Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Entry: John Mason

   Mason's ideas are very related to inquiry based learning. The main idea of the article is to ask guided questions and to challenge the students, as opposed to "dumb[ing] down the question[s]" with the purpose of motivating students. Another method that Mason talks about is letting the students ask  questions and helping them find the answer through their own inquiry. It is quite clear that his ideas connect themselves to inquiry-based learning.

   The goal is to start the long practicum (I'm at a semester school, so I will have a fresh batch of students) by asking the students leading questions towards the answer. This will be easier for me, as they start with review of last year's content, where I can give them a question and help them focus towards the answer (that they have prior knowledge of). Throughout the semester I will ask my questions less clearly, as they will already be familiar with the idea of inquiry and will therefore need to ask the question themselves. For example, if we were reviewing surface area of rectangular prisms I could initially ask "What are you trying to find?", "What formulas have you learned?", or "What are the properties of this shape?". However, as they get deeper into the course, the goal is for them to ask these questions to themselves, so I would shift to less explicit questions such as "What question do you think I would ask you?" or "How did I solve the question on the board yesterday?". This will encourage them to ask themselves questions.

 

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