 Good. And it's my pleasure now to introduce to you Cori Ziegler, she's the implementation and implementation support facilitator for Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium. And today's webinar, what is inquiry or project-based learning and what are the benefits, is brought to you jointly with, through Edmonton Learning Regional Consortium and the Alberta School Council Association. So Cori, with that introduction, I'm turning the webinar over to you. And let's all enjoy and listen to what Cori has to say. Thank you. Oops. Cori is maybe just having a moment's struggle with her, with her microphone there. Okay. Can you hear me now, Cori, because we just can't hear you. I see that Cori can... Yeah, good morning. Yeah, I think it's on now. Can you hear me? Okay. We can hear you now. Yes, we can. Hello? I can hear you. Hello? Yeah. I can hear you, but it seems like we're having some trouble. I've got my phone on. Oh, great. Okay. Well, that's always an interesting start. But good morning, everyone, and so glad to have you join us for the webinar this morning. As mentioned, we're going to talk today about what is inquiry or project-based learning and what are the benefits. And so just going right into that, then, today, by the end of this webinar today, I hope that you will deepen your understanding of the definition of inquiry-based learning, why teachers are using this approach, and the benefits, just as mentioned in the previous slide. And so before moving further, I just wanted to talk a little bit about myself. I am the mother of Twin Boy. They're now almost 36 years old. And I'm also the grandmother of five grandchildren, ranging from ages three to 11. So I bring to you today not only my knowledge and experience as an educator, but also as a parent and a grandparent. And from my perspective, if we can keep our children curious, if we can keep them inquisitive, asking questions, thinking critically, working together to solve complex challenges, they will have a much better chance of success in learning, living, and life. And so I'm pretty passionate about that. And I'd like to spread the word anywhere and any way I can. And so today is an opportunity for that. And so if you've been part of my previous two webinars or previous three, you know that I'd like to get to know you a little bit before going into the webinar. I can help you. Once I know that about you, I can hopefully tailor the webinar to your needs. And so my first question for you is, are you a parent of elementary children? Junior high youth or high school youth? And if you want to put down D, I should have put D as well. If you have a combination, you have more than one child and there are different divisions, put D down. This will give you a minute to do that. You have A, elementary. Thanks, Jen. See Jackie is typing. Wendy is a grandparent of both. How nice. Congratulations, Wendy. And a university student D. Well, nice. OK, wonderful. I have a range here. And certainly when we look at inquiry at the university level, we're getting into some deep inquiry there. So thank you for participating in that poll. My second question is, and Jackie, thanks for you, mother of four grown children and grandmother of two little ones. How special. We're in the same boat here. So I have limited knowledge of inquiry-based learning, some knowledge of inquiry-based learning, or deeply understand what inquiry-based learning is. And again, if you could participate, A, B, or C. So we have some that are just beginning to think about this. A few that have some knowledge, so that's good to know. And waiting to give Jackie a moment. I think she's probably working on typing in her response. Thanks, Jackie. So we have some with a bit of a base, and we can move forward and build on that. Thank you so much for responding to that. And again, if you participated in my previous webinars, you're just some guidelines for our work together today, be open, come with a sense of curiosity, and see this as an opportunity to learn something new. Or perhaps, those of you that have some existing knowledge of inquiry or a project-based learning, you may change your existing ideas. Ask questions. As I've mentioned before, I always want this to be interactive, but especially today, because this is about inquiry. It is about asking questions. And I encourage you to ask your questions throughout this webinar. You can put them in the chat room. You can raise your hand. You can share your questions that way. Please feel free at any time to ask questions. And as Mary had mentioned, you have emoticons there. Using your emoticons keeps you engaged, but it also helps give feedback to me in terms of how we're doing with this webinar. And I really do appreciate that feedback. So feel free at any time. Share your thinking through the emoticons as well. So I'd like to start this webinar by a little bit of reflection on your part. And think back to your own experiences in school or with those of you that have older children and those that are in university already. Maybe some of their experiences in school. And what do you remember as a favorite project? What do you remember about? How did it make you feel? And you can use your emoticons to type in your feelings there. And if you'd like to type in a response to the question around what may be experience so special, feel free to do that too. And I'll just give you a couple of minutes to reflect on that. And maybe to put in a response. Thanks, Wendy. In grade five, you're at a small city in your classroom. Well, that sounds like quite the comprehensive project. And how did that make you feel, Wendy? What were some of the feelings that went through you as you were engaged in that project? You can use words or you can use emoticons to share your thinking there. It really good. My friend and I ran little Jerry Queen. It sounds wonderful. We sat in a circle. Made this wonderful way to feel like a community in the classroom. Very nice. Thank