EXAMPLE: PARTNERSHIP LEARNING
CRITICAL TEACHING
Enquiring Minds83 Enquiring Minds (funded by Microsoft and developed by Futurelab) is an approach to teaching and learning that takes students’ ideas, interests and experiences as its starting point, and provides them with more responsibility for the direction and content of their learning. It explores the idea of partnership learning, where students bring to school valid and important knowledge that is considered worthy of consideration in the curriculum.
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The rationale for Enquiring Minds is that the organisation of school subjects can be out of touch with the reality of children’s lives. It approaches subjects and the curriculum by proposing that learning can start from children’s own perspectives, and, through enquiry-based learning, introduce them to powerful subject knowledge, skills, and critical thinking. It is an attempt to link children’s lives with the curriculum. It was developed by researchers at Futurelab and teachers in two comprehensive secondary schools. The programme aims to support children to be:
In Enquiring Minds teaching and learning, students undertake an enquiry into an area that interests them, ask questions and are supported to answer them. Teachers work with pupils to help them draw on their own lives and experiences to discover things that interest them, excite them and make them curious. Pupils are then supported to define an idea or question that they would like to research further. Their research might involve doing internet research, making prototypes, and involving other people in their learning, perhaps by contacting an expert in their chosen area of enquiry. The teacher’s role is to guide the students in their research process by having regular conversations with them about their progress, to encourage them to be critical about various sources of knowledge and to allow them some control over their own time but agree deadlines with them. The outcomes, communication and presentation of enquiries take a variety of forms, including presentations, websites, video documentaries, podcasts, or written documents. It is important that students have a ‘real’ audience for their presentation and as such must carefully consider content. Students also evaluate their enquiries. This can take the form of a self report or peer evaluation against criteria co-created by pupils and teachers.
_ inquisitive and curious about things they experience in their everyday lives _ able to pose problems, ask questions, and recognise issues they would like to explore _ able to develop an understanding that all knowledge changes over time as people challenge, shape and contribute to it _ confident that they too can challenge, shape and contribute to knowledge _ aware that there are always multiple perspectives for looking at, analysing and understanding things _ able to propose solutions to problems and questions, and to know how to pursue these solutions. It aims to see students becoming progressively more responsible for the content, processes and outcomes of their learning so that as they undertake further enquiries they become increasingly more responsible for content each time.
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83. A detailed booklet of guidance and research findings are available at: www.enquiringminds.org.uk