Inquiry-based learning

Going deep: Student-directed learning in Performance Standards Consortium schools

We speak with Adam Grumbach, social studies program coordinator of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, and Naseem Haamid, a law student who attended Fannie Lou Hamer High School. We discuss inquiry based learning, Performance Based Assessment Tests, Habits of Mind, and self-directed, interdisciplinary portfolios, as alternatives to standardized-test driven curricula.

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Creating the conditions: Sustaining “caring for” education

We speak with Chris Lehmann, founding principal of Science Leadership Academy, inquiry-driven and project-based schools in Philadelphia. The academic model centers inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection. Students take English, science, and history as a cohort, allowing for interdisciplinary understanding. Systems and structures ensure there is time for teachers to build relationships with students, and create the basis for the schools to survive beyond the founders.

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Inquiry and interpretation: Learning US history from primary sources

We speak with Lee Schere, Director of Teaching and Learning at the Office of K-16 Initiatives of CUNY about the Debating U.S. History Program, an inquiry-based curriculum and teacher learning program. Students learn that history is not one set of agreed-upon events and interpretations. Though designed for NYC schools, the curriculum is available free to teachers everywhere.

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