This document provides strategies for creating a student-centered classroom that promotes independence, critical thinking, and collaboration through inquiry-based learning. It suggests having students help establish class rules and participate in decision making. Students should also have ownership over areas of the classroom where they can publicly track their inquiry progress. Routines like daily duties can be taken on by inquiry groups who negotiate responsibilities. The document also outlines techniques for regular plenary sessions where students report back on their inquiry work, like having members of a group take turns sharing updates with the class.

1. ‘Showing’ student - ownership in an inquiry-based classroom
Howick Intermediate School – BT Development Programme
Associate Principal: Neetha Mudhan
Research on adolescence (Alexander and George, 1981) confirm that the planning
and use of the physical facility (in this case, the classroom) must be flexible and take
into account the unique needs of the young adolescent. The physical environment of
the classroom, inclusive of its routines and practices, must complement the direction
taken in both, students and teacher, negotiating and collaborating on the curriculum.
Within the inquiry-based classroom, students and teachers engage in collaborative
planning, reaching decisions that respond to the concerns, aspirations, and interests
of both (Apple and Beane 2007).
To create a learning environment within a classroom that is conducive to developing
independent, critical, creative and caring thinkers (Pohl, 2000), classroom teachers
need to re-negotiate their complete control of the classroom and purposefully
provide opportunities for the independence and dynamic leadership of their students
to flourish and thrive.
Practical ideas for easy implementation
1. Adopt a democratic approach when deciding on class rules at the beginning of
the year. Students deciding together on regulations for conduct (Pate, Homestead
and McGinnis 1997) understand and appreciate the routines and limits. Beane and
Apple (2007) advocate that all who are directly involved in the school, including the
students, have the right to participate in the process of decision-making.
2. Set up an area of the classroom wall space for each group. The group is
responsible for updating its space daily. The wall space can be used to:
o Track the progress of the group. This can take many forms, one being,
Tasks
The group’s name can be written here. Thanks Chia!
Publish - report
Report writing
Problem solving
TestingScience
Names of students in the group
Laura Neems
Chia Mhawish
Allison Croxford
Sue McHale
Dorothy Giam
Another form this can take is to have the various steps of our inquiry process
model displayed one below the other, and the group moves an arrow down as
they complete each step in the inquiry model.
Deciding
Brainstorming
Questioning
Exploring - Research
etc
Howick Intermediate School /Inquiry-based
Learning

2. o Display of graphic organisers used in each group. Make A3 copies of
students’ work for easier visibility.
o Begin a mind map / web to show contact / progress with expertise in / out
of the school.
o Photographs of the group at work, etc.
2. Have a list of duties that need to be done each day. An inquiry group can take
responsibility for these duties for an entire week. They would have to negotiate with
each other within the group and decide who is going to take on the different roles
when their week comes round. Hence, duties need to be class specific for student-
ownership reasons. Duties may include:
o Lunch monitor / Office runner / Photocopy folder.
o Windows (in classroom and toilet) to be opened in the morning and closed
after school.
o Ensure lights are off (in classroom and toilet) at the end of the day.
o Ordering and collection of PE gear, etc.
Once the classroom teacher and the students have established what the duties are
for their classroom, publish them onto an A3 piece of paper and then laminate.
Writing on laminated paper allows each group to erase the names of the previous
group and, to use a vivid and assign duties to the students in that group. The teacher
should have limited input into this exercise. The group must be able to justify why
certain duties have been assigned to certain students which probably would yield
some interesting discussions between the teacher and the group.
2. Plenary
The plenary is an opportunity to summarise a lesson(s), allowing students to focus on what was
important, what they have learned and the progress they have made.
Each person in an inquiry group should have an opportunity, at some point during
the week they are on duty, to feed back to the class something about the journey
of his/her group with their inquiry focus. The classroom teacher should not
emphasise length in this type of reporting back as some students in the group may
find it anxious to stand in front of the whole class. To cater for this, this exercise can
also be done in small groups. Again, deciding how, when, how often the plenary is
done, can be negotiated between the students and the teacher.
Suggestions for the plenary:
Ideas from: http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/teachers/plenaries.html
• Three in a row – To aid orderly dismissal at the end of the lesson, the students
have to give a statement/keyword/reason or something else connected to
their most recent inquiry work as they leave, with teacher standing at the
door (instead of saying goodbye!)
• On the Spot – Every student in that inquiry group is put on the spot, at the
end of a block, at some point during the week. The teacher needs to keep
a record of who’s had a go. Any student from the inquiry group, put on the
spot has to tell the class one new thing they've learned that day.
• The Strongest Link - Ask the student a question. They can answer or pass. If
they pass, they can pass to a stronger link ... any other student in their
inquiry group who knows the answer. The stronger link can only be asked
once however! (Stops the smartest kids in the class answering all the
questions!)
Howick Intermediate School /Inquiry-based
Learning

3. • Key Question - Refer students back to a key question for the lesson. In pairs,
one student has to explain the answer to the question to the other student.
The second person has to listen because any one of the 'listeners' could get
picked to explain to the whole class what was just explained to him / her.
The roles are rotated each lesson.
References
Alexander, A.M. (1981). The Exemplary Middle School. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.
Apple, M.W. and Beane, J. A. eds.(2007) Democratic schools – Lessons in powerful
education. Portsmouth: Heinemann
Pate, P. E., Homestead, E. R., McGinnis, K. L. (1997). Making integrated curriculum
work: Teachers, students, and the quest for coherent curriculum. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Pohl, M. (2000). Teaching Complex Thinking: Critical, Creative, Caring. Cheltenham,
Vic.: Hawker Brownlow.
http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/teachers/plenaries.html
Howick Intermediate School /Inquiry-based
Learning