The original intent of school was to learn answers. Teachers were to be the dispensers of knowledge and students were to soak up the information. This was the "empty vessel" theory. Students brains were empty, waiting to be filled by the teacher. Andy Hargreaves, a world renowned education researcher from Canada, calls this time "BG", before Google. Students are now able to find the answer to any question they have, quickly and easily, using a simple computer search. He suggests that our role now has to switch to teaching students how to ask questions, to inquire, to wonder.
As Dale and I sat through Dr. Hargreave's session and listened to his thoughts on how classroom instruction is evolving, we began thinking about David Cameron School and what we would want for our students. We began to think about the notion of David Cameron as a "School of Inquiry". The idea would be that we encourage students, teachers, and parents to ask questions. This would allow learning for deeper understanding. The more we thought about this, the more it began to make sense for us, we saw the fit with some things already underway, most notably our Inquiry Question that a group of staff members are working to answer. Our Inquiry is related to the effect that using Literature Study Circles will have on students' ability to become more sophisticated and strong readers.
Students who are willing to ask questions and be open to feedback begin to generate a "growth mindset" that opens them up to learning as an active experience rather than a passive one.
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