Simon Parker’s Updates

Optional Update #2: Inquiry-Based Learning

I work in an International Baccalaureatte school, in the Middle Years Programme (MYP). The IB is quite specific about the fact that it is a curriculum framework that is inquiry based (Barnard, Sebastien. “Concept-Based Learning for Today's Students.” News from around the IB Community, blogs.ibo.org/blog/2016/07/08/concept-based-learning-for-todays-students/.). The programme draws heavily on the work of Lynn Erickson (Erickson, H. Lynn. Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction: Teaching beyond the Facts. Corwin Press, 2008.) to link inquiry to learning of concepts.

As an inquiry and concept-driven curricular framework, the IB holds that the MYP encourages students to build meaning by taking their knowledge of facts to a higher level and seeing how those facts are stepping stones for understanding (of concepts). Equally, the IB states that assessment must be much more than just tests and should include "authentic assessment." I see this as clearly linked to the construction of "knowledge artificats" although this term is not used by the IB. Instead, the IB encourages educators to find a myrid number of ways to assess understanding in ways that reflect the real world.

This has given me the possibility to create assessments of learning that I believe can be considered knowledge artificats. For example, in a grade 10 unit on Poverty and Development the summative assessment consisted of students producing an 'expert' short video or screencast (the actual form was left open for students to chose) on poverty in a country of their choice. They then also presented one of the Millenium Development goals (this year they will write about Sustainable Development Goals) and how implementing it would work to allievaite proverty in the country. 

As students set out to complete this project in pairs, they came to identify what knowledge and what concepts they needed to understand in order to explain their findings and produce their presentation.For this reason it can be said to have been inquiry-based and concept-driven. I believe that the outcome was a successful knowledge artifact.

I would be interested in knowing whether others see this task as fulfilling the criteria of authentic, inquiry and concept driven.

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