Inquiry Learning @ Eimeo Road State School
“Given a rich learning environment, learning becomes like the air – it's in and around us"
(Sandra Dodd)
At Eimeo Road State School, we are on a journey of discovery with our curriculum. Although we teach and meet the requirements of the Australian Curriculum and it's eight learning areas, we have been reflecting on our values around learning this year.
We began the year by posing such questions as:
- How can we get to know each other as people and as learners?
- How can we make our classrooms a place where learning thrives?
- What kind of learning community do we want to be?
- How can we connect with each other and with ourselves?
Eimeo Road State School Teachers have the freedom to delve into learning that allows students to be good at learning and good at life. We grow learning assets in our students so they can think, self-manage, collaborate, communicate, research and contribute from Prep right up to Year Six. We cultivate students who can use their learning to make a positive difference to their life, the lives of others and the planet. We grow students who are aware of their particular interests, skills and perspectives so they can draw on these to contribute to their immediate, local and global communities. We grow students who think about how their learning can be useful in the world and the ethics of the decision they are making. We nurture this through our inquiry approach to learning.
Using the research of Kath Murdoch (2015) and Michael Fullan et al (2020) on Inquiry as a pedagogy, each term “cycles of inquiry" are created with students through the ERSS Deep Learning Framework. The ERSS Deep Learning Framework focuses on integrating High Impact Teaching Strategies, Learning Partnerships, Leveraging Digital and Flexible Learning environments using collaborative guided inquiries.
Kath Murdoch (2015) would suggest when we consciously engage young people in inquiring into how they learn, we are developing skills and dispositions that act as important assets to them as learners – across the curriculum, in school and beyond. At Eimeo Road State School, we want students to leave us with the 6'Cs global competencies for deep learning Fullan (2020) argues will be needed by all learners in the 21st century – Character, Citizenship, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity and Critical Thinking.
Throughout the year cohorts will present an item in the newsletter communicating their cycle of inquiries and the learning journeys they are on. They will also create foyer displays in the office. Later in the year (Term 3) we will once again have a Learning Expo to showcase our learning which we encourage parents to attend.