you for sharing that. Welcome, Tracy. Glad to see you joined us. And Tracy, we're just reflecting on projects we may have been involved in when we were in school and reflecting on that experience. Jackie says, I remember doing a button blank in grade four, which was very rewarding. We sat in a circle and made this wonderfully. Oh, to make us feel like we were a community in the classroom. Very nice. Grade six, choosing a person in history. Influenced me as a child and a learner. Loved being able to personalize the project and find information in different mediums. Nice. Great to reflect back on that. And it's intentional on my part to get a frame around your thinking around projects that you might have been involved in. And then comparing your thinking to the way it may have evolved over time and how project-based learning or inquiry may have evolved since you were involved in it. Personally speaking, I remember completing many projects during my elementary, junior high and high school years. And what I remember most is how engaging that kind of learning was. It was fun. It was an exciting way to learn. And I think I can still talk quite confidently about the concepts that the projects were all about. I can talk very confidently around we grew beans in our classrooms and we made observations and why beans need life. They need water. They need heat. And it was memorable because of the engagement and the active hands-on times of learning that I was involved in. I was doing things. I was making observations. I made adjustments over time. I refined my thinking. And to me, it was much more engaging than simply listening to the teacher talk and me completing perhaps a worksheet or some other assignment related to that. So with that kind of background and that kind of reflection in mind, we'll look at how inquiry has evolved over time and how teachers are supporting their students through inquiry and why this approach is so beneficial for our students. So let's begin with the definition of what we mean now when we say inquiry-based learning. And this definition comes from a document from Alberta Education and you do have the link to this document. It's an amazing document. And for teachers, it is an extremely beneficial resource for them. So in this document, it stated that inquiry-based learning is a process where students are involved in the learning. They formulate questions. They investigate widely and then build new understanding, meanings, and knowledge. So it's very much about them being active. It's very much about a process. And that process piece is really where the deep learning takes place and it's always based on a question, something that they have to investigate. So by observing, by questioning, and by trying new things, we grow as people. And so by learning from our experiences and the experiences of others and trying new things in new ways, we grow some more and our learning deepens. And inquiry is something that starts when we are young. And if you look at the picture of the baby here, inquiry is the way people are wired to learn, beginning when we are babies. And if we look at a baby and how it learns, think about a baby sitting in a high chair and there are toys on the tray. And initially, the baby is just randomly knocking things off the tray as they swing their arms around because they do that. They swing their arms. They're not intentionally trying to knock the toy off. They're simply swinging their arms. But soon enough, as the baby swings the arm and knocks something off, the adult puts it back, the baby realizes that they're the ones that are in control of this. And they made the toy fall off. So if mom or dad puts the item back on the tray, the baby will quickly knock it off again. The baby has learned that if they hit things, they fall. But it gets interesting if a parent puts something different, for example, a balloon on the tray and gives it to the baby, and then the baby tries to knock it off. Well, the baby is kind of surprised at first, hmm, that didn't quite work the same way. And so that's where the inquiry starts. It gets even more interesting if the mom or dad gives the baby a helium filled balloon. Because now the balloon goes up in the air when it's knocked off, instead of falling to the floor. So the sense of wonder that we see on the baby's face is the same sense of wonder that teachers want to bring into their classrooms all the way from kindergarten up to grade 12. We want to see the baby, as the baby does, revise their thinking and try some new experiments to satisfy their curiosity. And so the baby goes, hmm, this is different. It goes up in the air. Now I have to think differently about this, and that's what we want with our students in our classrooms as well. This is essentially what we call a cycle of inquiry. It begins at a very young age, and it's the process of trying things out, coming to a conclusion, adding something different to it, and then needing to revise the thinking or the conclusion again. So the baby tried it out with the toy first, tried something different with the balloon, and something different again with the helium balloon, and coming to different conclusions each time. And that's how we make sense of the world around us. And this is this little chart here on the next slide. Thank you for that feedback, Jen. Love it. It shows how natural the inquiry-based process is, and absolutely it's so true. And so when we went to school, or at least when I went to school, if you look at this continuum here, I think that your teacher, my teacher most definitely, was more on the left-hand side of the continuum, where it involved me in tasking with what you see there. There was a lecture. There may have been a textbook assignment. There was a class discussion, but it was led by the teacher, and you were expected to listen. Practice what you heard by yourself quite often, complete some worksheets, and then write a test to show what you learned. In an