Making Inquiry Work for ALL Students

flexibility that must be balanced with the constraints of time, materials, and local curriculum. Beneficial results occur when the teacher has a basic concept plan—ready to be modified b... See More

flexibility that must be balanced with the constraints of time, materials, and local curriculum. Beneficial results occur when the teacher has a basic concept plan—ready to be modified by students’ abilities.

Differentiation Meets Inquiry

How to differentiate within an inquiry based lesson – or adaptive inquiry. This article presents a lesson on Newton’s Third Law, which is stated to be within an adaptive inquiry approach. ... See More

How to differentiate within an inquiry based lesson – or adaptive inquiry. This article presents a lesson on Newton’s Third Law, which is stated to be within an adaptive inquiry approach. However, the only section of the article that appears adaptable or with information on how to “adapt” or differentiate is the evaluation questions near the end of the article – written to address the levels of cognitive development. I found it bothersome that the article stated, “To conduct adaptive inquiry, a teacher must possess a pedagogical repertoire that ranges from direct instruction to open-ended inquiry,” and yet failed to identify how this would look within the lesson presented. A great lesson is provided on how to engage students in an inquiry based lesson Newton’s third law, but little information is provided on how to adapt this lesson or any other to help the lesson or inquiry meet the needs of the student.