Engagement Through Co-Construction
If done properly, Inquiry driven lessons can look easy when executed. The reason this is the case is because the focus during the lesson, and of the lesson, is taken off the teacher and placed onto the students. Richard Strong writes, “Students who are engaged in their work are energized by four goals – success, curiosity, originality, and satisfying relationships.” (Strong, 1995) Adam fletcher writes, “Meaningful student involvement is the process of engaging students as partners in every facet of school change for the purpose of strengthening their commitment to education, community and democracy.” (Fletcher, 2005) Both of these researchers looked at what an engaged student looks like and came to different but agreeing conclusions. First, students must be a part of the education process, not just recipients of knowledge. As stated earlier, this is the definition of engagement. Schools are no longer places where students go to receive knowledge, but to construct it. In an inquiry unit titled “The 1908 Election”, my students and I experienced this construction of knowledge. The class was broken into groups they chose and re-enacted the process of the 1908 Election. This is an IB class, which is heavy on content and preparation for the end of year exam so usually the method of content dissemination is though discussion, debate and note taking, most often times teacher-centric. This lesson was different in that it not only placed the students in the lead position, each group was responsible for researching their argument and presenting it to the class, but resulted in very high levels of engagement as seen though: positive body language, eagerness to participate, and thoughtful research. As highlighted by Adam Fletcher’s Meaningful Student Involvement: Guide to Students as Partners in School Change, the students must be “partners" in the education process whereby they come to conclusions not through teacher lecture but by researching and seeking for themselves. The re-enactment of the 1908 election did just that. While the students had prior knowledge on election processes, "dirty politics", and the constituents' needs during the Industrial Revolution, all learned in the previous unit since the class goes chronologically though American History, the impetus was on them to piece all the information together into a cogent debate and culminating essay. Engagement in this case was gauged through levels of participation and eagerness thereby exemplifying what Cori Brewster wrote, that students desire to participate in the learning process, not just merely be involved.
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