are students' questions visible and valued in the learning space?

Are students 'doing the learning' rather than having the learning 'done to them'?

Are students doing the cognitive 'heavy lifting' or is the teacher doing all the hard thinking work?!

Are students collaborating - teaching and learning with each other?

Is there movement? Are students free to move around the learning space? Is there flexibility and fluidity here?

Is the teacher moving around, interacting, observing (as opposed to standing and delivering)

Is technology being used as a means to an end - to gather, sort and share learning?

Can I see how this learning moment is part of a 'bigger picture' as opposed to being a fragmented/one-off activity?

Do the students know why they are doing what they are doing? Is the teacher transparent in her/his discourse?

Is there a sense of curiosity/wonder/intrigue/anticipation?

Is the communication between the people in the space (teachers and learners alike) respectful and warm?

Are the teachers excited/curious/engaged/energized?

Is there some laughter? (the good kind)

Does the physical/visual environment tell me something about the learning in this space? Can I connect with a narrative of inquiry? Are students using the visual environment to support them as independent learners?

Can the students talk with me about their learning? Can they articulate not just what they are doing and why but HOW they are learning and why?

Does this space make ME curious/engaged/intrigued? Does it invite me to want to learn, to be here, to participate, to investigate?

And, while I am at it, I also got to thinking about the things that act as 'warning bells' .... Perhaps a sign that a classroom might not be the best habitat for inquiry learning. It can concern me when I see/hear...

Each child doing the same thing, the same way at the same time.

Total, sustained silence.

A noise level that makes it difficult for me to have a one-one conversation with a student

Teachers doing much more talking than students

Learning products on display (art work, worksheets, etc) that ALL LOOK MORE OR LESS EXACTLY THE SAME (yep - it still happens)

Tables in rows

NO space for students to gather in a circle/group

The teacher at the desk.

A teacher's desk.

Mess. Just plain old, can't-be-bothered mess. Not the glorious creative chaos that comes with many inquiry experiences but just mess. Sorry...but inquiry requires organization, management a respect for the learning environment. Beauty, even. And yes. I have a thing about that.

The interactive whiteboard being used as a chalkboard with buttons.

No evidence of any use of digital technologies.

Worksheets.

Bright, beautiful, laminated things on walls but NO artifacts that share students' learning

Lots of commercially produced posters (even if they say good things, if that's all that's on the walls it makes me suspicious)

No evidence of what the students are inquiring into. The classroom should tell that story in some way.

Kids checking in with the teacher about everything...'Can I? Is it OK if? What do I do now? I don't get how to...'

Teachers raising their voice. A lot.

What questions would you add to those we might ask ourselves/others when looking at classrooms through an inquiry lens? And what are your warning bells? ....just wondering....

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Is this a habitat in which inquiry can thrive? Questions and warning bells for the inquiry classroom - Kath Murdoch

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I was reading an interesting post from @langwitches in which she refers to @brholland's slideshow from a recent ASCD conference. In true domino style, Beth's post got Sylvia thinking and blogging and Sylivia's post got me thinking and blogging! The issue being explored by these two educators was aro

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Inquiry-Based Learning:  From Teacher-Guided to Student-Driven

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Inquiry-Based Learning:  From Teacher-Guided to Student-Driven

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Inquiry-Based Learning:  Developing Student-Driven 

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Inquiry-Based Learning:  Developing Student-Driven 

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IB Curriculum Units IB Units of Inquiry Program of Inquiry PYP Inquiry- Based Instruction Articles IB Units Program of Inquiry PYP Inquiry IB Unit Who We Are IB Dining Room IB PYP Inquiry Primary Years Programme Inquiry Cycle IB IB Inquirer

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5's Bringing Inquiry Based Learning Into Your Classroom

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5's Bringing Inquiry Based Learning Into Your Classroom

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Bringing Inquiry-Based Learning Into Your Class

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A four-step approach to using a powerful model that increases student agency in learning.

