Activities, Apps, and Creativity With the Inquiry Cycle

  As I discussed in one of my previous posts, Making the Inquiry Cycle Tangible, one of my personal goals this year was to focus more on Kath Murdoch's Inquiry Cycle. As a PYP teacher, this is one of the main philosophies in our classrooms. I wanted to make sure I was guiding my students (and assisting my co-workers) through their inquiries in the most helpful way.

Below I have broken down the phases of the Inquiry Cycle with my own reflections of  how I personally interpret them, activities I have used with my students, and technology we have used to assist our inquiries. It may be worth noting that the usefulness of an app may depend on your Unit of Inquiry and that I work in a 1:1 iPad school.  

​[Edit: I know that inquiry is not as linear and straight forward as this. Inquiry is messy. However, as a teacher with no formal training on the subject and with no one around me to assist in a way that I found helpful, this is what I came up with. This is what I have done for a year to ensure my own understanding of the inquiry cycle. Next year: more mess!]

Tuning In

Tuning in is where we find out our students' prior knowledge. What do they already know about the Central Idea and Lines of Inquiry? I try to mix it up a little bit every new unit, however, I am finding that my students this year are actually enjoying the routine of completing the same structured brainstorming activities for each unit, and I have seen an amazing improvement in the way they are expressing their ideas (unit 5). As the point of the Tuning In phase is to draw on prior knowledge and find out where you may need to address some misconceptions, this phase is 100% student ideas and contributions.

Activities
- Unpacking the Central Idea (this I try to present a little differently each unit, as it gets boring the same way each time. As you can see in the photos I have used mind maps, post it notes, and student-created display boards for our units this year). Talk about every  word in every aspect of the new unit (Central Idea, Lines of Inquiry, Learner Profile, Attitudes, Key Concepts, and Skills).
- I see, I think, I wonder  - At the beginning of the year we only do large, collaborative ones. Eventually we begin to complete large collaborative ones and individual ones. 
- Wonder wall (or window!)
​- Mind Maps  - Collaborative, individual, written and digital.

Apps/Websites:
- MindMapper (App to create mind maps)
​- Padlet (A collaborative webpage of sticky notes)
- Seesaw (App to document student learning as their portfolio. Also great for student, parent, and teacher reflection notes).
- Google Docs or Sheets  - collaborative 

Finding Out

Here I usually provide students with the opportunity to research and gain knowledge of the Central Idea in a broader sense. If we are learning about space, they would end this phase with a good grasp of space in general. Stats on various planets, moon phases, constellations, explorers of space, technology in space, etc. If we are learning about Ancient Civilisations they would research about more than one Ancient Civilisation, and the details about each of them. Their tools, food, religions, myths, art, etc. I would provide some opportunity for choice to create an even wider scope across the classroom, but some topics would be more specific to know that they have understood the basics and have a solid understanding to build the rest of their knowledge on for the remainder of the unit. The areas we focus on would of course depend on the Central Idea and Lines of Inquiry.

Activities
- Reading non-fiction books
- Researching various topics related to the Central Idea
- Go on a trip
- Use your school library and/or media centre (and ask your Librarian for their expertise!)

Apps/Websites:
- Puffin Academy
- Safari
​- Pages (note-taking)
​- Google - a great opportunity to teach how to search properly!
- PicCollage
- Britannica 
- Brainpop
- SimCity BuildIt  (We used it for 'finding out' about city systems. It was perfect! See my SimCity post here).

Sorting Out

Students begin comparing different aspects which they have researched as well as their classmates. Usually there will be some element of choice while still being guided on other elements. For example, in our Ancient Civilisations unit, students were to compare different aspects of Egypt, Greece, India, and one other Ancient Civilisation of their choice.

 Activities
- Comparing knowledge (personal and peer)
- Organising knowledge so far ​(choose an app!)
- Addressing any misconceptions
- Answering any questions or wonders which we have not covered yet
- Timelines


Apps/Websites:
- PicCollage
- Book Creator (published into an iBook)
- TimeLine
​

Going Further

This is usually the point where I get my students to choose something they are interested in/still wondering about our Central Idea/Lines of Inquiry. Depending on the unit there may be specific requirements or apps for them to plan to use in their creations. Depending on what the Central Idea is focussing on, this may drive what they choose. For example, our Ancient Civilisations unit had a heavy focus on tools, so our Summative Assessment did as well.

Activities
- Choose 1 aspect to research (one photo to the left has a mind map of what they have already learned about this one choice, with post-it notes of questions they are still wondering. Students referred back to this to keep their research on track).
- Hands on experience - we built and compared pyramids from various countries (out of Lego), Greek columns, Roman art, and other activities where the students could have experiences to better relate to the Ancient Civilisations they were studying.
- Ensure all Lines of Inquiry have begun to be addressed.

Apps/Websites:
- PicCollage
- Book Creator
- Puffin Academy
- Safari
​- Pages (note-taking)
​- Google - another great opportunity to practise searching  properly!
- PicCollage
- Britannica 
- Brainpop

Making Conclusions

In this phase my students use their personal research to create a project which will show their knowledge. Part way through the year I begin to challenge my students by asking them to use more than one app. Book Creator and Keynote are great for the integration of this. Students can insert movies from iMovie or Spark Video, music from GarageBand, collages from PicCollage, Timelines from TimeLine, etc. The projects developed at this stage then become incredibly creative and personal.

Activities
- Creating presentations and/or final products - How will they show what they have learned?
- Showcasing in the real world - What is the point of them writing a nice Myth or Advertisement to be stuck in their Literacy book for only you to read and mark? My students wrote their own myths, knowing it was going to be turned into a stop-motion video and published online (see my Stop Motion Studio app review written by one of my students). This made it real for them and they worked harder to produce better writing. When they know their work might go on the school's Facebook page I also see a considerable jump in quality, creativity, and passion.
- Blogs
Apps/Websites:
- Keynote
- PicCollage
​- Book Creator
- iMovie
- GarageBand
​- Adobe Spark Pages
- Adobe Spark Video
​- Weebly
​- Telestory

Taking Action

This phase is linked with the Making Conclusions phase. Here they may be presenting their projects and reflecting on their learning. This may look different for every student, or every unit, or every project. For me it depends on the time of year, as I give them less and less structure and more and more freedom with every unit. Unit 6 in my classroom I plan to let them choose any app(s) or platform they wish to show their knowledge their own way. Reflections should show their action. Did their thinking change? Did they do anything? Are they acting differently? Did they make something to show others?

Activities
- Presentations to the class
- Presentations to other classes/parents/community members
- Making posters
- Making a website (the more real connections with a community group the better). Can it be published?

Apps/Websites:
- Keynote
​- iMovie
- Adobe Spark Pages
- Adobe Spark Video
- Book Creator (export to an iBook)
​- Seesaw

My Reflection

I love using the inquiry cycle to help me plan activities and units. I feel that it has fostered an enormous amount of creativity in my classroom. Providing choice seems to be a common theme. Choice of what to research (once the foundations are laid), choice of apps, choice of content, choice of action, choice of reflection. The students take a great amount of ownership after making all of these personal decisions about their projects.

While each individual phase may not allow for a huge amount of creativity, as a whole, the inquiry cycle is a great scaffold to students' creativity and inquiry through a unit.
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What activities or apps would you add to these lists? I may add more photos or resources as I remember them.