inquiry – Mastering Librarianship

ETL401 – Inquiry skills in the Australian Curriculum

Mandy Lupton, a lecturer in teacher librarianship at QUT. She explores and analyses inquiry skills in the Australian Curriculum specifically in the areas of Science, History and Geography in her 2014 article Inquiry skills in the Australian Curriculum. This article was quite interesting to me in regards to my next assessment in ETL403, as I am looking at the area of science in K-6 and how a TL could collaborate with a classroom teacher to teach a unit that involves inquiry learning. I am interested in Lupton’s point of view about ‘scientific inquiry’ as part of the Australian Curriculum too.

I currently teach in NSW and as a result, we use the NSW Curriculum and Syllabuses. Both the NSW Curriculum and the Australian Curriculum have learning areas and though these differ slightly in each, the area of science is common. Lupton says that in the Australian Curriculum she found that ‘guided investigation’ is defined as ‘an investigation partly directed by the teacher’, conversely in the NSW Science Syllabus this notion of ‘guided investigation’ is not clearly addressed in the glossary. ‘Inquiry’ and ‘investigation’ are seen as two seperate ideas and defined as such in the NSW Syllabus glossary and it is not until you delve deeper into the skills of ‘working scientifically‘ that the NSW K-6 syllabus somewhat addresses inquiry skills and states and they are “at the core of inquiry and are developed by conduction practical investigations and research in Science and Technology’

Lupton says that ‘geographical inquiry in the Australian Curriculum is the most sophisticated and comprehensive” and the same could also be said for the NSW Syllabus Geography Syllabus. In terms of Science, Lupton confirms that “Science seems more limited. Inquiry skills are portrayed only as the experimental method.” With the term of “inquiry learning” lacking in both the Australian Curriculum and NSW Syllabus, opting for “inquiry skills”, Lupton makes a pertinent argument that this is a key opportunity for the teacher librarian to be “curriculum innovators” in the use of the whole of the curriculum and thus “bridging and strengthing the gap” between the role of the classroom teacher and the teacher librarian. I am drawn to the ideas Lupton put forward in her investigation of inquiry learning science models and am now wondering what information literacy model would best suit this approach and which one would best suit my particular, relatively small K-6 school and look forward now to analysing these models further. Each starting with a posed question by the teacher (which is how I would begin), followed by some teacher-introduced background information, then allowing student-directed learning to occur (with teacher support if needed). I believe that I may need to look further into the Martin-Hansen (2002) model as it seems to align most with my own methodology.

Interestingly, the Australian Curriculum has just released a review of the curriculum this week and it would now be pertinent to compare some of the concerns and inconsistencies that Lupton addresses in her article with this review and its aim of “refining, realigning and decluttering the content so it focuses on the essential knowledge and skills students should learn and it is clearer for teachers on what they need to teach”. I am wondering if there will be greater consistency with inquiry learning or if the idea of inquiry skills will remain.

Resources

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (ACARA) (2021) Australian Curriculum review consultation. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/consultation/
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (ACARA) (n.d.) F-10 Australian Curriculum. https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (ACARA) (n.d.) F-10 Australian Curriculum. https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/science/glossary/
NSW Government Educations Standards Authority (NESA) (2017) Science and technology K-6 syllabus https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/science/science-and-technology-k-6-new-syllabus
NSW Government Educations Standards Authority (NESA) (2017) Science and technology K-6 syllabus: Glossary https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/science/science-and-technology-k-6-new-syllabus/glossary
Lupton, M.(2014). Inquiry skills in the Australian Curriculum v6, Access, November

Module 4.1b Discussion Forum

It is the 21st Century and never before has our teaching and learning grown and changed at such a rapid rate, encompassed by a digital world. Educators are asked to change the boundaries of teaching and learning to ensure we are building learners for the future, an uncertain one, preparing students for jobs that are yet to exist in this current digital landscape and to become independent and yet collaborative lifelong learners.

Thus, we must ask ourselves, how do we ensure we are not only meeting the needs of our learners and preparing them for their future but also being accountable for this skill acquisition in this exponentially growing and changing information landscape?