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4's Playful Inquiry for Elementary Students

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4's Playful Inquiry for Elementary Students

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Stepping into a classroom at Opal School, a small public charter school in Portland, Oregon, is an invitation to wonder, play, and be provoked. Materials for tinkering, creating, and exploring are within easy reach so that children can make their thinking visible and discussable. Meanwhile, teachers document learning as it unfolds with audio recordings, photos, notes, and more.

"From the beginning, our goal has been to strengthen public education by provoking fresh ideas concerning environments where creativity, curiosity, and the wonder of learning thrive," explains Susan MacKay. She is director of teaching and learning at the Portland Children's Museum, which operates Opal School in a unique partnership with Portland Public Schools.

Looking for fresh ideas to share with teachers heading into the new school year, I joined a sold-out crowd of 300 earlier this summer for a symposium called Play, the Arts, and Education for Democracy. The event drew attendees from across the U.S., including many returnees seeking a refresher in what Opal School calls playful inquiry.

From Italy to Oregon

Opal School was inspired in part by the renowned schools for young children in Reggio Emilia, Italy. This network of municipal preschools and nurseries was founded in post-World War II Italy to grow a new citizenry that would resist fascism. The Reggio philosophy values critical thinking, curiosity, and self-expression over rote learning or compliance.

Seven decades later, Reggio schools continue to attract visitors from around the world and have inspired a growing international network of like-minded schools and preschools. The North American Reggio Emilia Alliance includes individual schools and small networks like a consortium of preschools in West Los Angeles.

MacKay vividly recalls her first trip to Reggio Emilia with a cohort of Oregon educators back in 2000. "We were struck by the level of sophistication and the expressive capacity of very young children. Their creativity, use of materials, dialogue-it was such high-level work. We asked ourselves, what are the implications for American public education?"

Opal School opened a year later to investigate that question. It continues to be a place where teachers inquire alongside students and where educating for democracy is a daily goal. Matt Karlsen, associate director of the Museum Center for Learning, says that when visitors come to Opal School, they often react the same way MacKay and her colleagues responded in Reggio.

Ideas to Inspire

To bring more playful inquiry into your classroom this school year, consider these suggestions from the Opal School team.

Be welcoming: To create a welcoming culture where relationships will thrive, start finding out who your students are before you even meet them. MacKay says, "Where are your students coming from? Who are their families? What do they care most about? What resources will children bring with them? Prepare yourself to listen to who these particular children are when you meet them."

Build connections: If your school has an established curriculum, think about how your students will connect to that content. "What's going on in the world, in their neighborhood, in the news? What's out there that will make connections between this body of information that adults say is important and their own lives?" MacKay asks.

Look for "long-distance local": The classroom is an extremely local place, MacKay reminds us, "with its own cares, concerns, and dynamics. What are the things way out in the world that you know will connect with things this group of kids cares about?" Arguments about race or injustice might be flaring up halfway around the world-and also in your classroom or on the playground. "If you open the door, children are ready to talk about discomfort. Help children recognize these patterns and learn from them. When you can do that, you have brought the world into their local."

Build question banks: Young children may need your help to find their way to interesting questions. "You may have to really listen to find out what children are curious about," MacKay says. "You have to create environments for interesting questions to rise up." Karlsen suggests creating a bank of open-ended questions "that you look forward to mulling over with the children. If the first question falls flat, you'll have 80 more behind that."

Document everything: Although it might sound challenging to document daily learning with photos, notes, journals, and audio recordings, MacKay can't imagine working any other way. When documentation becomes a habit, it serves as a prompt to reflect. That habit is equally useful for teachers and students-as Karlsen explains, curious teachers lead to curious kids. Here's a sequence of questions to consider daily:

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Stepping into a classroom at Opal School, a small public charter school in Portland, Oregon, is an invitation to wonder, play, and be provoked. Materials for tinkering, creating, and exploring are within easy reach so that children can make their thinking visible and discussable.

