Enhancing Inquiry In Clinical Environments

The Partners for the Enhancement for the Clinical Experiences in Teacher Education is a federally funded project that had set aside funds for classroom activities to encourage teachers to experiment with new strategies, improve their skills, and/or develop practical lessons or resource materials that they will heighten students' achievement.

Inquiry projects are one of the best methods to involve teachers in practical professional development and meaningful research. Inquiry projects are based on the philosophy that teachers should be supported in their efforts to investigate educational strategies that will meet the needs of children in their particular environment. It also enables teachers to expand and update their content knowledge base.

Inquiry projects may be conducted by an individual teacher or by a team of teachers. They may involve a statistical analysis or ethnographic documentation. Teachers may or may not develop a reproducible product but the outcome should contain evidence of what the teachers/interns learned and what recommendations one might have based on the research.

An informal inquiry project usually begins with a question or problem that will involve classroom experimentation to answer. Once the question is stated, then a university faculty member with expertise in that area will be assigned as an advisor. For example, if the question involves the use of math manipulatives in teacher problem solving, a faculty member will help define the activities and will visit the school to observe one or more activities based on the project. USC faculty will be available to consult and/or suggest resources to help carry out the project objectives.

Areas of funding might include books, software, class resources, travel to visit other schools, conference opportunities, substitute teacher pay, field trips, artist residencies, summer/weekend stipends, and/or expenses related to dissemination of the inquiry project. Mini-grants might be applied for by individual cooperating teacher or by a group of teachers. The school context study team and school principal will review and approve projects before funding. The teachers involved in the project are responsible for submitting final project reports and related documentation.

For more information contact: Dr. Jane Zenger Zengerj@gwm.sc.edu

Enhancing Inquiry.pdf

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