Due
to the incompletion of the first ILA, the discussion relating to what action
was taken to improve learning will focus on the second ILA.
One of the six principles of Kuhlthau’s Guided Inquiry model is that children require assistance at critical points in the inquiry process in order to construct meaning and develop higher-order thinking skills (Kuhlthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2007). Unfortunately due to the time framework of the learning inquiry activity, action was not able to be taken as a direct result of the information gained from Reflection Sheet 1. However, the teacher had observed several areas that the students were struggling with, such as developing sub-questions, finding suitable websites and bibliographies. Wilson & Wing Jan (2009) state that teachers "are active in supporting, scaffolding and intervening in timely ways to guide students..." and "may need to provide specific teaching sessions to explicitly teach skills ......... to meet the requirements."
One of the six principles of Kuhlthau’s Guided Inquiry model is that children require assistance at critical points in the inquiry process in order to construct meaning and develop higher-order thinking skills (Kuhlthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2007). Unfortunately due to the time framework of the learning inquiry activity, action was not able to be taken as a direct result of the information gained from Reflection Sheet 1. However, the teacher had observed several areas that the students were struggling with, such as developing sub-questions, finding suitable websites and bibliographies. Wilson & Wing Jan (2009) state that teachers "are active in supporting, scaffolding and intervening in timely ways to guide students..." and "may need to provide specific teaching sessions to explicitly teach skills ......... to meet the requirements."
According
to the unit planner, the students were immersed in various aspects of the
Industrial Revolution for 9 x 60 minutes lesson. The initial lesson suggested
the viewing of a video (4 minutes) to tune the students in. The following
lessons were not as specific in identifying resource material or pedagogy, but
indicated copying information. When partaking
in various other units in this subject area, over a number of years, I have
often observed that the students are given handouts or textbooks to read,
summarise and answer questions from; asked to copy notes from OHTs or
powerpoints; or view videos of questionable quality. Some students commented in
Reflection Sheet 1 that their class notes were one their main sources of
information. The focus of the 10th class session was to develop an understanding
of how to present and structure a bibliography, as well as differentiating
between primary and secondary sources.
As mentioned earlier, the current
teacher was not involved with the tuning in, or initiation phase, of the
students in Industrial Revolution. The teacher was also constrained by the time
frame of the assessment piece. However, the teacher had noted a lack of
understanding by the students, when she took over the class and planned for
some lesson time to extend their knowledge and understanding. This was very
teacher directed. She lamented that she wished she had more time to immerse the
students in the Industrial Revolution before they began their assessment piece.
The
teacher observed that the students were struggling to research the inquiry
question. The assessment inquiry (Figure 1) was scaffolded, however the
students were overwhelmed with the big question, and were unsure of where to
start. The teacher provided the class with a handout scaffolding sub-questions
for the students. The teacher modelled the process and assisted
students, where necessary in developing their subtopic questions to support the
main question.
Due to the time factor and information
skills of the students, the teacher provided some websites to assist the
students in their inquiry. I was also able to provide assistance with search
engines, online resources and search strategies such as key words and Boolean Logic.
Research
Assignment- Was the Industrial Revolution Good for the World?
Task:
Produce a multimodal presentation that assesses the short
and long term effects of a significant aspect of the Industrial Revolution
(your choice of topics is below). Your multimodal presentation must combine
three of the following elements: text, images, video, and music.
Answer the
following: To what extent did the changes in (insert aspect
of the Industrial Revolution) in (Britain,
Europe or USA) have a positive/negative impact on (insert aspect to be assessed) from 1750 to 1900?
Choose
one aspect of the Industrial Revolution to investigate:
•
Communication
such as telegraph, telephone or newspapers
•
Transportation
such as canals, roads, railways or ships
•
Industry
such as textiles, metallurgy (steel), mining or chemical (phosphorus)
•
Agriculture
such as a farming technique, invention or process (e.g. selective breeding)
Then
assess its short term and long term impact on two of the following:
•
Society generally (e.g. movement of people,
settlement, urbanisation)
•
Economy (e.g. national wealth,
banking, trade)
•
Environment (e.g. pollution —
air/water quality)
•
Education (e.g. importance, literacy
levels, public versus private education)
•
Quality of life (e.g. working
conditions)
•
Family life (e.g. size, structure and
relationships)
•
Housing (e.g. styles, quality, size,
sanitation and safety)
•
Warfare (e.g. munitions and machines
of war)
Conditions:
·
3 weeks’ notice of task
·
You will have class lessons and homework time for
research and production
·
2 to 3 minute multimodal presentation accompanied
by a referenced script of 400 to 600 words
·
Bibliography – provide a minimum of six reliable
source
·
Hand in all drafts, completed copy of your
assignment, research notes and task sheet on the due date.
|
Figure
1
Kuhlthau, C.C., Maniotes, L.K., and Caspari, A.K. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century, Westport: Libraries Unlimited. Chapter 2: The Theory and Research Basis for Guided Inquiry
Wilson, J & Wing Jan, L 2009, Focus on Inquiry: a practical approach to curriculum planning, 2nd ed., Curriculum Corporation, Carlton South.
References:
Kuhlthau, C.C., Maniotes, L.K., and Caspari, A.K. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century, Westport: Libraries Unlimited. Chapter 2: The Theory and Research Basis for Guided Inquiry
Wilson, J & Wing Jan, L 2009, Focus on Inquiry: a practical approach to curriculum planning, 2nd ed., Curriculum Corporation, Carlton South.
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