Each week will typically involve three kinds of activities:
(1) During class, we will engage in our own inquiries into topics beginning with an extended exploration of one topic. The purpose of this is not so much to accumulate a set of teaching activities as to provide a common experiential base for us to talk about teaching and learning. The particular topic is not meant to suggest one subject matter emphasis of the course, but rather is an extended vehicle for our conversations.
(2) We will focus on teaching and learning practice through the development, application, and study of inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning. Part of the class time will be devoted to sharing what we're learning through the research projects and to discussions aimed at understanding what occurs in different learning settings. In particular, the second half of the class will be devoted to this sort of sharing in which various members of the class will take responsibility for leading us through an inquiry experience.
(3) We will discuss articles drawn from a packet of readings. The packet is a diverse collection, including descriptions of classrooms, analyses of student learning, theoretical analyses of inquiry, and critiques of these approaches. They are meant to be read and thought about within the context of our own inquiry projects.
Writings [25% of grade]. Writing will include reactions to the readings and responses to the writing of others in the class, especially on the research projects. A new web-based communal environment will be used to extend discussions beyond the scheduled seminar meeting times.
Research Project [50% of grade]. The major assignment for the course is a teaching/research project on the development, application, and study of an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning. The project is ideally a collaborative one, done with other students in the class or with people outside the class.
Projects will be presented in class in such a way that we, as a class, can try out parts of them. In addition I would like our conversations to be around what happened when the units were tried out in classrooms.
For each project there will be several written products which will be posted on the web site:
Week 3: Formation of teams for research projects;
Week 4: A written plan (~1 p.) that includes a brief description of a learning setting, your ideas for what you plan to do, a short list of questions to explore, and a sketch of how you plan to investigate those questions;
Week 8: A progress report (~2-3 pp.) that includes some examples;
Week 12: Draft report (~5-10 pp.) to share with the class or small working group for reactions and suggestions
Week 15: Final written description of project. This will include a reflection
on what happened when it was implemented with children.