Is there a "right way" to teach Inquiry?

This week in AEE 412, we had the amazing opportunity to travel to Mechanicsburg, PA for a FAST Symposium crash-course on Inquiry Based Instruction. After attending a session on the same topic at the National FFA Convention, I was able to better focus on some components I did not understand the first time. Mrs. Pontius from Greenwood High School did a FANTASTIC job with helping each member of the #PSUaged20 cohort better understand Inquiry Based Instruction.

During our time at the event, each student-teacher candidate had the opportunity to practice our own inquiry skills in a lesson. For my 15 minute demonstration, I modeled a lesson I will be using in my 8th Grade Intro to Agriculture class. For the unit on environmental science, we are going to discuss the different kinds of alternative energy. In class on Friday, students were given the opportunity to research and create a poster on an alternative energy type of their choosing. At the end of their work time, students had 30 seconds to present an elevator pitch on their energy type. After each student's presentation, each student in the audience would write a new piece of information they learned about a kind of energy. I ran out of time on Friday, but I was planning on mixing up all of the post-it notes of new information on the board and students would work to arrange which form of alternative energy each connected.

After this event, I gained a better appreciation for what inquiry-based instruction is and different ways to utilize in the classroom. Along with learning about inquiry instruction, Mrs. Pontius demonstrated many different classroom management techniques. I will be sure to bring them into my classroom next semester for student teaching. Remember, in inquiry based instruction, there is #not1answer

I also want to say a HUGE thank you to Mrs. Pontius, Dr. Ewing, Dr. Curry, Dr. Foster, and Tiffany for making this possible! I gained many new skills and knowledge that would not have been possible without your help! Thank you!!