Digital Tools Supporting Inquiry
Research
My research on Inquiry-based Learning in an ICT-rich Environment - the ICTs used in the research are a little outdated now but there are modern equivalents and the conclusions on ways that ICTs supported inquiry remain valid:
- Tools for obtaining, recording, sorting and presenting information – a variety of digital tools (email, websites and apps) are helpful at all stages of the inquiry process
- . Understanding complex concepts - a combination of internet tutorials (eg Youtube), information from websites, information in books and good old-fashioned discussions led to the year 6 & 7 students developing an understanding of the complex concepts surrounding the topic of cloning.
- Decision-making - information from books, websites, discussions and e-mailing people involved, aided the students in making decisions about questions they had asked.
- Providing prompt access to primary sources of information - by e-mailing the people involved the students were quickly able to gain answers to some of their questions. Websites were also a major source of information (which was cross-checked) and in some cases were primary sources of information where the sites were developed by the people involved, rather than by a third party
- Providing access to information on current topics – both topics, being very current, were hard to resource using traditional sources. Most information, other than background information, came from websites and e-mail.
- Developing a home-school partnership - various tools such as Seesaw, blogs school websites etc provide a link between home and school
- Communicating findings to a wider audience – the internet provides a medium for students to communicate their findings to an audience far wider than their school.
Resources
My Web Resources for Inquiry site lists digital tools that will support each stage of the inquiry process.
The Inquiry pages on my iPad Apps for Education site lists a number of apps that can be used for note-taking, mind maps, presentations and more.
The Inquiry pages on my iPad Apps for Education site lists a number of apps that can be used for note-taking, mind maps, presentations and more.