Letter to Administrator

Dear Mr. Sieg,

I have found yet another technology gem I would like to try out in my classroom. When I first looked at web based inquiry projects, I thought that they were unorganized because it was very open ended. However, after looking more closely at the examples available on the web, I can see many possibilities to use this teaching tool to further my instruction. There are many things to love about web based inquiries: they promote student-centered learning, encourages basic research skills, and it promotes high level critical thinking through the questions that the teacher asks her students to explore.

Over the summer I've done a lot of reading on teaching philosophies. One thing that keeps popping up in all the critical pedagogy theories I read is that we need to build on student's prior knowledge and that student's will thrive when they are active participants in their education. Because web based inquiries are entirely student-centered, they reflect this best practice. Students are hooked to a given topic, given a question (the muddier, messier, and more arguable, the better I believe) and are then encouraged to take that inquiry into whatever territory they see fit. It allows them to sit in the driver's seat and be in charge of their own learning. And as I have read again and again, student constructed learning, because the student has ownership of the knowledge, is an effective way to teach.

Furthermore, web based inquiries encourage basic research skills, because students have to go out and explore the topic in order to answer the question. Students will have to apply those research strategies we teach at the beginning of the year to find information. This will also be a great time for the teacher to monitor and reteach anyone who is struggling.

Finally, the types of questions that lead to the best web based inquiries promote that critical thinking. These questions are not easy. And the product will not be a single answer. Rather students will be encouraged to consider multiple sides of a given issue, research until the feel comfortable enough to formulate and give their own opinion on the given topic.

I hope we can use web based inquiries in our school, and if we do one, you are more than welcome to stop by and see how it is going.

Respectfully,

Ms. Furlong