Introduction To My Inquiry

Kia ora, talofa and talitali fiefia to the blog where I will share my inquiry during 2018.

I found out in December that I've been allowed to give COL'ing a go (can I turn that word into a verb? I guess I have!) My aim as a COL inquirer and science teacher will be to complete as robust-an inquiry as I can in a classroom full of uncontrolled variables!

I'll also be making every effort to share this in blog posts that are short, sharp, and hopefully enjoyable or informative to read. Can someone please hold me to that? "Nic, I only made it through the first paragraph" will definitely be considered legitimate feedback from today onwards.

I spent some time over the holidays reading the full inquiries of 2017's Tamaki COL teachers and one thing that was mentioned in more than one of them was a visit from Graeme Aitkin. His take-home message really jumped out at me; there are three key factors in student's success. These are:

ENJOYMENT. CONFIDENCE. ACHIEVEMENT.

To me that means for our students to enrol and then be successful in high-stakes senior science classes, they need to enjoy their time in junior science, feel confident to choose a senior science, and have experienced achievement. While they're IN senior science classes they'll need to enjoy their learning, feel confident to approach assessments and hopefully experience early achievement and build on that.

I think my area of inquiry could be something about strengthening the enjoyment, confidence or achievement of science students in the junior years, with the long-term goal of getting them enrolled into and then achieving in senior science in later years.