PD Module 3: Learning concepts through IBL

Author: The University of Nottingham

A teacher can be greatly in favor of doing inquiry, but there is always the curriculum pressures. If IBL is to find its way into the classroom, it has to make strong contributions towards content learning aims as well. This unit considers how inquiry based learning may be integrated into the process of teaching Mathematics and Science content.

Potential for PD

Opportunities for inquiry can be ample in ‘inquiry lessons’, but in ‘normal’ lessons, such opportunities tend to be rather rare. The aim of this module is to let teachers experience how their regular content-teaching can offer many opportunities for integrating small-scale inquiry activities, and how such activities can promote student involvement and contribute towards their teaching aims.

Characteristics

This unit has many activities within it - too many for one session. It is suggested that this unit is used as a menu, from which professional development providers can choose. It is however, important that participants are given an opportunity to try out some of these activities in their lessons and to report back on the outcomes.

Concrete examples being addressed in this module include:

  • Exploring structures in Alhambra, cables and crystals
  • Classifying and defining sets of animals, functions, shapes, …
  • Connecting and translating types of growth, graphs, tables and formulas
  • Controlling variables and experimenting with the length of a flight of a paper airplane

Processes of inquiry

The processes under consideration here are: observing and visualising, classifying and creating definitions, making representations and translating between them, finding connections and relationships, estimating, measuring and quantifying, evaluating, experimenting and controlling variables.

Materials

  • Download: PD Module Guide Pdf / Doc
  • Download: Teacher Handouts Pdf / Doc

Classroom video

Supplementary materials

Install the software applets

These pages require a web browser with Javascript and Adobe Flash Player 9 or newer to use the video and software.
The software applets can be browsed as part of each module. If you want to install them separately on students' machines you can download the set (and more) as a Windows installer or as Mac applications. Alternatively, they are availavble in browser-based format for any system that supports Flash.

Credits


This module has been compiled for PRIMAS from professional development materials developed by the Shell Centre team at the Centre for Research in Mathematics Education, University of Nottingham. Many of these materials were originally written for the Bowland Maths project, funded by the Bowland Charitable Trust, or for the Improving Learning in Mathematics project which was funded by the Department for Education and Skills Standards Unit.

 
Last change: 15 mei 2012
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