Reply To: Using FOSIL outside a full inquiry

[Darryl Toerien Keymaster]

A further advantage of advocating for the development of skills (including MIL skills) within the inquiry process – and we need our professional associations to also be advocating for this – is that inquiry is directed towards learning subject content. Importantly, this means that we are not looking to compete with classroom colleagues for their precious lesson time to teach ‘our’ skills; rather, we are looking to collaborate with them to teach their subject content through an inquiry process, and developing a wide range of learning skills, including ‘ours’, in the process. As we – collectively and individually – get better at demonstrating that inquiry, if done properly, is actually an effective way to learn subject content (and does not exclude more or less explicit/ direct instruction), so opportunities for inquiry-based learning will grow, whether in a full inquiry or not.