Integrated Inquiry Units at Bray Park State School –
Prep to Year 2
In
Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 at Bray Park State School learning is made deeply
satisfying for students through the integration of the subject areas, and
cross-curricula priorities of the Australian Curriculum into topics that
deliver major understandings about how the world operates. Teachers use an
inquiry approach and select topics with great care for their global
significance, relevance to the children, and for their capacity to deliver
required learning outcomes.
What is Inquiry?
An
old adage states: "Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve
me and I understand." The last part of this statement is the essence of
inquiry-based learning. Inquiry requires involvement that leads to
understanding. Involvement in learning also requires the development of the
skills and attitudes that help students to seek resolutions to questions and
issues while constructing new knowledge.
Why Inquiry?
We
have chosen to use an integrated inquiry-based approach to learning, as
inquiry:
• goes across and beyond subject areas.
• allows students’ to pursue their interests.
• recognises students’ prior understandings.
• develops students’ higher order thinking and
interpersonal skills.
• engages students in real-world questions and
problems.
• develops students’ sense of agency and
responsibility.
• teaches students skills to safely locate,
access, navigate, evaluate and use information.
• is fun and enjoyable!
Kath Murdoch’s Inquiry Cycle
We
use the Kath Murdoch Inquiry Cycle to help guide students in their learning and
give them a framework to think and talk about their own inquiry journey.
The
phases of inquiry are:
Tuning In- provoking interest and curiosity;
gathering data about student’s existing thinking and knowledge; and helping
students make connections with the key concepts.
Finding Out- gathering new information to
address students’ questions; developing research skills; stimulating curiosity
through new information and learning how to effectively record information
gathered.
Sorting Out- comprehending and making meaning
of the information gathered; revealing new thinking and deeper understanding
and reviewing/revising early thinking.
Going Further- pursuing questions and
interests arising from the journey so far.
Reflecting and Acting- thinking about
learning, how they learn and why; identifying changes in skills, knowledge and
values; drawing conclusions and making connections between ideas; taking and
leading action based on what has been learnt throughout the inquiry.