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One powerful example of students taking on a different role in the classroom happens when teachers use the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development as a framework for inquiry. Students explore their passions, interests, and curiosities based on the 17 U.N. goals, identifying learning objectives connected to a particular goal where they'd like to focus. Teachers then co-design standards with learners, standards with language such as gaining a deeper understanding of "x" or inspiring an audience to "do y."

Students achieve a more genuine ownership over their learning as they grapple with these authentic problems -- ones that have troubled global leaders for decades. In these spaces students take on more of the heavy lifting of learning as they are actively involved in the construction of understanding.
2. The teacher as guide and mentor
Just as the role of the learner has shifted in these classrooms, so too has the role of the teacher. Teachers in these spaces are constantly reflecting and making changes in order to foster a culture of learning. They are highly aware of what's happening around them; they take the time to stop and listen; and they pick up on the slightest clues and use these to shape next steps. They constantly ask questions of themselves that guide their practice and inform their decisions. Cumulatively they use these reflections to revise their path and better meet the needs of their students.

In all of these classrooms, teachers use a variety of strategies to support their students. It's a misperception that student-centered classrooms don't include any lecturing. At times it's essential the teacher share his or her expertise with the larger group. But teachers in these classrooms also make space for learner-centered discourse such as Socratic Seminars, in which students drive the discussion and the teacher guides and facilitates the collaboration. Or students might lead a lesson with the teacher observing and compiling formative feedback to support reflection, revision and growth.

In the inquiry classroom, students often interview experts in a specific field in order to gain a deeper understanding of their inquiry topic. Teachers support them with direct instruction that introduces the class to what a strong interview entails, and identifies the processes that should be adopted to ensure students will be successful in this task. During this time exemplars are shown and discussed, sample questions are collaboratively created and planning initial steps are accomplished.

Embarking in this learning together as a group, by way of a lecture, makes sense in that all students must gain this broader and more general understanding of interviewing. The teacher then facilitates smaller breakout groups where students can delve more deeply into their individual interviews and begin to personalize the task in a more meaningful and supportive manner. It is in this gradual release of control over learning that the inquiry classroom thrives.
3. The whole child is celebrated and nurtured
Whether it be social-emotional learning, personal awareness and social responsibility, grit and growth mindset, or empathy, the language around learning has shifted in these spaces to focus on nurturing the whole student. Dispositions are at the core of these classrooms where qualities such as creativity, collaboration and communication are explicitly discussed, reflected on and supported.

In all of these classrooms there's a joint emphasis on the product or summative piece to learning as well as the process of learning. It is in this process that students demonstrate meaningful growth in the characteristics and dispositions of a lifelong learner.

This is evident in inquiry spaces that utilize the design thinking method. This process calls on students to identify a challenge, gather information, generate potential solutions, refine ideas, and test solutions. High school students in one Vancouver classroom designed a solution to bring clean drinking water to rural areas that did not have access to this essential resource in their communities.

Some students prototyped an affordable handheld water purification system, other students designed a community sewage treatment facility, and a third group created a water use plan for the community. It's worth noting that many students didn't ultimately achieve a tangible or working solution by the end of the unit. But that wasn't the goal. More important was the empathy gained during the process. The design-thinking process provided rich opportunities for student reflection and allowed the teacher to see social and emotional skills at work.
4. Structures and frameworks exist but learning isn't overly prescribed or standardized
In these classrooms, standards do not solely drive the learning and content is not overly standardized. Students are often learning about different things that they have all individually chosen, but each student is operating within a common unified structure. Learner agency is a core component of being student-centered. Teachers can use strategies and routines to help students organize, reflect and revise as they go.

This is evident in high-quality project-based learning classrooms where projects are focused on student learning goals and include essential project design elements such as identifying key understandings, posing a challenging problem, partaking in sustained inquiry, reflection, revision and sharing learning with an authentic audience.

