Inquiry+Skill

== = = =//**INQUIRY SKILL:**//=

"Learning in the twenty-first century has taken on new dimensions with the exponential expansion of information, ever-changing tools, increasing digitization of text, and heightened demands for critical and creative thinking, communication and collaborative problem-solving" (AASL, __Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action__, 2006-07) Students need a variety of experiences, not just activities, that lead them to think more globally. The Information Literacy Standards provide guidance and direction for teachers and media specialists that believe that in the 21st Century, students must be exposed to and enhance their understanding of information literacy; the good, the bad, and the ugly. "All learners must be able to access high-quality information from diverse perspectives, make sense of it to draw their own conclusions or create new knowledge, and share their knowledge with others" (AASL, __Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action__, 2006-07). Only in this way can we prepare our children to enter the workforce with the ability to:
 * "Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
 * Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to situations, and create new knowledge.
 * Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of a democratic society.
 * Pursue personal and aesthetic growth" (@http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_Learning_Standards_2007.pdf)

Callison lists 5 components of information inquiry: questioning, exploration, assimilation, inference and reflection. "These components link the essential methods that both teachers and learners must practice in order to meet fundamental information and media literacy skills" (Callison, Daniel and Leslie Preddy, __The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy__, 2006). The following central idea, inquiry skill, and essential questions will lead students through the stages of inquiry listed above.


 * Central Idea**: Members of a group (community) have rights and responsibilities that provide order and safety.


 * Inquiry Skill**: Students will contribute positively to the learning community and to society by being information literate and participating effectively in groups to pursue and generate information (share and collaborate) (ILS 9). Students will use ILS 9 to explore and experience how rights and responsibilities, rules and laws, keep safety and order within a group or community.

Second grade students will be able to explain the following essential questions: 1. Why are rules important? 2. How do rules keep us safe?

Fourth grade students will be able to explain the following essential questions: 1. What are the rights of citizens? 2. What are the responsibilities of citizens? 3. How do we develop and create rights and responsibilities (laws)?

These questions will help students springboard into exploring and further investigating their own questions. This cyclical process will continue throughout the unit and can spin off into other areas of interest as well. Students will assimilate this by experiencing and/or problem-solving something -- an experience of sorts. Inferring students will use their background knowledge and their new knowledge to synthesize new beliefs or conclusions. Reflecting on the experiences students will solidify the learning inquiry as well as create new inquiries that they may pursue on their own, with family, or within the classroom.