Critically reflect on the pros and cons of using Inquiries or See, Think, Wonder activities your classroom.

I think inquiry based learning is so beneficial for all ages. Allowing students to find things they are passionate about and encouraging them to pursue more learning around those topics is powerful. Prior to this program, I don’t remember having any inquiry based learning experiences in my schooling. I find it really hard as an adult to work on projects I don’t care about or find interesting. For kids it’s even harder to get them to engage when they’re just not interested in something. Giving them the space to explore topics they enjoy and guiding them through a process of inquiry would likely lead to more engaged learning rather than box ticking.

I believe the See, Think, Wonder is a really good tool to use for inquiry in the classroom. I think it’s a great way to lead student thinking in a way that is accessible and leads to deeper thinking that if they just look at something and move on. The See, Think, Wonder method is especially helpful for younger students to help them expand their thinking but I still find it helpful as an adult as well so it can be easily adapted for all age groups.

One con I can think of for younger grades is if you’re giving a worksheet every time you want them to do a See, Think, Wonder it can be a lot of paper. Another con of using them in the public education system is that open ended ones can make it difficult, especially with younger grades, for a teacher to help every student in a timely manner and attend to all of the needs of each individual project. I suppose that’s where doing an inquiry as a whole class is beneficial

more on inquiry here and a youtube video of a podcast featuring Trevor MacKenzie.