One example of this in action is a classroom where students were learning about positive impact on others. The provocation used by the teacher was an inspiring video titled Project Daniel.

After watching the video the teacher challenged students to "help one, help many" and identify a problem, plan a solution and put this plan into action in order to make a difference in someone else's life. One group of students 3D-printed fidget spinners for younger students dealing with anxiety. Another group designed a public service announcement campaign encouraging kindness and acceptance in their school community. And another group interviewed senior citizens at a local old-age home to document, archive and share their advice for youth in order to build empathy. Although each group was working on a uniquely personalized project, they all learned from one another throughout the process as they shared their work.

Inquiry is at the heart of many education buzzwords and can be a useful tool for framing ones approach to them. John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Paolo Freire and Jean Piaget planted the roots of inquiry long ago, but every educator can leverage their constructivist example to find a pedagogy that best fits their unique teaching style. Ultimately the goal should always be to empower students to continue wondering and seeking their own answers.

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Four Inquiry Qualities At The Heart of Student-Centered Teaching | KQED

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Student-centered pedagogies have inquiry at their heart -- a commonality key to their success and far more critical than keeping the jargon straight.

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1’s: “10 Tips for Launching an Inquiry-Based Classroom”

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1’s: “10 Tips for Launching an Inquiry-Based Classroom”

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"At the end of it they may have consumed less content, but remember more of the sum total," Laufenberg said. "And they end up in a better place."
2. Don't tell students what they should know; create the structure for them to experience it on their own.
"Inquiry at its best happens when the teacher is doing very little other than creating the architecture for the experience to happen," Laufenberg said. "It's asking the first question, putting up the provocative primary document or playing the two minute video." After that, the room should be full of kid questions. And if a student gets truly stumped and asks for help from the teacher, her job is to ask another question that pushes the students' thinking forward or raises new questions for the student to investigate.

Laufenberg has worked with well-intentioned, hard working teachers all over the country to infuse more inquiry into their teaching. Many of them find this model destabilizing because for a long time they believed their job was to teach content. To make inquiry-based learning work, teachers have to instead become experts at listening to how a student is thinking and then ask the one question that will "un-stick" the students' thinking and set them off and running again.

"You know it's happening when there's very little telling of things, but rather leading of questions and experiences so the students discover those on their own," Laufenberg said.

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3. Use class time to make connections between pieces of information.
Especially with AP classes, students are motivated or else they wouldn't be there. So give them a list of questions, tell them what to study and let them do so outside of class. They can use the textbook, the Internet and many other sources to find that information more efficiently and effectively than a lecture.

"Inside of class, use that time to make connections between information," Laufenberg said. After all, what good are facts if they aren't connected to anything else? "Give them [students] compelling things to do that have them analyze and talk to each other, and grapple with the difficulty of what's going on in whatever it is you happen to be teaching. But stop using your minutes in class to just tell them things." Teachers have the tremendously important role of helping students make sense of the facts they've learned and see connections to other issues.
4. Many kids struggle with reading, so hook them with the non-written word.
When Laufenberg taught at Science Leadership Academy she had a student in her class who was an advanced analytical processor, a great critical thinker and a wonderful problem solver, but she struggled to read and write because of learning differences. Laufenberg wanted her to be able to engage with the class content at the high level of which she was capable, and not be limited by her second grade reading level. She developed the habit of introducing lessons with something visual so the student wouldn't be left out.

"I needed to do this because there was an acute situation I wanted to handle, but what it was doing was inviting all the kids to the table with a level playing field of comprehension, not putting the barrier in front of them to start with, which is the written word for comprehension," Laufenberg said. She would show students something interesting or puzzling, even using 90 second videos to grab their attention. This strategy got students wondering and gave them a little background so that even if they were doing the reading Laufenberg assigned, they came to it with their own questions.

"Your reluctant readers are more likely to make an attempt," Laufenberg said, because they are curious to find the answer to their questions. Laufenberg would often try to give students the baseline information they need to know in the quickest way possible. "We would background build, but it wouldn't be, 'I'm going to tell you a few things today,'" Laufenberg said.

