Australia's Inquiry-Based Learning Approach

Australia's Early Years Learning Framework includes inquiry-based outcomes, specifically Learning Outcome Four which states that children will become more active, competent, and involved learners through the development of skills such as problem-solving, experimentation, hypothesising,  reasearching, and investigation (EYLF, P.35).

When children learn to problem-solve, they can tackle any issue they are faced with. Often, in my own work, I begin with the end in mind and help children backwards plan what they need to get to the end. Most times, children have a conceived idea of what they want their project to look like but are unsure of the steps to get there.

Success AND failure lead to learning. It is just as important, if not more so, for children to find out what doesn't work as well. In my own experiences, these moments of learning open the door to the crucial Why? questions, and sometimes the project can take a dramatic turn into a new area of learning.

What if...? questioning is also very important when developing your working plan as it encourages hypothesising. Ensure that you introduce this line of questioning when working with young children as it often leads to new discoveries.

Children can be lead through research and investigation with the help of an adult. Plan out what they need to learn and look for, what information they need. You may read it aloud with them, but have them decide what is important and relevant.

Extended Learning
As a teacher who has taught almost every grade, including adults, I was always bemused by the quesion, "Why are we learning this?" or "Like, when am I EVER going to use this?" I remember, very vividly, a grade seven math lesson that I introduced as The Unit That Will Save Your Marriage, Or At Least Help You Keep Your Parents Off Your Back! We had fun guessing exactly HOW this unit was going to do this, and then at the end of the first class, I told a story about a time my husband went shopping with me at a craft store where there was a HUGE sale. Everythime the lady rang something through, she would announce, "WOW! You just SAVED $18.00!" I thought she was brilliant. The lesson was on percentages and I taught it like a shopping trip. I told the girls I was going to teach them how to shop more, with their spouse's - or parents' - approval, and teach the boys' the secret to female shopping and what we really mean. They were so confused!

First day, we looked at how to discover what 35% of 50 was. We looked at the traditional way of reading the textbook and no one could understand it. I told the girls that there was this pair of jeans in the store that cost $50. It was on sale for 35% off. How much was the discount? They came pretty close, so I showed them a quick way of doing it so they could do it in their head: if 10% = $5.00, then 5% = $2.50. $5.00 + $5.00 + $5.00 = $15.00 + $2.50 = $17.50.  And the girls were to STOP right there - NEVER go home and tell your parents - or spouse - what you spent, just tell them what you SAVED! In this case, they saved $17.50! The boys, then, had to figure out how much the girls had spent. They discovered that if you subtracted the savings from the original cost, that left the new cost!

So, we role-played in groups of boys and girls, figuring out the questions from the text, which I changed to ALL shopping based questions! They got almost every answer correct! Then they switched roles so that they could practice being the other person. The only stipulation of this role-reversal was that they had to over-act and play stereotypical boys or girls! The girls were acting life beefed-up macho boys, wiping their noses, and comparing bicep size, and the boys were talking in high-pitched voices, swining their hair, and giggling. It was the best unit, and they all ended up with A's on the final test.

The point of this story was to highlight the importance of connecting the learning to real-life. If they can't see the use of it, they aren't going to work as hard to understand it. If they can see the importance of it in their every day life, then they will buy in!

Is it okay for learning to take a different route? ABSOLUTELY! If something captures their interest, or they come up with a new plan or idea, run with it. In the above scenario, they asked for me to take them to the mall. Sadly, we weren't anywhere near a mall in order to have an outing, but that would have been a fun excursion - and shopping trip!

Project Work
Many of us work in teams in our profession, collaborate on workplace projects, or are part of think-tanks! Being able to work collaboratively may be a new experience, but it doesn't have to. With inquiry-based learning, we teach these skills early on. The children, as natural inquistors, come up with all kinds of ideas (one I am working on right now is 'why can't I see air!') and we can help them develop the ideas, discover the questions to ask, lead them to research, and learn that all learning is collaborative - even if we are only reading, we are collaborating, with the author and other thinkers who came before us!

Angeie