I was reading all your experiences and it is amazing to see how we all agree. 

As Andrea did, I´m currently working in a nursery in the UK and I´m familiarised with the "free flow" methodology. Every month we change objectives, and topics with can hel us to develop those objectives and then we think of activities. We have learning corners such as, maths corner, literacy corner, arts corner, music corner, home corner... All of them are connected to provide the children possibilities to develop their learning. 

I´ve never worked in a Early Years school because I studied Primary Education, but as you´ve said, the methodology is completely different. Now, they´re starting to implement the cooperative learning or project based learning. I created and implemented a project for 9 years old children and it was amazing how they reacted. They were involved and engaged.

When I was a child I was sitting on my chair listening to the teachers explaining the contents and doing some activities, individually of course. This is something that I´ve been concerned about: I want to change the way I was taught. 

We are teachers, and we can help to change the world!

Lidia 

All what you say is very intersting! I´m really impressed about your knowledge and your background. As I said in my first post, I completely share the constructivist point of view where the teacher acts as a guide supporting our students towards the acquisition of the knowledge. Learners should be actively involved in the process of meaning and knowledge construction rather than passively receiving information, which from my point of view is happening in most of the Spanish schools. 

Working through emotions is very important. Our students are learining not just contents but ways of relation with other people, that is why helping them to understand their emotions and feelings and express them is very important. They need resources to handle those feelings and we should provide them with techniques. 

Now as an adult I really like reading about different topics, trying to compare theories or methodologies. I consider that I have got a very visual memory so I always try to make charts or concept maps where I can organise ideas very easily and at the same time I can check them with a simple look.

What are your strategies now when you are learning? Are the same as when you where younger?

Lidia 

I hope you are all well. 

First of all, I thought I didn´t know about this video but I think I read it when I was getting ready for my C1 level exam or, maybe, a very similar one. It is interesting to read information related to different topics, so you can learn about things which surround us. 

I have worked with the PYP concepts, as I am a Primary Teacher and I try to think how could I adapt resources for those ages. 

I will start saying the key concepts with their related concepts in brackets: form (differences, structure, pattern, properties), function (conduct, role, pattern, systems), Cause, (consequences, pattern, repercussion, sequences), change (adaptation, cycles, sequences, transformation), Connection (interdependence, networks, relations, systems), perspectives (opinion, prejuice), Reflection (behavior, interpretation). As we can see, some of them are repeated in different key concepts. While I was selecting the concepts and related concepts which could be contributed with this video I was trying to think of activities where to reflect them. 

In a Unit I would start asking them about their opinion about wolves, what do they think about them, if they are positive or negative for the ecosystem. This will help us at the end on the Unit and compare the first opinion with the conclusion they´ve obtained. While they´re watching the video they can take notes, as I´ve done, and we can create a cycle where we can write down how the behavior of one animal can reflect a change of behavior in other animals. So we can have a concept map with a cycle where the animals are affecting another system. Then the transformation that the Yellowstone National Park has experimented and how that can impact on our lives as part of the world. How changes in the other part of the world can affect us in one way or another. 

I don´t know if it happens the same to you while you were watching the video. My notes are full of arrows to connect all the ideas I was listening to.

I´m looking forward lo reading your opinions, 

Lidia

I have been reading your contributions after I read both the syllabus and the PPT, and I agree with what you are saying. It was very difficult for me to choose just one perspective, although it was easier choosing the ones that I disagree. For example I like what Harste says when defining Inquiry as the search for broader connections and "discipline problems become the material for discussion". In perspective number 4, Inquiry is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking information by questioning." It is also added that individuals are carrying the process until they die. I can observe this in the nursery where I work, since I can see the children asking, experimenting and trying to answer their own questions. It is very interesting what the Indiana University Bloomington says about Inquiry as a dynamic learning approach which involves exploring the world, asking questions... The last perspective which I felt comfortable with is the seventh: "Exploring Inquiry as a Teaching Stance in the Writing Workshop” Language Arts, Vol. 83, No.3, January 2006 (Wood Ray, K.) specially when they say that Curriculum is the result of instruction and not the starting point. 

What all of them have in common is having the child as the centre of the learning process, being the main character which participates actively in his learning and is not just a spectator. I should say that for me, the perfect perspective should be a combination of all of them in which after the planning of a unit of inquiry, the teacher gives freedom to the children to explore through their interests, also the teacher is a guide who can provide them with the tools to make progress in its knowledge acquisition. 

