NAAE Inquiry institute Reflection

This past Thursday and Friday, myself and my cohort we able to attend an inquiry based teaching institute about how to teach in a way that encourages students to formulate questions and seek the answers for themselves instead of being provided the answers by the teacher.  The institute was held at the Penn Stater hotel and lasted from Thursday night until Friday afternoon.  We were introduced to several different labs and teaching methods that we could teach in the classroom all centered around a rubric containing five criteria of inquiry teaching.

In the past few months this semester, we have talked some about asking students questions and keeping them engaged in the class.  However, inquiry based teaching doesn't ask the students questions, it encourages students to form their own questions.  

From participating in the institute, I was able to come away with some really great teaching materials, labs and activities that can be adapted to many different content areas, and more of an idea of how to teach content and lessons in a way that forces and encourages students to form questions about the lesson content and then ask them or try and research and find the answers for themselves.  These are all things that I can use and implement in the classroom and also use in my student teaching experience next semester.

As an Agriscience teacher, I can use the inquiry teaching strategy to lead labs, experiments, and even lectures in a way that encourages students to ask and inquire.