Guided Inquiry and the Curious Crew of 5th graders.

We are an energetic, and enthusiastic 5th-grade class from Virginia Beach, VA. When I first heard of this challenge, I decided to bring it to my students as I knew it was something I wanted to explore. Needless to say, they were excited to begin. Now, months later, we have chosen to implement Guided Inquiry Design (GID) while revisiting Science topics of their choosing. We will use Essential Questions to guide our inquiry.

My experience with GID can best be described as “exploratory,” I have implemented it on several units, but, if I am, to be honest, it was easy to blame time or other priorities to not follow through to the end. I shared our previous attempts with my students, and they were on board for taking part in the 52 weeks of Guided Inquiry Design Challenge. My students are risk-takers and always looking for a new challenge. They let me know their topic of inquiry when given a choice of approximately 7 topics via survey. They are broken into groups based on their choices, and we are ready to take off.

I hope you all will join us on our journey of exploration using Guided Inquiry as we blog along the way. My students will be posting the rest of the way, after joining their teammates and reflecting on their exploration. With their curiosities stimulated, they are ready to move ahead.

Carol Reinagel
5th-grade teacher
VBCPS