inquiry-based classroom, we're moving further and further toward the right side of this diagram here. And students are now learning while doing. It is the doing process where the deep learning occurs. So you can see the student debate. Now the students are the ones talking, debating with each other and learning throughout that process. Students might be leading lessons, or students are involved in project-based learning or inquiry. And educators call this kind of approach a constructivist approach. The children construct their own knowledge as they engage in inquiry. That's not to say that the teacher doesn't have an important role to play in this. Absolutely. Their role is still very critical. They make decisions all the time about how to support students so that they're successful in constructing knowledge. They make decisions about how much time they need the students to grapple with an idea or a question, to test it out and to come to their own conclusions, or when they need to step in and give them any lesson or provide some support to the students. So the first thing I really want to clear up is inquiry is not about leaving the children on their own to just everything learning. It's about the teacher carefully and skillfully guiding their students through the process of inquiry. So it is about learners learn while doing. That phrase there. So inquiry is learning while doing instead of learning first through the teacher's instruction and then doing something. So I love this quote here. The meaning of knowing has shifted from being able to remember and repeat information to being able to find and use it. And that's very much an important and critical piece to remember. It's not about regurgitating and remembering what the teacher has said through a test or through an essay or something. It's about taking information, applying it and coming to new conclusions or new knowledge. A very important shift. And it really, through this process of applying the information and coming to new knowledge, the students are learning and practicing very important skills for learning, living and life, as well as understanding new knowledge. So you may have heard from your teachers or from your children or from your adult children many different terms around what we mean when we say inquiry. And inquiry is an umbrella term that covers a number of other inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning. You may have heard of problem-based learning, project-based learning, career and technology foundation courses, or you may have heard of terms like design thinking. And all of these approaches, in all of these approaches, students are involved in solving sometimes messy, a complex problem or challenge that they may encounter in the real world. We really try to emphasize and inquiry a connection to the real world. They're actively engaged in solving the challenge or problem. They develop skills around finding information, around identifying what information they still need, thinking about that information and synthesizing it. And they often share their findings with an audience outside the classroom, which really creates that authenticity. This makes the work meaningful and the students feel like they're making a new difference. So if they can solve or if they can share their solution with somebody outside of the classroom where it matters, where they feel like it makes a difference, it makes the learning authentic and real. Shifting to this approach may be difficult for some of our students. Students that are familiar with the traditional classroom where the teacher tells the students what to do every step of the way, these students may be uncomfortable initially with inquiry-based learning. The teacher will need to work with these students to guide them through the process and help them understand that there may not be one right answer to solve the problem. There may be many different solutions. And it's not about figuring out the teacher's one right answer. So these students often ask questions like, well, what do I have to do to get an A? Or what do you really want me to do, teacher? And they may feel a little disjointed in inquiry-based learning roles. The roles may be unfamiliar to them, tracking down the best evidence related to the problem, critically examining the best evidence, working with peers and collaborating, reporting back with the best solution, reporting back and communicating in that way can be quite an intimidating experience for our students until we work with them to develop that comfort level around all of those skills. So to wrap this slide up in inquiry-based learning, it's not about the student trying to figure out and deliver exactly what the teacher wants. It's more about finding their own research-based solution to a complex problem and coming up with constructing their own solution to that and throughout that process some deep learning and deep thinking occurs. And so this continuum is beautiful in seeing the continuum around what may happen in classrooms across the province. And for various reasons, teachers are somewhere on this continuum in relation to introducing and using inquiry in their classrooms. Some are engaging their students in independent inquiry, which you see on the right-hand side of the slide. Well, others are using a more structured approach, which you see in the second box there. But for both the teacher and the students who are more familiar with the traditional approach to teaching, it's quite a shift to move from standing in front of the class and sharing information as the teacher to helping students to acquire their own knowledge and understanding through inquiry. And so where the teacher and where the classroom and the students are at in their inquiry is very dependent on so many different factors. The students' skills in terms of approaching inquiry, their knowledge base, their age and the academic ability of them to handle this approach to learning, the ability