Session+2

=Session 2=

=2.3: Website Analysis=

The visual display of both of these websites seem legitimate. They are both eye-appealing by being symmetrical, neat, and clean. They are clearly not amateur website developers.

The information from website #1 that proves it is a hoax begins with the fact that the content is so ridiculous. Words like "Geekosystem"on the home page and "How can a colorblind animal change it's colors?" proves its false. I especially enjoyed in the "Ways to Help" section, the suggestion, "Participate in tree octopus awareness marches. You can demonstrate their plight during the march by having your friends dress up as tree octopuses while you attack them in a lumberjack costume."

What could prove to me that the second website is a hoax is the fact that there is no date for the copyright. There also is no indication of anyone to contact. No email to contact, no phone number, and no address anywhere that I could see.

The guidance we could provide to our students involves teaching them to look for good visual quality websites. Does the website have links to other websites that seem valid? Are there footnotes? Can you go to another website and find the same information? Do you find reliable information when doing a search engine search of the author of the website?

Evaluating Web Pages

In summary, I like the question "What is at stake?" This is good starting point to have the student think about how reliable their information has to be. A great way to think about what may be important is to answer; Who published the website? What credentials does the author or publisher have? Where can I go if I want to contact someone about this site? Why was this website created? What is the purpose of the website? When was its last update? Is the information current? If all those questions can be answered and answered positively, the website is very likely to be reliable. This guide does a great job covering all the bases. =2.3: Inquiry-Based Learning Web Sites= Thirteen Ed Online, Inquiry-Based Learning Workshop This website contains an actual online workshop on Inquiry-based Learning. It moves from concept to classroom by giving an explanation, demonstration with video clips, exploration, and implementation. I feel this is probably the most useful website I have found on IBL for teaching the techniques.

The Academy of Inquiry-Based Learning This is a website of an association of professors, instructors, teachers and non-teaching supporters (such as retired professors or teachers having IBL experience, administrators, foundation personnel) who are committed to developing and disseminating inquiry-based learning (IBL) techniques. The fact that so many teaching professionals created the contents of this website lends itself to it's reliability.

Teach-nology and Current Trends in Inquiry-Based Learning The definition, application, curriculum, tips for teaching and additional resources for further investigation of Inquiry-based learning is found on this website.

= = =2.4: 3 Minute Pause=

Summary
Inquiry-Based Learning is guiding with the notion that students understand better when they do the questioning and probing on their own. They grasp concepts bettr when the questions are self-made because they are questions that are important to the student. Seeking information by questioning is the essence of IBL. Involvement on the part of the student is crucial for the best understanding, in regards to IBL.

Thoughts
I think that this type of learning can definitely benefit the student. I also believe that this way of learning runs parallel to real life more than traditional lesson plans that are teacher directed. However, the initial transition of teaching or "guiding", as the experts say, will be a difficult change from the traditional for the teacher and the student. I feel that the student has grown so accustomed to the teacher “feeding” the information into the students’ head and vice-versa. Putting the responsibility on the student by having him or her do the questioning needs to be taught explicitly and carefully in order to achieve success. I feel this process truly is valuable and will produce real-life benefits to anyone involved. It's natural and useful and questioning in itself shows understanding. The skepticism in my mind is with the time spent in the planning, when there are so many other demands put on the teacher. I believe once the method is planted in the student as, "This is the way we are going to look at this particular content", then students will soar, and I will need further investigation on my end to get my students to that point. It's a learning process for all of us.

Questions
Can we get all teachers on board to teach through inquiry-based methods? If we could get all teachers on board, the transition from traditional methods wouldn’t be so difficult because the students will be so familiar with the vocabulary and methods. Can these methods be taught to teachers properly with time to digest and implement? At what student age can IBL begin? The earlier learned, the better, but is there a proper age to begin?

=﻿2.5: Essential Readings=


 * My first question in response to those two websites would ask, how do we begin to efficiently teach IBL without reinventing the wheel. I see this process as so valuable and I believe once other's see it's value, it will become more widely practiced. But I also see it as a long process to plan. Although there are lessons out there, catering them to the needs of our own individual students' needs is necessary.


 * I also want to extend on my first question by stating that I don't see school systems getting rid of the traditional textbook for core subjects. I feel that it would be hard to convince parents that the children don't have a math book or a science book, yet they will be basing all of their lessons on student driven questioning and inquiry. How do we link the IBL to the students' textbook. Is it used to complement the textbook or is it a standalone, separate from the textbook?


 * We work best when we are at the center of our own learning. Newly acquired knowledge is applied to the student’s own life and taking it into his or her own world.I respect the angle in the Inquiry Learnthat IBL is cyclical. The learner produced questions lead to a desire for answers, which begins exploration and hypotheses creation. This in turn leads to an investigation to test the hypothesis and solutions and new knowledge is made based on the findings from their investigation. Finally, more questions and further investigation can be made from their new findings.


 * Being able to taking this process outside of the classroom is truly the essence of learning. If what we learn in the classroom has connection to the outside world, we find it that much more enjoyable, useful and meaningful. The natural process lends itself to one’s self-growth as well as an appreciation and association to the outside world.

=2.6: Evaluating Student Work= = = I really like the idea of collaboration and communication in group work. Wikispaces and other sites like googledocs have given us the opportunity to collaborate and contribute in a fair and organized manner. I remember when I was in college, some years ago, and being given a "cooperative learning" assignment to do outside of class. Any work done out of the classroom on our own was never equally accomplished. There was always someone doing more than someone else. There was also the challenge of sending and resending files, with corrections, the file being too big to fit in an email attachment, fiddling with zip files and floppy discs, so many obstacles that I now see eliminated due to the progresses made. These four students may have only seen one another face-to-face for the photo! Now so much can be accomplished cooperatively but remotely. In terms of the contents of the wikispace, I am not exactly sure of the expectations of the assignment, but I did like the use of video integration, word attachments, wordle (though visually appealing, does it have a purpose?) images, and glogster (which I'm not clear on either). I can see the capacity for usage and I think it is a great starting point.