Sometimes Inquiry-Based Teaching Leads You!

The following post was written by my colleague and posted on our website http://www.inquiry-based.com.

‘Should There be Zoos?’ by Tony Stead

Sometimes inquiry-based teaching leads you.  You’re just along for the ride, so to speak.  I wanted to give my students some freedom to suggest ideas for our next inquiry.  They had been working hard and producing wonderful pieces but I had some curriculum to address and had guided our last couple of inquiries.  We opened up a discussion around that great debate topic, ‘Should There be Zoos?’.  We filled a board with possible inquiry questions.  Then, a bit of magic.  One of my students asked a truly great question:  “Why doesn’t our town have an outdoor ice surface?”  And we were off!

We began by researching everything we could about outdoor ice pads.  We looked at sample rinks, explored ice making equipment, examined building costs and generally built a rich background knowledge about what goes into constructing outdoor rinks.

Next, we broke up into groups and completed a series of exploration rotations on key components.  Each group was responsible for researching their topic, reporting back to the class and moving forward to a proposal to our local town council.  We felt we needed to be really convincing and serious, or nothing would come of it and so we set up a production that would include all kinds of reports.  Budget, construction types, surveys of local successfully operating rinks and finally, models to show town council.  We each wrote letters to our councilors and included a bound book of spreadsheets, photos and research.  Then, we phoned the mayor.

Building a model rink!

Our mayor visited the class, listened to the students’ presentations, watched some commercials we made, and then addressed the group.  He was excellent, relating how the council goes about making such serious decisions, how a budget is created and what was the responsibility of the petitioners to council.  And then he did a truly amazing thing.  He promised he would return in one month’s time to talk about the possibility of establishing a rink!

The Mayor visits our classroom!

At the next meeting, the local papers sent reporters and the ball was now truly rolling.  The mayor brought with him plans of the town and discussed possible sites with us.  The kids were very respectful, considering how excited they were.  The mayor was very realistic, suggesting that the most likely scenario was the least expensive option we had outlined.  More importantly, he committed budget money to the upkeep and construction of the rink, once a site had been chosen.  Currently, the students are working on their presentation before town council.  We are creating a video and have 10 minutes of council time to discuss the process.  Amazing!

The whole process really showed the students how democracy responds to the needs and desires of the people.  It is a great lesson for the students to learn, one which will hopefully eliminate or reduce cynicism later in life.  It was and is, a wonderful experience to watch the kids grow in confidence and civic responsibility.