to work in teams. And teachers make judgments in relation to the depth of inquiry based on the students' needs as well as the experience and comfort level of the teacher in terms of this approach, because we have to remember some teachers are becoming comfortable with this approach as well. So... Corey, we have a question now, Jen. Oh, great. Hi, Jen. What's your question? Hi, Corey. I'm just curious. I've tried this in the past. I'm coming back into teaching after quite a long break. And doing independent inquiry is so fascinating to me, but so difficult to assess on an individual level. I'm wondering, is that a completely different seminar or we could discuss how do you... how do you assess project-based learning dependent on the child or the project? And, yeah, I guess that's going to get a question. And that's a good... Thanks so much, first of all, for your question, Jen. And I do appreciate that you put your question out there. The assessment of inquiry or project-based learning is, again, very much related to learner outcomes. And the teacher needs to decide before, for example, in project-based learning, before even launching the project with the students, what are those key ideas, key learner outcomes that I'm going to assess? And it may be scale-based outcomes in terms of the ability to think critically, the ability to research, the ability to work collaboratively in groups. And you may be assessing that on an individual basis for each student, not in terms of how they're working in teams. But you also may be assessing some of the learner outcomes, whether it be in social studies or in science, that they will construct knowledge of throughout the process of the project or the inquiry task. And that's a very short, quick answer, but I can go into a deeper discussion about that later, after the webinar, if you want to contact me. Does that help? Yes, I see that. Got it. Many thanks. Okay, great. Okay, so moving on then. Inquiry begins with a driving question. And the driving question sets the tone and purpose for the learning. It should set the tone and purpose for the learning. And so it should inspire the students and the teachers. So that means it has to be a question that's very much tapping into their interests and into what they think is important. It should be open-ended. So there's no single right answer or the teacher's right answer, as I talked about before. And so the question shouldn't be something that is Google-able. And you can get the answer right away. You may Google some aspects to get to a response to a complex question, but you shouldn't be able to get the answer in one minute because you've Googled it. And so with that in mind, let's take a look at a few sample driving questions that teachers have used in the past. And you can see the questions are lettered A to F. And if you could use your polling mechanism, read through the questions and decide which one of those questions is not a good example of a good driving question. And I'll give you a minute to take a look at that. We have one response here. I think most of us are responding, and most of you have said E, and you're absolutely right. It is E, and you know, when we look back to... Let me just go back to it. We said E, which it says which party won the federal election. Well, we can Google that right away and we know that it would be the liberals that won. It's really not a question that's complex at all. It may inspire some students, but it really, once that question is answered, there's no inspiration after that. So, absolutely right, you've got it. That E is not a good example of a driving question. But here are some examples of driving questions and I'll also give you a sense of the kinds of projects or inquiry that's happening in classrooms all across Alberta. So a project or inquiry may revolve around a philosophical issue, such as when do we grow up? Or what does it mean to work? Or may examine an historical event or a time period or episode in nature. So you can see some examples of that around an historical event. It may solve a challenging situation. What should we do about mice in our school? And I don't know any school that doesn't have mice and so this is a great real-life example of inquiry. And so, how do we reduce the garbage in our landfill? Another great hands-on kind of inquiry task. It may look at a contentious issue. And we all know the carbon tax issue right now and should we have carbon tax on gas? Or it may be to produce, create, or design something, and in this case, a museum exhibit and plan in advance that explains and celebrates the history of our community. And you can see in each one of these examples there's some research involved. They have to create a plan in how to, if we go back to the mice in our school, first of all, where are the mice? How can we eliminate mice in an environmentally-friendly way? What would be our plan to do that? How do we get permission from the principal and from the teachers in terms of the plan that we're going to move forward? How do we communicate with everyone around eliminating mice in our school? You can see how that's a very complex kind of challenge but still very engaging and motivating for our students. And if we look here, you can see more examples and these ones are really tapping into some of our older students, our crime salt. What a great question to answer. Should killer whales be kept in captivity? And you can read through the rest yourself but you can see how these are very much complex questions but also very engaging and inspirational for students. And as teachers, we look at how we can now connect these questions to learner outcomes within the curriculum so then we can make decisions around what to assess. So before engaging in inquiry in classrooms, teachers need to be thinking about some elements that need to be in place in classrooms to ensure that students are successful with an inquiry-based approach to learning. And so again, going back