Big Idea: Learning Design
Image from Trevor MacKenzie.
During this week’s lecture, the class heard from Trevor MacKenzie, who is an advocate for inquiry-based learning in the classroom. He emphasized the importance of posing inquiry questions, or provocations, to students as a way of increasing their interest and involvement in the curriculum.
I was especially interested in discussions of the importance of curiosity in the classroom. Even just from my experience with L2P, I’ve definitely seen a big difference in the level of student interest in classes that encourage curiosity and creativity and those that strictly take a more conservative approach. I think it is important to strike the right balance between more traditional and creative forms of assessment to ensure that students are given the opportunity to pursue topics that interest them while still learning formal skills. In English, this can be achieved by breaking up assessments like essays or unit tests with things like inquiry projects, character design activities, and student-lead seminar discussions.
This lecture also made me reflect on the ways in which teachers can be mindful when it comes to assessment. While I do believe that assessment is an important part of education, I also recognize the need for teachers to ensure that they also provide feedback that is not attached to grades. In English, I think a good way to go about this is to build feedback into the process of assignments rather than just including it at the end. When writing an essay, for example, a teacher could have students complete a peer editing or rough draft assignment in addition to the finished product so that students are provided with feedback before they need to submit something to be marked.