Reflections of an Aspiring Educator

Basic overview: There are several different inquiry models. The inquiry model is rooted in problem-based learning. It begins with a question. Students conduct research to find an answer. The teacher acts a fellow-learner/resource guide in the process, asking open-ended questions and providing just enough information to keep students on track. In the classroom: Recently in our instructional design class a classmate and I had the opportunity to present the 5-E's Inquiry Model. Our classmates are adults and our lesson content was for middle School students, so our goal was to present the material in a way that would capture interest despite the age. Our lesson plan is included below, but in our actual in-class presentation we didn't use a pre-assessment (often not needed for inquiry lessons) and made some other adjustments as well. Engagement : for us this was as simple as pulling out our manipulatives (materials) and placing them at the front of the class. As soon as we p...

Basic overview: The inductive reasoning model allows students to explore a new concept and form general rules/ideas about it based on their experiences with specific examples. This is a more broad version of concept development. Teachers begin by introducing the activity. The first phase is the divergent phase, where teachers ask questions and guide the students, but in all questions are open-ended. Students are allowed to explore and pretty much any answer goes. The second phase is the convergent phase. The teacher asks questions that guide students to a a more specific understanding of the concept. More specific questions can be asked in this phase. The last two phases are closure and application. During the closure phase the teacher gives the students the opportunity to fully conceptualize what they have done through writing about it, drawing a picture or diagram, etc. The application phase is the assessment phase where students demonstrate the understand the concept and are enc...

Brief overview: The Concept Attainment Model is a way of teaching that helps students form their own understanding of a concept through "experience". The basic idea of the model is to present students with examples and non-examples of a concept. At first as you present examples and non-examples you ask questions and help the students form hypothesis in a divergent way; any answer is okay and all thoughts are accepted. At the end, as students' thoughts and ideas are starting to converge the teacher can ask more directed questions that help the students come to the right conclusions. Important to this method is carefully choosing examples and non-examples that will help students form a solid concept. Non-examples of things that are similar to the concept and that are easy misunderstandings are especially helpful. In the classroom: Two elementary teachers presented this model recently in my Instructional Design class. Under the pretense that we were 1st graders the...