SRL Learning Project

#LearningProject: Supporting Student Inquiry through Self-Regulated Learning

/ suzannebartel / 1 Comment

The notion of Inquiry Learning is an important theme stated over and over again in the new draft BC curriculum.  The new curriculum promotes the idea of “supporting and encouraging student-driven inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning” (BC Ministry of Ed, 2014).  After listening to Jeff Hopkins speak to our #TIEGRAD cohort, I was inspired to bring the idea of inquiry based learning into my classroom.  Eagerly, I got started.  I helped my students set goals, set some parameters, provided access to information, and set them off on their learning journey.

We failed miserably.  After the initial excitement and interest, several students mentally gave up when they realized that they needed to remember their supplies to help them meet their goals.  Others grew frustrated when their google searches turned up too much unrelated materials.  Still others threw in their hats when they realized that there was a lot of work involved in meeting their original goals. Two students followed through. Two students loved the opportunity to learn for themselves about something they were passionate about. Two students were so excited about learning that they spent extra hours at home accomplishing their goals.

Where had I gone wrong? What did these two students have that allowed them to succeed when the rest of the class couldn’t.

After listening to yet another guest speaker in our #TIEGRAD class, Mariel Miller, I came to the realization that most of my students did not have the ability to regulate their own learning.  My students didn’t know how to set smaller goals to meet the bigger goal.  They didn’t know how to manage their time.  They didn’t have the ‘grit’ to not give up when the going gets tough. My students didn’t know how to evaluate their learning strategies when they didn’t work, or assess whether they were accomplishing their goals.  My students didn’t know how to take notes, or turn those notes into something meaningful that reflected their learning.

This picture that Sylvia Duckworth put on twitter summed up why I think so many of my students struggle with Inquiry Learning.

If the field of education wants to delve into the world of inquiry learning, we have to first support our students in developing the skills to be self regulated autonomous learners.  This term in EDCI 569, I am doing my #learningproject on SRL in the intermediate classroom.  I plan to learn as much as I can about research based methods that have been successful with elementary students.

Here a couple of the things I plan to do to support my learning:

  1. Contact prominent research experts in the field of SRL (many of them can be found at http://srlcanada.ca/)
  2. Search for online learning communities that focus on SRL (Google+, Twitter, Scoopit, etc.)
  3. Read peer reviewed articles to learn about what SRL methods are research based.
  4. Read prominent educational blogs, books, and articles that reflect on SRL practices in the elementary classroom.
  5. Begin to bring these research based SRL methods into my current grade ⅘ classroom
  6. Discuss SRL strategies with colleagues online and offline who are actively promoting SRL in their classrooms
  7. Write a literature review about SRL in the intermediate classroom

I’m very interested in how you support your learners in this area in your classroom! I am looking for any suggestions about SRL readings, websites, contacts, ect..

Join me in this #learningproject! Follow my blog posts under my blog category SRL Learning Project.