If a complex idea can be imparted through a short video or other means, Laufenberg uses it so the majority of class time can be spent diving into deeper questions and analysis. Laufenberg always got at the background information through questions; she never just told students information.

"It isn't less reading; it's less reading of the least interesting information to yield the more in-depth reading and invested reading," Laufenberg said. She still requires students to read, but if they aren't reading for the background information then they can be engaging more complex and interesting texts.
5. Stop giving struggling kids the most boring version of the work to repeat over and over again.
"We do a really interesting thing in American education; when kids are struggling with something, we just give them the most boring version of it and more of it, over and over and over again," Laufenberg said. There's no way that tactic is going to get students excited about the subject they struggle to understand.

Math teachers commonly say they have to get through some basics in order to get to the interesting content. But if students aren't interested in knowing, they'll never get to the good stuff. "Getting kids to understand that math is not just computation, that math is this whole other thought process and way of thinking about the world, and really trying to understand the bigger picture of math," is the key Laufenberg said. Kids have to care. "Give them a puzzle to figure out to then lead them towards the math that they need to know," Laufenberg said. They need to figure it out on their own, or at least grapple with it to care.

She doesn't think it's that different from history. If the goal of teaching history is for kids to chronologically place events on a timeline, we've missed the full potential for the learning experience. If the purpose of math is only to compute, we've missed something.

And with reading, don't give reluctant readers boring passages to read. Let them read whatever they want. No one wants to read things that are boring to them.
6. Surprise students.
Laufenberg would often start class by putting a primary source document up on the screen with no context. Students would come in and immediately get to work trying to figure out what the document was and where it came from. She says it was a great window into their thinking and questioning skills.

"Sometimes you can use really little projects to get their minds spinning on all the ways of knowing, and then model those for each other," Laufenberg said. Not all the students will find the answer, but they'll be curious to know how others did. Laufenberg calls activities like this "micro bursts of inquiry."
7. The traditional model of imparting knowledge isn't working very well, so don't be afraid to try out inquiry.
"When people don't want to do it I always tell them to pick the unit you know always falls flat," Laufenberg said. "You're not going to lose; they're already not with you." It's a safe place to start because it can't get worse and maybe some learnings will come out of the experiment that can inform other lessons.
8. Find the "bend" in the outcomes and abandon the prescriptive path.
Laufenberg recommends finding "the bend" by paring down the content to the most essential pieces and focusing on them thematically. That will help open up as many paths as possible for students to arrive at the big ideas that kids need to learn. When teachers assign a "project" that follows the pacing guide, has a definable outcome and which results in 30 assignments that all look the same, it's not inquiry. SLA principal Chris Lehmann calls that "the recipe." In a true inquiry-based assignment students will travel different paths to and produce different products, but learn along the way.

"In a non-inquiry classroom the kids will all walk the same path because the teacher has decided where everybody is going and nothing that anybody says all day long will alter that," Laufenberg said.
9. Indulge interesting student questions even if it doesn't fit the pacing guide.
Laufenberg has seen classrooms where a student asks a fascinating question that the teacher brushes off because there's not enough time. Kids know when there's nothing they can do to influence the direction of the lesson, a distinctly disempowering experience.

"Who that child is isn't informing the path and that's the most devastating part," Laufenberg said. Listening to student questions and validating them by asking them of the whole group has the added value of building student confidence and highlighting the value of wondering.
10. Approach the practice of teaching with inquiry and use that meta-practice to improve.

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10 Tips For Launching An Inquiry-Based Classroom | KQED

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"At the end of it they may have consumed less content, but remember more of the sum total," Laufenberg said. "And they end up in a better place." 2. Don't tell students what they should know; create the structure for them to experience it on their own.

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The power of ummmm... | Kath Murdoch | TEDxWestVancouverED