Week 4: Trevor Mackenzie and Inquiry-Based Learning

Trevor Mackenzie summed up the benefits of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) well in his statement that “curious kids attend class more often and earn higher grades [paraphrased].”

A curious student is an engaged student.

IBL, as presented by Mackenzie, is an instructional approach that encourages students to deeply engage with a topic they are interested in. The teacher decides the learning goals students will achieve through an assessment and provides options for ways students can represent their learning. While students may not always have total choice in choosing their topic, they have the opportunity to engage with facets they find interesting or would like to learn more about.

In implementing IBL, the teacher works next to the students, assisting them in refining their learning process. Mackenzie mentioned that a key focus of IBL is the continuous dialogue between students and teachers. This dialogue helps the teacher gauge where the student is and implement scaffolding accordingly.

Mackenzie illustrated this through a triangular relationship between Product, Conversation, and Observation. The Product in traditional teaching is often overstated. Learning is not merely a series of essays or worksheets completed. Rather, one of the best things a teacher can do for a student is to help them develop independent learning.

For myself, saying “I’m a lifelong learner” while I binge Netflix and munch on Taki’s can seem without substance. But looking back on educational moments I found the most valuable (and often the most challenging) were times when I needed to develop my ability to learn, and to enjoy (or at least appreciate) the process of learning.

Not all classes encourage the same interest. When I tell people I’m training to be an English and Socials teacher, I often hear, “Socials was my least favourite course,” or “I think I remember Socials, at least falling asleep in it.” English especially can recall strong feelings. Many of us can remember writing an essay on a topic we couldn’t care much less about, or glazing-over at the umpteenth introduction of a ‘diamante’ poem. (This link for a refresher on the form)

Students at my Link2Practice also report similar experiences.

Granted, not every lesson will result in Goodwill Hunting moments.

I’ll admit I’ve also assigned some dry material in my first forays into teaching. When I was assigned the first worksheet I’ve ever made, with the accompanying prescribed article, I had a sudden recollection of myself- years ago- falling asleep in Grade 9 Socials. To the students, I must’ve sounded like this.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Dungeons, Dragons and Inquiry

Connecting to Mackenzie’s guest lecture, I found this podcast by Educrush. (Linked here)

It features Andrew Rigby, an English teacher who uses Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) to teach narrative arcs and characterization in his classroom.

As Rigby mentions, DnD encourages students to take the initiative in creating their own stories and characters. For those unfamiliar, DnD asks players to create their own character with a backstory that joins other characters in some form of grand adventure. Players work together to face challenges along their journey and explore how the story can change the character they started out with.

Framed through IBL, Rigby’s approach sets a learning outcome (narrative arcs and character) and provides scaffolding for students to demonstrate their knowledge. How students explore narrative arc and character is up to them.

Moreover, the team-based nature of DnD also holds students accountable to their peers. Students want to attend class, both to have fun playing the game, but also not to let their teammates down. Mackenzie’s implementation of the Gala Night is similar.

The Gala Night allows students to showcase their projects to peers in an art exhibition format. This takes the assessment away from a teacher-student relationship and opens it to peer accountability. Mackenzie found that the ‘togetherness’ that the Gala Night expected increased student buy-in to their projects. They took pride in the process and product, and showing this to their peers.

On an organizational level, peer accountability in DnD and a Gala Night could make teaching much simpler.

Not all work is submitted on time. As a high school teacher, it will be our responsibility to reach out to students and parents regarding missing work. Students not doing their work makes more work for us.

However, both DnD and a Gala Night have subtly ‘hard’ deadlines. To participate fully, students need to be prepared for the activity and be present for it. An IBL student may be more likely to hand in their work on time.

Yet, as Mackenzie said, implementing IBL is labour-intensive. Instead of a prescribed avenue for student assessment, using IBL requires a teacher to purposefully guide students, and scaffold the skills for effective engagement. The DnD example requires that students are introduced to the game and learn how to play it. In my own practice, I can see myself implementing IBL assessments as a major project, likely as a conclusion to a unit or course. Although it takes considerable effort to implement and plan for IBL assessment, the benefits to student engagement and peer collaboration are worth the effort.