to if students are used to that traditional approach to learning, one where the teacher provides that direct instruction and the students listen, it's important to create that culture of inquiry in your classroom. It's important that teachers encourage and give students permission again to be curious, to ask questions rather than to sit and just listen and just believe that the teacher's answer is the only answer that's the right answer. And this is something that you can try at home as well. Encourage your children to ask those questions and to explore those questions together. So value that curiosity, that wonder, and that risk-taking. And thinking back to that baby, they just naturally are curious and they have that sense of wonder and they take risks. We see that in kindergarten, but as our children are continually exposed to the more traditional approach, we lose that wonder and that risk-taking. We lose that diversity of thought, of actions, and ideas. And so teachers providing choice within a frame helps students to get that wonder and that curiosity back again. And helping students to foster rich opportunities for questioning and testing ideas is an important element that needs to be in place. And students are comfortable with the whole idea of inquiry before engaging in an official or more formal kind of task of inquiry. The other piece would be to help our children ask better questions. And if you want to go through that little slide so that your moderators have sent you a link for that, but I can give you a bit of a synopsis around that. And thinking about your children in the classroom, the first thing teachers need to do is make it safe to ask questions. And for your child, it may be a scary step to put the hand up in the classroom when past questioning was not really encouraged. The students, your child, may also feel like it's an admission to the world and to their classmates that they don't have the answer. And they feel like they're not very smart by putting their hand up and asking a question. So we have to shift that kind of culture in our classroom. And create an environment where questioning becomes a strength, where it's welcomed and it's desired, and we thank them for the questions that they ask. They work with their students to ensure that their students' questions aren't judged or edited and that all questions can contribute to deep learning. And really they do. When students ask questions, it's about going deep in terms of their understanding. And it's really about acknowledging and recognizing diversity of thinking or maybe not quite there yet needing further explanation to have them understand something. So the second would be to make questioning cool. And this is a tough one for many kids. It's cool to already know or to not care. And we think of junior high, you know where it's like, I'm not going to let anybody know, but I don't know. It's cool to know. So making the shift to asking questions, helping them to make that is a cool thing. And we often do that by helping our students to understand that people who ask questions are actually some of the coolest people in the world. They're the ones breaking new ground in music, let's say, or in movies or in the arts. They're the explorers. They're the mavericks and sometimes even the rebels. And they make the world an interesting place. So making questions cool by looking at others who ask questions is a great strategy. Next, make it fun. And so teachers do strategies such as instead of asking or giving the answers, I want you to flip it into questions only where there's an element of play involved when you turn an answer statement into a question. Or they turn open questions into closed questions or closed questions into open questions and really get a sense of what is a good question. Next would be to make it rewarding. So celebrate when questions are asked. It's important to show that if a student is willing to spend time on a question and ask it and then grapple with it and share it with others and build on it, that question leads to something rewarding and something worthwhile. And finally is to make that idea of questioning stick, that it becomes a long-term goal or a lifelong kind of approach that they challenge and they question and make it a habit, a part of the way that they think. And with that in mind, students will become successful in life. Teachers also need to teach students how to work together. A big part of inquiry-based learning is working with others. And if, again, if they've only been exposed to listening to the teacher and working alone, this is a shift that needs to be taught. So the students need to understand that we have a common goal or problem and it's jointly shared by a team. They need to share responsibility and what does that look like in terms of participating in a project or an inquiry and that we're sharing the responsibility in the decision-making. That they have equal accountability for the outcome. It's kind of like that we think or swim together and everybody owns it. It's not if it works. Everybody celebrates and we share the success and we share if it's not going in the direction that we thought it might. Everybody shares that as well, reflects on that and thinks about how to do it differently. Everyone's contribution is valued equally and again, there's equality in the decision-making and we share the materials and the human resources. These skills need to be taught. The students need time to practice them. They need to give feedback on these skills and move their collaborative work and when they're in place, when students are involved in more formal kinds of inquiry, the chances of success are that much greater. So, students take time to build in comfort level with all these things before moving into project-based learning or inquiry-based learning. The next concept that I'd like to talk about is understanding the difference between doing a project and inquiry-based learning or what we