Before you jump into creating an inquiry or project-based learning experience you have to create a classroom community. You have to create a place that inspires wonder and excitement. You have to model how to appropriately question you, their peers and their own understanding. It needs to be a place of respect and safety.
How do you start an inquiry or project-based learning experience in your classroom? It starts with picking what type of experience you will have and the big idea or question you will look at.
Looking to start an inquiry-project. Observe your students. Write down anecdotal notes. What are they talking about? What are they doing during uninterrupted free play? Have they been asking you any big questions lately?
Are you more interested in project-based learning? Look to your program of studies/curriculum. What are some of the areas that you are looking to explore?
You will start with a question. A big open-ended question no matter which type of experience you are looking for.
What is fall? What is a fruit? Place this question on the board or chart paper. Open it up to your students and write down what they know or think they know and what they wonder. This is different than a traditional KWL. I have seen where teachers create something called a schema. I would change the part where it says Apple Schema to Apples? I like how using this is a large visual that the children can come back to whenever they wish. The misconceptions space is if we find out something we thought was true is not we can move it down. It is one visual way to document learning. You could also create other visuals, books and oral stories.
