1. Students with special gifts and talents may benefit from an inquiry-based learning approach for many reasons, but planning for and implementing inquiry learning may be taxing to teachers. Imagine you are a teacher talking with a colleague about inquiry-based learning. Your colleague does not think the benefits of the approach outweigh the challenges. What might you say to argue otherwise?
2. Compare and contrast inquiry-based learning with other teaching approaches discussed in the video, such as reading to get information. Do you remember using inquiry-based learning in your elementary or middle school years? If so, what did you like about it? Was anything frustrating to you about the approach? If you didn’t use inquiry-based learning, do you think you would have liked it? Why or why not?
1. In this video, you will meet Amy, a gifted sixth-grade student who has both a visual and hearing impairment. Amy’s teacher, Mrs. Golliver, describes how she adapts her teaching style, as well as special permissions that Amy has in her classroom. List the modifications that Mrs. Golliver describes and appraise whether you think these modifications support Amy’s social development.
2. As you watch the video, take note of Amy’s skills and how she successfully participates in class. What are some ways that the teacher can effectively support all students as they welcome Amy into the classroom and help to support her accommodations?
Recall your experiences in middle school classrooms. Identify any needs you had as a student and whether you were supported in advocating for those needs. How might you promote students’ self-determination in your classroom?
Inquiring Learning
>> In your notebook on a clean sheet of paper, answer this question. I’m going to give you about five minutes to write independently. We see layers of rock in the earth. At the Grand Canyon we see different layers of rock, they have different names. What do you think caused these layers to form.
>> In teaching this geology unit the inquiry approach is I think invaluable for these students. Because geology can be very difficult I think — a very difficult concept for the students to really get a grasp on. Especially what they’re learning in this unit. My students are learning about the Grand Canyon.
>> If sandstone is made from sand, okay, and this may sound like a silly question, but I want you think about it, talk about it for one minute, that’s all you need at your table, which came first. It’s like the old joke, which came first the chicken or the egg. Which came first, the sand or the sandstone.
>> Well, maybe the rock came first and then the ocean came and rubbed off it. Created a whole bunch of —
>> [Inaudible] that’s what I said.
>> They have to use the tools at their disposal, physical tools and what’s inside their brains, and put them together and try to find the answer. And that’s what my kids are learning to do.
>> For the people that think that sand came first, then I’m going to ask you another question. If sand came first, where did the sand come from? Okay, where would sand come from. Even if you don’t agree with those people, I still want you think about this question. If sand came first, was it always sand? Did it start off as sand, or did sand come from something else?
>> If you want to dig in there, keep on digging, you’ll find different colors — different kinds of rocks.
>> [Inaudible] how did you think sand was made.
>> [Inaudible] did come first before sand, so how do you think sand was made?
>> I don’t know.
>> I think it’s different.
>> — rocks, powder, and different pieces of rocks put together.
>> Yeah. Because there’s different color sands.
>> Yeah.
>> There’s little cracks in them.
>> Some sand have rocks in them. Little, little pieces of rocks.
>> I actually have some rocks here. It is called — okay, granite.
>> Through the inquiry approach, by having them actually hold rocks that are from that region of the United States, for them to actually do the experiments and tests that real geologists would use, it gets them excited about it. They’re doing the science, they’re not just reading about it. They’re not memorizing science. They’re learning to think like scientists do and to act like scientists do. It also hooks them into it. It really engaged them. I think it kept them, got their attention and helped keep their attention throughout the unit.
>> And I will give — each group will have available to use five of them, five rocks, a jar, and your old friend the magnifying glass. And lastly, a piece of white paper. Here’s what I’d like you to do. I’d like you to come up with a plan, each group to come up with a plan. How can we test which hypothesis of rocks are what makes sand.
>> Take two of the same type of rock and rub them together to see what comes out, if powder comes out or something comes out.
>> Good. Tamethia [Phonetic]?
>> We was going to rub the rocks together on the paper to see, like, what would happen. How would it come out.
>> Why would you say on the paper. You’re the first group I’ve heard say that. Why would —
>> Because it’s better to see on the paper than in the jar.
>> Yeah, everyone hear what Tamethia said? She suggested that her group is going to rub the rocks onto the white paper so they’re easier to see. Because remember, I’m going to give you magnifying glasses. And she said that might make it easier. Because originally I know you were talking about putting the sand in the jar, right? And then holding it up. But the paper —
>> It’s better to do it on the paper, because the paper is much lighter than the jar.
>> Yeah. So you might have a better chance of seeing the sand if it’s on the paper. Good idea.
>> We was going, like, act like the ocean, by, like, taking a bucket of water and just, like, splashing to see if, like, stuff comes out.
>> Could use this like the bucket?