call project-based learning. And I'd like to compare it to what we call the main course versus the dessert. In a traditional classroom where the teacher teaches and then the students complete tasks that are directed by the teacher, there may often be a project at the end of the unit of study whereby the student shows what they have learned. This is project work. Often when I was in school, I did a project at the end of a unit of study. And this is what we call more of the dessert kind of instruction. In this kind of instruction, the teacher covers the topic with a combination of lectures, textbook readings, maybe some worksheets, perhaps some short activities, video, and then the students are given an assignment to do on their own or even at home and like they create a poster, they maybe show of a disease, they show the effects of it, they show how the body reacts and how it's treated. These projects may be displayed in the classroom but are not formally presented or discussed in detail. Then there might be a test at the end emphasizing factual recall. The teacher shares the information in a traditional way and then a short project is delivered up for dessert. You see that dessert part coming in there. This project is really about the students demonstrating what they remembered or learned as a result of the teacher's direct instruction. So we compare this to the dessert part of the meal. In an inquiry-based approach to learning, it is about the main course. The students are challenged to find their own solution to real life authentic problems. They are the ones engaged in research to find the solution to their problems. They tap into all kinds of sources of information, community experts, online resources, hard copy resources, videos and photos, and then they work towards the solution and then they refine their solution based on feedback that they get from their teacher, from each other, perhaps from outside experts until they're ready to share publicly something in terms of a solution. And this person or group that they share with is generally speaking somebody outside and beyond the classroom. So the learning takes place during the main course. The students learn to collaborate, learn to ask questions, learn to find answers, learn to perfect their solutions, make sense of the content and question what they have discovered and deepen their understanding of the topic or content of their study. It is this main course, this process of coming up with a solution where the true learning takes place. And the teacher in this kind of learning acts as the guide, makes careful observations, gives feedback to ensure the inquiry process is successful, may give many lessons throughout the inquiry task when needed and has a critical role to play. But it is very different from that traditional role that the teacher played. So the teacher is providing support where necessary. Sometimes, as I said, giving a mini lesson. Sometimes it might be providing support to one group that needs it, while the other groups are rolling along quite nicely. So in inquiry, the emphasis is on the main course, not so much on the dessert. So let's look at a real example of where this happens. And this is, this example here is of a grade six student. They're from St. Gerard School up in Grand Prairie. And these students were actually, these are grade six students. And really, when you think about this, how deep and how authentic is this learning? They're debating the merits of the NDP budget in front of parents and local wild rose and progressive conservative MLAs. And when you think about that, talk about authentic learning and meaningful learning, presenting in front of a real live audience important dignitaries from across their city. The teacher said that this project began when he played Rachel Motley's televised address, remember the kitchen address to Mel Burton's in 2014. And when he played it, his students demonstrated various reactions to it. He said that some were quite interested in what Premier Motley had to say. Some of the kids were saying, I don't think this is going to work. And some were saying, I think this is a good idea. And so the teacher decided to take advantage of this real life event, as well as the interest and passion that the students demonstrated and use this as a topic for an inquiry project. The teacher said this project tied in beautifully with the grade six social studies curriculum in which students study the provincial government. And this project made those learner outcomes from the curriculum come alive. It made it meaningful and it made it real. As with any inquiry task, this inquiry began with the question. And their question was, in the 2016 Alberta Provincial Budget, no, is the 2016 Alberta Provincial Budget an effective one for driving our economy forward? And the students then were divided into five groups. They had to research both sides of this question and each group had to share their responses to the question in front of that public audience. Each group gave presentations and based on their research, they either praised the NDP government or provided compelling reasons why they did not agree with the NDP government. Using provincial government data on the economy, three of the groups argued in favor and two made a case for conservatism. By the end of the project, the pro NDP side argued that infrastructure spending was necessary because of population growth, praised the government's child benefit plan and gave gloomy warnings about what would happen if spending were cut. And just think, wow, the depth of research and understanding that these students demonstrated through this inquiry was just absolutely wonderful. On the other side of the debate, the students said hiking taxes, increasing the minimum wage and taking on a massive debt is bad for the economy. And so each group had to reach a consensus on which side to take and this initially the teacher said led to some very interesting conversation