Inquiry+Learning





Welcome to the inquiry learning page! Inquiry learning (as it's name suggests) is inquiring into a topic of the students own choice. In 2008 we (Bea and Rachel) did a successful inquiry on forensic science with two of our other classmates. The whole class got into groups and chose a topic they all wanted to look into. Our teacher who was a former cop organised two forensic policemen to come visit us at school, where they showed us how to dust for fingerprints and showed us all the tools they used.



Our group then decided to try contact ESR, our local forensics institute. Rachel got to wear an awesomely cool forensic science outfit that enables the wearer to not contaminate their surroundings.They allowed us to visit the room where they analyse objects found at crime scenes for deoxyribonucleic acid a.k.a. DNA. Our group then got to try and find cows blood on a crowbar in an activity the forensic scientists had set up for us. We also got to use the super microscope the forensic scientists use to examine objects.



We presented all the information in a powerpoint which was then showed to our whole school at assembly. We also tried making a movie but we lost it on the computer, but this did not affect overall presentation. Other groups in our class studied things like fast food, they visited McDonalds to learn about the preparation of fast food another group studied Whittakers chocolate, unfortunately, they were unable to contact Whittakers but still carried on with their inquiry using the internet and other sources. Everyone thought our inquiry was ¾ awesomeness and ¼ pine wood! (predominantly the sort that is used to make chair legs) =P This worked for our group as we were an organised group of people and we enjoyed this hands-on form of learning. We also worked well as a team. This way of learning would probably work for a certain group of stereotyped people, commonly refered to as bodily-kinsthetic learners. It would work best for intermediate age and older students. We think there is a place for hands-on learning in a twenty-first century school as it engages the student in learning and teaches important skills such as organising appointments over the phone and arranging transport, and getting information off people as opposed to getting it from the internet.