Professional learning for IBL in the middle years

• Craig Cummings
• Curriculum Leadership

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19 July 2010A growing body of literature supports Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) as a means to improve students' engagement and active participation in their education, and as a way to equip students for employment and social participation in the modern world. However, the introduction of an IBL curriculum raises significant challenges for teachers.

IBL relies on a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. The IBL model developed by the teaching team has many influences such as the Lane Clark Inquiry Model, Queensland Rich Task approach and ideas from Positive Psychology. The degree to which students direct their own learning increases throughout the program. The unit culminates in a specific rich task, at which point students pose their own questions, design their own projects, share their findings, and review and reflect independently. By this stage the role of the teacher is to facilitate, support and monitor the progress of the student. The course covers authentic topics that are designed to relate to the world of the student, address topics relevant to the wider world and to have a real social impact.

This article describes the introduction of a middle years IBL program at a large public school in Victoria, and its development over three years, focusing on the impact of the IBL unit on the professional learning experiences of the school's middle years team. The project has generated significant shifts in the professional learning culture within the team. Its members have increasingly generated their own professional learning, and have disseminated their new knowledge within and beyond the school.