>> Yeah.
>> Okay, we have a lid on it so it doesn’t spill. That’s the only thing I could suggest, so you don’t get water all over the room.
>> One of the challenges of using the inquiry strategy in the classroom is it can be more intensive, in terms of time, in terms of my own mental energy. The preparation needed to get ready for this type of class. All of that requires preparation beforehand. So my homework is to, you know, the day before, the week before, start getting the lab ready. I need to think long term.
>> This one — this one has all these nice shiny minerals. You look at this one, this one looks rough.
[ Background noise and comments ]
>> Have you been shaking it?
>> Yeah.
>> And we did it on the paper too. Look.
>> This, this, this, and this. Which one do you call sand, when do you start calling it sand?
>> That.
>> Because I think what happened was that when you keep on rubbing it, it gets smaller and smaller and smaller.
>> So what would you call this one?
>> [Inaudible] like a rock.
>> It’s like, a multicultural rock, because there’s a whole bunch of different type of what looks like — and I know some parts are shiny like a crystal.
>> Obviously in nature there aren’t these plastic jars out rolling around in the Grand Canyon. So what do you think is causing — just like you did in the class, whether you’re rubbing the rocks together or shaking them together, what’s happening in nature that’s making the sand. Because it’s not the jars, you know that. That’s your homework tonight. Write in your notebook, tell me what is it in nature that’s causing the same thing that you’re doing with your hand or with the jars. But — so that’s what you did today —
>> It’s teaching them habits of mind that I think are invaluable. Whether or not they stay in science or go into a different career field, I’m hoping that all of my students will walk out of my classroom at the end of the year stronger critical thinkers, and they will approach a problem and not immediately feel like they need to turn to someone else or turn to a book for an answer. That they’ll realize that within themselves they have the ability to — and the tools to start the discovery process to try to find the answers on their own. And I think that’s an invaluable gift we can give the students that they can use anywhere from this point on.
Gifted Student with Hearing and Visual Learning
>> Amy is a sixth grader of a middle school with an inclusion environment. She’s a gifted literature student but has the challenges of both hearing and visual impairments. Christine Goliver teaches a Horizon English class for gifted students. She describes Amy’s abilities.
>> Christine Goliver: She’s a delightful child. She makes it easy because she can read lips. She’s such a good reader and she reads so voraciously that I don’t have many academic problems with that youngster.
>> [Inaudible] carving and polishing of wood. It said at the end of the chapter that they found wood and things in the [Inaudible]
>> Christine Goliver: Okay.
>> [Inaudible] be the one that would do the wood.
>> Christine Goliver: Aha.
>> It would be either him or somebody [Inaudible]
>> Christine Goliver: Or perhaps he taught someone how to carve.
>> [Inaudible]
>> Christine Goliver: Who was taught to carve wood and polish it? You got it.
>> What modifications have been made for Amy to help her achieve success in the regular classroom? How does Mrs. Goliver adapt her teaching style in a way that doesn’t draw attention to Amy’s disability?
>> Christine Goliver: She sits directly facing me so she can read my lips. And so I don’t move around in that class as much as I do in others, although she knows she has permission to stand up and stare at me wherever I go, under any circumstances and she does it. She sticks up for herself. This is good. Preferential sitting is a wonderful tool for teachers with any kind of exceptionality. That’s your first line of defense.
>> Mrs. Goliver’s empowerment of Amy is important for developing her independence, a key area of concern for individuals with hearing impairments. Also, the small group setting in the Horizon English classroom and Goliver’s insistence that each member of the group work with others creates an opportunity for Amy to build social skills where children of hearing impairment typically lag behind.
[ Background Conversations ]
>> Since Amy is also visually impaired, Mrs. Goliver needs to make further modification for her.
>> Christine Goliver: And the computer is a wonderful tool and if I run off a worksheet for the other students, I enlarge it for her just to make it easier to see. I’ll check with her to make certain that she’s up to speed. I often let her out of class a little earlier because it’s difficult for her to get from one place to another.
>> In fact, planning for special mobility around the school is a key issue in the case of a child with a visual; impairment. For those students who qualify for special services, individual impairment interferes with learning, special needs are addressed formally in an IEP. That’s why it’s so important to have an complete interdisciplinary team attending the first IEP meeting. [Inaudible] discusses the ideal team.
>> The diagnostician. It would be a classroom teacher, a special ed teacher, a teacher for the visual impaired. We also might include someone who has a specialty in orientation and mobility. We would include, I’m trying to think. The parents, the student would also be invited and myself. If the student had motor concerns, the occupational therapist would be brought in. If the student had speech and language difficulties, the speech and language therapist would be brought in. With a visually impaired student, it depends on whether or not they had these other impairments as well.
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