As a society, we are data-driven and performance-based testing is a part of this requirement in being accountable. Data identifies needs, gaps, performance, progress and readiness for employment or further education. However, “teaching to a test” should not be the approach either. Prior preparation is an important element in ensuring students go into the test environment with as little stress and anxiety as possible and having the skills to appropriately respond to the style of testing is also beneficial.

These skills need to be explicitly taught, though endless weeks of using past test papers as part of Literacy and Numeracy programming is not ideal. In the end, these tests show a snapshot of the student’s learning at one small point in time and do not reflect them as the complete learner.

Issues with standardised testing can start with some students or parents of students being reluctant to participate in the standardised testing. This weakens the legitimacy of the data gathered and will not be a true reflection of the school as a whole.

What should be the alternatives then?

Should this be up to individual schools?

Is it a true reflection of student learning?

Now much testing is being administered online, are there other skills that are needed?

How do students obtain these skills? Is the test reflective of their skills on the computer or their knowledge as a whole in literacy and numeracy?

I once had a year 5 child finish their NAPLAN practise test exam in about 10 minutes. She just clicked on any answer to get it over and done with, clearly not reading any of the questions and lacking skills in some instances to do so, how effective is the test then, when it is not a true indication of her skills or ability? Data drives everything – how else could we achieve this means to an end?

There is also the ongoing problem with standardised testing not being appropriate to measure such things as creativity, critical thinking, resilience, compassion, generosity, determination, just to name a few. Inquiry-based learning is much better at making students’ thinking valued, visible and actively promoted (Ritchhart, 2015) showing their deeper knowledge. That is assuming that the teacher has the required skills and competency to not only know about this approach but also the knowledge to ensure that they can move from the “sage on the stage” to the “guide on the side”, asking the right questions, reimagining the classroom and ensuring a space for collaborative learning. (Texas Education Agency, 2019). To teach how to think, not what to think.

Therefore, a variety of approaches must be adopted. To be accountable for a student’s academic success teachers are required to plan, develop and assist student learning to encourage deeper thinking through a process of independent and guided learning. Some skills require explicit teaching, but this should only be the foundation for further inquiry learning to ensure students are critical, reflective and evaluative thinkers through a collaborative approach to teaching and learning. Some of these skills may also be taught in the library and therefore the teacher-librarian has a unique role in supporting this critical and creative thinking.

According to the IFLA Library Guidelines (2015, p. 7), “The goal of all school libraries is to develop information literate students who are responsible and ethical participants in society. Information literate students are competent self-directed learners who are aware of their information needs and actively engage in the world of ideas. They display confidence in their ability to solve problems and know how to locate relevant and reliable information. They are able to manage technology tools to access information and to communicate what they have learned…” This definition of the IFLA goal of school libraries puts teacher-librarians in a transformative position to ensure innovation happens and students become an implicit part of their learning journey.

I believe a whole-school approach to constructivist teaching methods is the most effective way to achieve enculturate across the entire school community, with a top-down approach. The support of the Principal and leadership team must come first, to be the driving force behind the efforts. There will always be teachers who prefer to work as individuals and who feel their tried and tested methods and programs “just work” and “get the results”, or they want to only do one part of the new approach because they believe it doesn’t suit all learners. This is not going to achieve the best results and the whole school need to be “sold” on not only the how of inquiry-based learning, but the why. Why should they change what they are doing? Why will it benefit 21st-century learners? Why will it make their teaching more effective? Why will it produce lifelong learners?

I do believe all learners of the 21st Century need to be prepared for this ever-changing information landscape, and as educators, we too need to be lifelong learners to prepare them for critical and creative thinking in this new paradigm.

30+ Important things a test can’t measure – POSTER

References

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutes (IFLA) (2015). IFLA School Library Guidelines. 2nd edition. http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf

Ritchhart, R. (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools. Wiley.

Rippel, M. (2015, April). All About Learning Press. 30+ Important things that tests can’t measure. 532 https://blog.allaboutlearningpress.com/important-things-that-tests-cant-measure/

Texas Education Agency. (2011, September). I Have a Question. Why 21st Century Learning? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/LoYdJYd8SoU

Tag: inquiry

The information literacy model

Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century