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REFLECTIVE PRACTICE STUDY
Introduction
The inquiry question I wanted to investigate in my reflective practice study was, what impact will using issue-based inquiry in my teaching of cause and consequence have on the student’s ability to use divergent thinking?
Rationale:
- cause and consequence is an important focus in the new social sciences curriculum
- issue-based inquires allows students to engage with material
- gives students the opportunity to think critically and arrive to conclusions about topics on their own
3 THEMES
Citizen Production
- All the authors talk about the importance of social science courses in preparing students to be knowledgeable citizens of the world
- by engaging students in topics that are controversial, students are exposed to multiple narratives and thus have to come to conclusions on their own.
- This is an important skill to have and develop because it further gets carried on into life where one does not necessarily have a guiding hand telling you right from wrong
- Alan Marcus also supports this line of reasoning by pushing educators to rethink how they use documentaries within the classroom. He calls for a push towards identifying in students biases and assessing why certain films are made.
Critical Thinking
- Jennifer Trost tells us, she has found it very hard to overcome the dominance of Western culture in her classrooms. The material so deeply rooted in Eurocentric has seen students using terms that are improper, such as “Third World”, “The East”, “New World”
- In social studies, there are very few straightforward answers, and this encourages students to think critically and by doing so gives them skills that they can apply in the real world
- importan to give students a multi-narrative approach in a classroom and instilling in students the skills to promote critical analysis
- use documentaries not as sources of information, but as tools to promote reasoned judgement
Taking Risks
- If issue-based inquiry is to happen in the classroom, then teachers have to be prepared to take risks and look to foster a respectful environment in which students will get exposed to controversial and political topics
- importance of dealing with complexities and debates in the classroom because it promotes critical thinking and prepares students for the real world
- teachers have to have faith in their students
RESULTS
- My study found that cause and consequence as a historical thinking concept is a very important one, but can also be just as tricky to teach because of the skills required to effectively engage with it.
- all of the inquiries around cause and consequence will have some controversial issues in them because they do not have one narrative.
- as a teacher, have to be willing to take risks