Students & C3 Inquiry

Traditional education has mainly focused on linearly transmitting information, from teacher to student, with the product being an assessment of what the student “knows.” However, when the class moves in a linear A-B-C-D fashion, information and concepts which are missed may go unnoticed.   In order to expose gaps in knowledge and skill a new way of digesting material must be introduced.  The C3 Inquiry method proposes just this kind of change.

Ever since learning of the C3 Inquiry method, I’ve been a fan.  I recently created a lesson which utilized the C3 Inquiry: “What Influenced the Creation of the U.S. Constitution?” located at http://www.c3teachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/C3-FINAL-Gov-Constitutional-Influences.pdf, Inquiry material created by Fairfax County Public Schools.

As I walked through the lesson plan, I began to realize, I was getting ahead of myself. Most students are not exposed to the inquiry method and if they are, I’m not sure they realize its purpose. Since I believe purposeful instruction is the key to student engagement and motivation, I began to really think through how I would introduce this method to my class.  “How should I explain this?”, “Should I have a pre-review of the activity before I explain its purpose?”, or “Should I just introduce it “cold” and work through the explanation as the lesson progresses?”.

Although some of my answer(s) will come from the culture of the individual class, I came to the conclusion —it was best to begin at the beginning. I will introduce the C3 Inquiry lesson to the students by telling the students that we are going to engage in a C3 Inquiry and explain to them “why” we are going to engage in this method.

In my explanation of the “why”, I will point out that:

  • C3 often takes students out of their comfort zones (because students are used to direct instruction),
  • C3 stretches learning and provides many avenues to “show what you know”,
  • C3 at its base prods students to ask questions and construct their own responses,
  • C3 will help students think of the content in ways not before considered,
  • C3 will help students learn “how” to ask their own questions, how to frame the questions, and how to ask the right questions; and,
  • C3 trains students to be “question askers” and not just “question answerers”

For all of C3’s benefits it is also important to realize that even with the explanation of the process, the introduction of this foreign learning concept may give some students cause for pause.

That’s why probing students with open-ended questions, using student generated questions to drive additional thought, and forcing the use of evidence to support concepts, answers, and additional questions are keys to expanded thinking through Inquiry.

However, these techniques as well as “question asking” in isolation does not turn students into critical thinkers — this is why I will take care in being selective about the student questions I answer; to allow students to remain in the driver seat of the C3 lesson.

In addition, I will strive to share my own annotations to the Inquiry, showing students I’m learning with them, that I have questions too, and that I use the Inquiry method to help me process information.

In the end, I see myself using this inquiry method in my future classroom to deepen understanding of the various factors at play in the media both past and present, meeting SOL skills standards, and fulfilling Virginia Portrait of a Graduate requirements. I envision doing this by breaking the students up into discussion groups where they can fully apply the different thinking processes happening simultaneously during the Inquiry.  Education is evolving, and a modern society deserves a modern way of thinking, a way of changing the dialogue from “what we know” to “how we know.”

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