INQUIRY LEARNING

What’s the most common word you hear a small child say?

Well, let me tell you: it’s "Why?"

In fact, the average 4 year old asks 200-300 questions every single day.

They ask questions on a never ending loop. Their growing brains are busily creating pathways, making connections, discovering, trying to understand how things work. They are learning. They have a passion for learning. And without even realising it, they are learning how to learn.

But something happens as children get older. Adolescence hits and - let’s face it - those awkward teenage years are tough. Sometimes as teenagers we feel we want to hide from the world, not discover more about it. That childlike, curious nature fades, those "why" questions grow silent. And if you’re anything like I was as a teenager, the ‘Why’ is soon replaced by ‘Why not?'

Making sure there is room for curiosity is one of the reasons why we introduced the IB curriculum.

When nurtured properly, curiosity leads to inquiry and inquiry is what IB courses are based on. Inquiry learning uses big, thematic central questions. It harnesses our interests and curiosities and helps us to develop power and ownership over our learning. You have the time to explore your passions, for nearly two years before you take any exams to give you time to be a better, more sophisticated, more knowledgeable learner. You have the chance to choose personal projects to research and inquire into. And you will do better in these kinds of tasks because you can let your curiosity take you wherever you wish.

I have a couple of examples to show you what I mean by that.

In The Order of Phoenix, the fifth of the Harry Potter series, the rather vile Dolores Umbridge takes over as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. (Just as an aside: who wants that job? It never ends well for any of them!!) Her teaching method is based entirely on textbooks, memorisation and discipline and she immediately sets about enforcing this style of learning in the class. It’s always been the subject that all the pupils look forward to most (let’s face it, their previous teachers included a man with Voldemort in his turban, a werewolf, Kenneth Branagh and Mad Eye Moody) but now it’s boring as heck. Instead of being fun, exciting and engaging, based on practical real-life scenarios, it becomes based on an ancient old textbook and is focused entirely on memorising information in order to pass the standardised tests - the OWLs. Umbridge refuses to let them ask any questions or actually DO any magic - she just wants them to learn the theory behind it and memorise it. She doesn’t want challenging questions, and she doesn’t want the pupils to think for themselves.

Whaaaat!

It’s the equivalent of never doing any experiments in Chemistry, no composing in Music, and no cooking in HFT - just memorising recipes. And only reading other peoples’ stories in English - never getting to write your own. And reading about hockey - never actually playing it.

But Harry remains curious about how on earth this will prepare them for the chaos of fighting against Vold . . . err . . . um . . . he who must not be named . . . Refusing to give up on his curiosity about the spells he needs to fight the Dark Lord, he ends up forming his own 'school within a school' called Dumbledore’s Army. They meet in secret, in their hidden Room of Requirement. The pupils teach themselves, and each other. They know exactly the things they want to learn - the things that mean most to them and are important to them - and they learn things way beyond the curriculum and what is expected at their 'age and stage' of school. They are motivated, empowered, curious and independent. They are passionate.

Let’s have a look at the two clips - the first of Umbridge’s classroom, and the second with Harry in charge. What do you notice? What do you think would be most fun? What does this make you wonder? Which classroom would you rather be in? Where would you learn best? Why?

Harry's Dumbledore’s Army is purely inquiry-based. While Harry is initially the teacher, he is mostly a guide on the side, empowering the students to ask questions and find the answers themselves. It’s a space for experimentation, creativity and constant learning. Harry then has to leave school, but even without the teacher (Harry) there, the learning still continues and the group grows, going from strength to strength and pushing themselves to become accomplished in even more complicated and challenging spells. The witches and wizards learn by doing, using the knowledge they all have collaboratively, and no one is left behind. When they get stuck or want to learn something new, they research spell books to solve problems, answer their questions and develop their skills.

While the process might seem 'messy' compared to Umbridge’s approach (they all wander about, working in groups, talking and doing their own thing - no one sits at a desk and writes) the students learn at a rapid pace because they are interested and aren’t wasting time repeating what they already know, or learning facts just to pass an exam.

If you are wondering whether curious kids do better in careers and life, you're right, and for a variety of reasons. Research suggests that intellectual curiosity has just as big an effect on performance as hard work. When put together, curiosity and hard work account for success just as much as intelligence. Another study found that people who were curious about a topic retained what they learned for longer periods of time. And even more impressive, research has linked curiosity to a wide range of important characteristics including tolerance of anxiety and uncertainty, positive emotions, humour, playfulness, out-of-box thinking, and a non critical attitude - all attributes associated with healthy social outcomes. Curiosity is at the core of lifelong learning. Curiosity not only gives children an advantage in school, but today's business leaders agree that it is also at the heart of thriving organisations.

Please the slideshow below, shared with pupils at assembly, which contains the Harry Potter film extracts.