amongst the students. The teacher added that the students had to research both sides of the debate. He explained that it was a good intellectual exercise to join the side of the debate that you disagree with. And isn't that a great learning activity as well? The students realized it was important to see and understand things in a way that you may not have seen them before. This is an excellent example of main course projects. The students learned to collaborate, learned to ask questions, find answers, refine and perfect their presentations as they practice them, learn to make sense and question what they discovered and be able to then share it in a way that made sense to them. And finally, deep in their understanding of how the provincial government works, grade six learner outcomes, such an amazing experience. And I see there's a question here. Is inquiry based learning a daily implementation of all areas of the programs of studies? Or is it a philosophy where it can be implemented like this? Example on a large project. We talk about what we call big I inquiry and little I inquiry. This example I shared with you is an example of big I inquiry. And teachers may involve their students in big projects such as this two, maybe three times throughout the year. But little I inquiry is important in terms of what I talked about before, those questions, those short questions that we also address. And we encourage that inquisitive, questioning kind of approach to learning. And so we do have a combination of both. And certainly inquiry happens in every subject area. And when we look at big projects like this, we ask teachers, we look at what are those outcomes in our programs of studies that really lend itself to that inquiry-based approach? And I hope that answers your question. So just to wrap this piece up, inquiry-based learning is not just about students having fun. And sometimes we think a project says, oh, let's just be light and have fun and do something engaging with the kids. It is way more than that. It is both deep learning and your child's achievement of the attitude, skills and knowledge from the grade level curriculum that the child is expected to learn. So teachers are very intentional around connecting inquiry to what they have to teach. And so if you think about this grade six project, besides social studies, what other subjects do you believe are connected to this project? What other, like, is it language arts, is it science, maybe math? And feel free to type in what other subjects you think are connected to this project in the chat room. I'm going to repeat that. What other subjects do you think are connected to that grade six project that I just described? Yes, somebody said mathematical comparisons. Absolutely. There's math in there. When you talk about budget, you're looking at money. Yeah, absolutely. Statistics. Great. You can see how it's cross-curricular. And many inquiry projects or tasks are cross-curricular. Of course, the social studies program of studies, absolutely. Just give one more minute until somebody else is still typing. I would say that it's very much tied to the language arts programs of study as well. When you have to make presentations and communicate morally to a group, it very much is connected to language arts. When you're looking at research and how to research, very much connected to language arts skills as well as social studies skills. So really a good example of a cross-curricular project. Another benefit of inquiry is that it's very much aligned with the ministerial order on student learning. And this order is a legal document. It was passed in May of 2013 by the Alberta Education Department of the Government of Alberta. And this ministerial order is actually a direction teachers need to take for future instruction. And in this order, it speaks to the changes in education. And one of the shifts that is clearly outlined in this order is a shift to inquiry-based approach to learning. And so teachers that are using an inquiry-based approach are very much aligned with what is laid out in the ministerial order. And here you can see some of those shifts that teachers are expected to make. And I'll just read the bolded red parts. So they're expected to make a shift to inquiry, discovery, and the application of knowledge. And that's what was described in the previous slide. They're to make shifts to discoveries through inquiry, through reflection. An important piece of inquiry is that whole idea of reflection. That is exploration and experimentation and trial and error. So much of peace of inquiry-based learning. They identify problems and then find the best solutions. As a team member, integrate ideas from a variety of sources and thinking back to that Grand Prairie project, you can see how they did that. And communicate your ideas with others. And an authentic outside the classroom audience is best. And I love this last section here of the ministerial order. The children believe there is no limit to what knowledge that can be gleaned, what skills can be accumulated, and what may be accomplished in cooperation with others. And they learn that through an inquiry-based approach. Skills for life. Also in the ministerial order are listed eight competencies. In my last two webinars, I talked about those competencies. And I talked about how developing these competencies in our children certainly will help them in terms of being successful in learning living life. An inquiry-based approach to learning is one way to support competency development. So again, using the chat room, I want you to think about that project and describe that Grade 6 NDP budget project and list three competencies that you think the students used when working through this project. Did they use critical thinking? Then you would put A in the box. Did they use problem solving? And so on. So take a look at the competencies. Did they manage information? Were they creative and innovative? Or was it about