BPR chs 4&15: You need flow before you can (want to) understand

Wilhelm and Smith devote their chapter to the issue of inquiry. I find this particularly interesting because the science modules that I teach with in Jefferson County are based on inquiry learning. We are asking questions and finding answers. There's interesting hands-on activities that we do, but the question I have at times is "what is the question," the big overarching one? We would perform the activities and do the work, and it often seemed that they weren't really comprehending the meaning of what they saw. There was no over-arching question that held all this material together, and that left me struggling along with them, as I couldn't recall ever learning about geology (even when I was in middle school). This wasn't even real inquiry learning as Wilhelm and Smith define it; we were "just moving from one activity to the next," or at least the scaffolding and reinforcement I was doing wasn't enough to make it more than that in their minds (235).

Wilhelm and Smith have, in some way, illuminated the problem for me. I need to find the question, that thing that holds it all together, and make it something that seems relevant and genuinely important to my students. At the moment, I really have no idea how to do that with rocks, but at least it gives me a starting point. I can go from there to "build[ing] over time" (235) as W&S recommend to make the unit meaningful, engaging, and something that my students will actually understand (in the Keene sense) and remember.

Now if only Jefferson County would take into account that we need to "move beyond the idea that all students must study the same thing at the same time" (Keene, 37). Of course, the desire for them to do that all across the district is exactly one reason why they bought the modules in the first place.

Note: It occurs to me now that writing a post that is critical of the district I work for - and really love - is not the best thing to do. I really have no desire to get dooced.

But the modules really are handy - I love all the materials and movies provided with them, and they were a lifesaver for a first year teacher. We can only criticize what we care about, right? And considering all this should make me a much better educator in the future.