Graduate Research Papers

Availability

Open Access Graduate Research Paper

Keywords

Language arts; Questioning--Study and teaching; Catechetics;

Abstract

Coalition research scholar, Grant Wiggins, firmly believes the idea of a question-driven, inquiry approach to teaching and learning should be at the heart of a school's mission. In examining one of the chief questions of a school's mission, that is, 'What are the aims of a high school curriculum,' Wiggins says it must involve getting students to "use their minds well" (Cushman, 1989). Wiggins says that, "students should emerge from their high school career with an integrated vision of how to think within the culture, which implies a broad understanding, not just narrow or rote expertise" (Cushman, 1989). In order for this type of curriculum to essentially 'work' in schools, classroom teachers, professional development leaders, and English educators must develop a similar, question-driven professional development plan. "Because the process of classroom inquiry is difficult to sustain when individual teachers are working alone, the field of English education needs to foster communities of inquiry. Professional growth and educational change become most possible when groups of teachers come together to reflect, to question, and to devise a collective course of action" (Buehler, 2005, p. 286). In a professional development environment built around growth and change, an inquiry based curriculum has the power to transform curriculum.

Year of Submission

2010

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

First Advisor

Radhi AI-Mabuk

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this graduate research paper and wish have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2010

Object Description

1 PDF file (50 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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