When starting an inquiry learning partners and mentors decide on an appropriate question that will guide and give a focus point to the inquiry. The guiding question and area of focus helps to narrow and guide the research and make it more relevant, challenging and meaningful.
The Areas of Focus are themes that we weave throughout input lessons and projects. The Areas of Focus provide the main focus for developing links between the traditional academic subject groups, so that learning partners will learn to view their education as an integration of knowledge, skills, action and experience.
The following Areas of Focus are used in input lessons and projects:
(i) Creative Minds is concerned with human creative genius and the impact of this creativity on society and the human mind over time. Learning partners learn to appreciate the human capacity to influence, transform, enjoy, and improve the quality of life. Creative Minds therefore encourages learning partners to see the relationships between science, aesthetics, technology, and ethics over time.
(ii) Global Impact is a theme that is concerned with human impact on a global scale. Learning partners learn to identify global issues that impact our community and the world at large. Learning partners will learn to use investigative and problem solving skills to address global issues and its impact on the world.
(iii) Environment is a theme that develops the learning partners’ awareness of the interdependence of humans and nature. Learning partners learn investigative and problem-solving strategies, which will encourage them to accept responsibility for maintaining an environment fit for the future. (iv) Health and Social Education is a theme that prepares learning partners for a physically and mentally healthy life and helps them develop a sense of responsibility for their own well being.
(v) Community and Service is a theme that emphasizes community awareness and concern, a sense of civic responsibility, working cooperatively, and the skills needed to make an effective contribution to society.
(vi) Learning is concerned with the intellectual discipline, attitudes, strategies, and skills that will result in critical, coherent, and independent thought. This theme helps learning partners develop self-discipline and a capacity for problem solving that allows them to produce high-quality work and a love for learning.
A good guiding question for a project will include one or more of the areas of focus.
Example: A learning partners starts a project on the French Revolution and need to formulate a guiding question for the project. He/She decides to find out how the environment people lived in started or contributed to the revolution.
Guiding Question: How did the environment people lived in contributed to or initiated the French Revolution? (Area of Focus - Environment)
The learning partner now knows how to approach the project and what type of information to concentrate on when they do research for their project.
Filed under: Middle School News
There is something wrong with the ISN parents link
Thanks, Philipp. I corrected the mistake in the above post.