This is why I have chosen the Hybrid Inquiry Cycle drawn from the works of Short, Murdoch, Action Learning and Whitin and Whitin, although as you have said Kath Murdoch's model is very interesting as well. I have chosen the Hybrid Cycle because it allows us to go back to the previous stage and it hasn´t got just one direction. 

Creating my own definition of Inquiry is very difficult, so I´m going to do as some of my colleagues and I would say some characteristics that Inquiry should have in this order: 1. Open-ended questions 2. Reflection 3. Connections 4. Guidance 5. Communication 6. Roles 7. Concepts 8. Participation 9. Environment. It is very simmilar to Anna´s diamond, but I´ve changed the order of the two first ones. For me, asking questions should be the first step in any Inquiry.

I´m looking forward to reading your opinions, 

Lidia

After doing some more tasks of this subject, I´ve tried to come up with a proper definition of Inquiry and it would be this:

"A way of learning where open-ended questions allow the students their own reflection and engage them towards a deepen research". 

Do you agree with this assumption?

Thank you, 

Lidia

 

As I said in other posts, I´m currently working in a Nursery and revising the Baby´s Inquiry PPT I can see reflected all of my children on there. From my point of view, we all are born with curiosity for everything.

 

In the Baby´s Inquiry PPT, the baby is trying to discover the working of the watch by himself using all his senses. In the Wilfred Gordon´s story, the boy wants to know what a memory is. He decides to ask to lot of people for creating his own meaning. He could have asked the question to just one person, but he preferred to contrast the answer and develop a definition which makes sense for him.

 

When we are asking our students, we are trying to discover which are their previous knowledge or their assumptions before starting a deepen research on a topic. Sharing this questioning with all the students can enrich the base of the knowledge of each student and they can reinterpret what they already knew. So, I would say that Anna, Andrea and me all share the same opinion about the importance of questioning. Cooperative learning is starting to be a key concept in the last years since we have discovered how important it is to share our learning with other people.

 

After reading Lindfor Wells´ example, I can extract two conclusions: the first one is that we need to practice the questioning with our students, in the text no 1 we can observe a development since the first day until the 15^th day. At the beginning his questions were very simple, but after been practicing it he is able to ask complex questions. The other conclusion is that we have different types of answers like expressions that make us think of what the children are doing “Uh-hm” maybe the children need another explanation or are thinking of what the teacher has already said.

 

From my point of view, these expressions can be used in other disciplines because what we are practicing is the thinking and how to create connections between concepts by asking.

 

What do you think about what I have said? Do you agree? Have you got another point of view?

 

Lidia

In this video they expose the theoretical differences between Cooperative Learning and Collaborative Learning, although the fine line between them is very difficult to define. To sum up very quickly what I have listen to in the video, they say “cooperative learning generally has the goal of finding a solution harmoniously and through mutual support, the goal of collaborative learning is to develop students who are articulate critical thinkers even if it means that group discussions are controversial or full of dissent”. I don´t completely agree with this claim, since I think while the students are trying to find a solution they are thinking and explaining their point of view. From my point of view, Cooperative and Collaborative learning can´t be used separately they are linked since the final aim is the same: creating students who think, develop an explanation and learn from the others.

 

Both types of learning are beneficial for our students, for showing this I´m going to compere a traditional classroom and a Cooperative classroom attending to some aspects involved in learning:

In conclusion, I would say that my ideal way of teaching is a combination of what they differentiate between Cooperative and Collaborative learning, but leaving aside the traditional classroom.

I agree with Anna when she talks about the role of teachers in this kind of learning. Teachers need to be involved in the process and have to plan activities and units attending to the needs of the students and what is the final goal they want to achieve.

What do you think about the comparison between the traditional classroom and this "new" type?

Lidia

I have tried to explain the connection between the student characteristics and the classroom elements involved and what are the strategies we can adopt to achieve a differentiated instruction. 

I have seen Anna´s graphic and I like how she makes the relation in the centre of the piece of paper with all the strategies. She has found a not very different way of my way of explaining it. We can see how we have structured the classroom elements and the student characteristics on the top and the bottom of the piece of paper. 

How are your graphics? How can you find the connections?

Lidia