Inquiry+Based+Learning

Danielle Pennacchio

[|Activity] (1) In this inquiry based activity the students are asked to use primary and secondary resources create dramatic monologues to understand Steinbeck's characters and their struggles in the novel //The Grapes of Wrath//. We are given links to the Library of Congress website as well as several photographs of migrant workers to eventually give a monologue as one of the novel's central characters. One such photograph is the famous image of the Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange. There are detailed criteria for each procedure within this activity as well as clearly identified roles for the groups of students to follow. Also, there are follow-up activities and questions to enhance this creative work shopping activity. The inquiry activity asks students to gain background information to include in their analysis of a character in the novel. The primary resources provide specific first-hand insight for the actions of the characters in the novel and allowed me to complete the beginning portion of this activity.

The final product (after the inquiry activity) is intended to be a 30-35 minute presentation that would reveal the student's full interpretation and analysis of their given character. The activity gives to students driving questions to use as a starting point for their monologues:
 * What three or four carefully selected adjectives best describe the character’s dominant personality traits?
 * What two or three questions would you like to ask this character that would help you to better understand the individual?
 * What two or three objects or symbols do you associate with this character?

(2a) __**NYS Learning Standards and Performance Indicators for ELA**__
 * Standard 1** - Students will read, write, listen and speak for information and understanding.


 * Performance Indicator** **(i)** - Students will analyze information from different sources by making connections and showing relationships to other texts, such as biographies and autobiographies.


 * Standard 3** - Students will read, write, listen and speak for analysis and evaluation


 * Performance Indicator (e)** - Students will engage in oral reading activities, such as read-alouds, to identify and provide effective examples of poetic elements.

(2b) Standard 1 -** Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
 * __NETS Learning Standards and Performance Indicators__


 * Performance Indicator (b) -** students will create original works as a means of personal or group expression.

(3) Inquiry based learning are activities which allow students to be involved within the learning activity and displays for the instructor that the student fully grasps the topic. The student is able to not only demonstrate their understanding by regurgitating facts, but is able to create, evaluate, and continue to ask new questions on the given topic. This is different than other activities such as research because in these activities students are not always encouraged to synthesize their learning and background knowledge into something new.

In inquiry based learning activities students must be allowed to explore and revisit information to apply and synthesize it into new knowledge. Models must be provided for the students by the instructor in these activities to allow the students to expand upon previous work on the topic. Inquiry based activities will also have an infinite number of responses because each student's experience with the information will be different based on their analysis and interpretation of the data as well as their own personal background.