Inquirers

Working in an IB PYP school, the learner profile represents some of the attributes most valued for learners. For the next 10 weeks, I am going to reflect on how these values are a part of the Kindergarten class I teach. 

This week will be focused on inquirers. The IB describes inquirers as follows:

We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research, We know how to learn independently and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life. 

The children have shown great curiosity in programmable Bee-bots, magnets, the flow of water and different living and non-living things at a nearby nature trail. We have focused on observation and wondering as two skills for inquiry and using different tools such as nets, hand lenses and non-fiction books as research tools. Through play, children work both alone and in groups, and are sometimes grouped in different ways. The children respond enthusiastically to number challenges (such as scavenger hunts, bingo and creating counting books), making connections and predictions in response to picture books, engaging in 1:1 conversations with adults as part of the morning routine and going on weekly field trips as part of our philosophy: Paris as a Classroom!

Strategies to nurture inquirers:

Modelling the language of inquiry

Specific vocabulary is intentionally planned, used and reinforced as well as carefully thought-out sentence starters. Vocabulary used frequently in this first month include 'theory', 'wondering' and 'curious'. Going to the nature trail yesterday, children were asked to "Find something you are curious about." After the visit, a sentence starter used for children to reflect with was "An interesting thing I saw was.... " Today, the sentence starter "I noticed..." was modelled and used to craft reflections. This language of inquiry is also used by us as teachers to notice and name acts of inquiry we observe. "I can see you are curious about... What are you wondering?"

Time

Time is given for children to inquire. Much of this time is through uninterrupted time for children to play. Lesley Snowball once said, "Over-planning is the enemy of student-initiated inquiry." Time is also given daily for children to reflect on their inquiries and to think about what they were/are wondering about and how they might learn more. 

Spaces/resources

Different spaces in, around and close to the school are used as learning environments to support inquiry. Beyond the classroom, we have access to two playgrounds and Paris as a classroom. We strategically offer, reveal and relaunch a range of open-ended resources at different times to sustain interest, creativity and curiosity. Last week, I deliberately brought attention to a set of mirrors of various sizes that I had noticed were not a regular part of children's play. Simply bringing attention to this resource launched new interest in reflections, light and colours. 

Intentional provocations and invitations

Although they are intentional, some provocations and invitations are planned in advance, while some are more spontaneous and are in response to that moment in time. 

This week, in response to a sprained wrist, X-rays were put out for children to observe. Questions such as "What is it?", "How did they take the photo?" and "Are the bones broken?" followed. Yesterday, I asked how tall a child hoped his Kapla tower would be. His response referenced 1 metre but without being able to visualise the length of 1 metre. After being offered a metre stick, the child immediately compared himself to the 1 metre to see if he was taller or shorter, which prompted other children to do the same, test their theories, and then use the metre stick to measure the height of some of the stuffed animals in the classroom. 

Listen to and look at what children are doing and talking about

An interest and awareness of what the children are doing and are genuinely interested in, curious about, puzzled by and are developing theories about is fundamental to nurturing inquirers. Children are naturally curious. Instead of only coaxing their curiosity to school, we can bring 'school' to them as inquirers. Last week on the playground, children reacted with screams (of excitement and fear) at seeing a spider on the climbing frame. Listening to their reactions revealed a lot about their interests in nature which was echoed at the nature trail yesterday. Working with the librarian, we found a whole range of non-fiction texts that linked to the children's interests that I had documented (rocks, eggs, spiders, butterflies, worms...). Documenting children's theories and using these later to provoke inquiry can be powerful. Two weeks ago, a child was storying from their drawing and spoke about the 5 colours of the rainbow. This led to a wonderful discussion and observations of rainbows to discuss the names and number of colours another day. 

Inquire into your students as humans

A wonderful way to nurture inquirers is to model being an inquirer yourself and to develop strong relationships with the children you teach. Beyond finding out which children recognise numbers and letters as symbols, making time and establishing routines to find out more about our students is crucial. We have a morning routine during which children speak to both myself and the classroom assistant (on a 1:1 basis). Here we recount experiences, share feelings, make connections, ask questions, wonder, clarify and make sense of situations together. This ongoing collection of moments builds trust and understanding. 

Evidence of being an inquirer:

If we are to encourage inquirers, it is important for us to consider, in concrete ways, what evidence of being an inquirer might look like. Questioning as a stance is the base of curiosity and inquiry, but we are able to glean evidence of this far beyond the semantics of structuring a question. 

- asking questions

- wondering

- our actions (including play)

- a look in the eye

- developing/testing a theory

- doubting

- a tension or confusion

- a surprise

Reflection questions:

What do you inquire into? 

What are your students genuinely inquiring into?

What strategies do you use to nurture inquirers?

What evidence do you look for as markers of being an inquirer?