Delightful Things

In the discussion post about the 5BSCS 5E Instructional Model I wrote that it serves, “to help teachers create a coherent instructional strategy, which will help students develop a progressive, comprehensive understanding of the course content.” Thinking a bit later & at a remove, I would say the same thing about Inquiry-Based Learning.

The 5E model is the most straightforward way to plan a class. Let me add a few caveats. It’s the most straightforward for the way that I think & for the way that I teach. I’m a “big picture” thinker & I find that the 5E helps me to bring the big picture into much sharper focus much more quickly than ones that follow the method & manner of Hunter. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve used Hunter to great result, but it seems to me that the 5E lesson plan offers a bit more of an intuitive approach.

Now, intuitive may not be the word that one immediately thinks of in conversations about IBL. After all, isn’t IBL supposed to be a teaching strategy for the sciences, for physics & maths & whatnot?

What I’m beginning to learn is that the strategy can be used in the humanities to as great an effect as in the sciences. It takes some effort --- especially for newhorns like me --- particularly when crafting investigable questions, but this all boils down to one thing (for me at least): a “fact” is not merely an empirical phenomenon. In reality, non-empirical facts make most people’s worlds go ‘round & ‘round every day. We live a huge part of our lives within a trove of non-empirical facts, like truth, & goodness, & beauty.

Now, I just have to commit to writing the questions, no, to writing good, investigable questions that help my students explore these delightful things.