Week 7 2018 Inquiry: Research and Critical Thinking Part 1

I enjoyed reading about the different things you are trying out, and hearing about potential pitfalls.  And I agree with you all that you need to balance ebooks and traditional ones.

Learners are  empowered when they are able to ask questions about topics of interest and use those questions as a guide to finding information they can use to enrich their lives. So this week, we are beginning to read and discuss about inquiry.  While inquiry does include communication, collaboration, and comprehension, critical thinking is going to be a key focus here as is creativity.

This week you are reading  3 book chapters.  I'd suggest reading the Johnson chapter first, followed by the BABR chapters. They are really full of tools and strategies for inquiry, so much so that I was a bit overwhelmed!  Here is some vocabulary I"d like for you to use in your blog discussions: locate, evaluate, synthesize, integrate, divergent search phrases, repurposing, reinforcement, problem posing, online search, search engines, search strategies, curating, organizing, summarizing. Synthesize the information and collaborate on creating a definition of inquiry learning grounded in all of the readings for this week. Make this synthesis a generative synthesis (see the DeSchyver article I've uploaded on Canvas for a definition of this term). Then I want you all to be critical evaluators.  Divide up the tools from BABR chapters to try out--the blog leader can either make assignments or you can volunteer.  Critically evaluate the tools that you tried out and write about them in your responses.
Remember that  this week you need to fill out the Virtual Check In form. Please do this by Thursday  midnight.  I"ll check regularly and get back to you.  Have a good fall weekend.