communication? Collaboration? And so on. So I'll give you a minute to think about that. Jen said, C, managing information. Absolutely. They had to do a lot of research. And they have to manage that information, make sense of it, look at different sources, and see that the information actually is consistent across those to ensure it's reliable and valid. I see Mary also agrees with that. When do you put D, F, and E? Absolutely. There was some problem solving going on. That collaboration in teams. Interesting collaboration that they're debating across from each other and being respectful around that. And E, communication? Absolutely. So you can see how competencies are practiced, applied, refined through an inquiry-based approach. I'm going to go back to BC and F from Jackie. And I think we've talked about those a little bit. Thank you all again for responding through the chat room. And I would venture to say that in any inquiry task, our students are probably using all of these competencies. I would say that critical thinking is one of the key competencies developed through inquiry, problem solving, and maybe of collaboration and communication are big, but any one of these competencies would be addressed and practiced and refined through inquiry. So let's now talk a little bit about the benefits of inquiry-based learning. You've probably heard some of the benefits already as we went through this webinar, but we'll just quickly move through some of these. It supports students' diverse needs, interests, and passions. And you can see that the teacher built on the students' passion and interests to develop the project, that grade six project that we talked about. They were engaged because they had the opportunity to take a stand, to defend their personal position. The teacher capitalized on that event and took a real-world example to engage his students. It was child-centered and hand-bound. The students were actively involved in gathering and analyzing data, synthesizing information from various sources, and then the process developed useful skills that they can use in their future. Project-based learning provides relevant and meaningful learning opportunities. And certainly, what's more relevant than looking at our own Alberta government in a meaningful way? The traditional approach would have been, I would say, a bit dry and boring, but the approach through inquiry engaged the students and made it meaningful. The students took on professional roles. I would say that they were critics of the provincial government, a professional role that they see in real life. They took on, in other projects, students will take on roles such as an artist or a scientist or a historian. And they often have the opportunity, through their inquiry, to connect with these real professional people who actually do this as part of their work in their real life. So by taking on these real professional roles, they begin to make connections between what they learn in school and what happens in the real world. So it reduces that, oh, why do I have to learn this question and help them to make those connections themselves? And obviously, students are engaged and excited about learning. That's a given, and you could see that in that Grade 6 project. It provided them the opportunity to use technology in many meaningful ways. Part of their presentation, part of their research, technology was an engaging piece of this and a critical component to the process of learning. It instilled the importance of service and ethical citizenry, and the students were involved in this budget now have a much deeper understanding of the issues of population growth, of child poverty, of so many different issues, and they can start to see now, even at the Grade 6 level, they can make a difference in the world. It engages parents in the greater community. You saw an example of that, and bringing in those experts is an important piece. And I'd like to talk about this last slide as well because it's all about the learning and we're all in this for deep learning. And when we look at this column of learning, if you look at the top tip of the triangle, if the students only read after two weeks, they remember approximately 10% of that. If the students only listen, perhaps to what the teacher is saying, they remember about 20%. If the students see, they remember about 30%, and as you go down, you can see combinations of that. So we'll get to the bottom of that triangle, and the students are able to say here, do, see, they remember 90% of the learning. And so, you know, that old adage that states tell me I forget, show me I remember, and I understand, really comes true. And that's why I think I remember the projects that I was engaged in when I went to school because I was able to see, to hear, to say, and to do, and how powerful that is in terms of learning. So, in Car-Re-Build, students' confidence in themselves as learners, they start to see themselves as real learners. When children are allowed to experiment, take risks, and play with their own ideas, we give them permission to trust themselves as learners. You don't have to wait for the teacher to give the direction all the time. They see themselves as learners who have good ideas and can transform their own ideas into reality. We really empower them to inquiry. So involve your children in inquiry at home. And these are examples that we're taking from the competency slide, great ways to begin inquiry at home. Design your own compositor. Get rid of the mice in your own garage. Design a healthy menu that your entire family would enjoy. You probably have other projects that you could involve your children in. So that kind of wraps up this, and I think I'm one minute over, but I want to thank you again for participating in this webinar. And my contact information is there if you have any other questions or if you have a question right now, feel free to put your question in the chat room. And thank you again. Will, my goodness.