Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/growing-a-culture-of-inquiry-observation-as-professional-development/5017250/
Early childhood programs ought to be incubators of inquiry. Children, teachers, families, and program administrators, collectively and individually engaged in systematic investigation, searching and researching, asking questions, mulling over hypotheses, debating, trying on new perspectives: this is the culture of inquiry in which we all deserve to participate.To grow a culture of inquiry, we need professional development rooted in inquiry, aimed at fostering the values and growing the dispositions and skills of researchers: curiosity; willingness to linger with questions; commitment to constructing knowledge with others through dialogue, disagreement, and challenge; and, attentive observation. When we put inquiry at the heart of our programs, we organize our curriculum for children and for teachers around observation, study, and responsive planning.
In a curriculum built around inquiry, teachers pay close attention to children’s play and work, taking notes and photographs, capturing what they see and hear �" researchers collecting data. Teachers study their notes and photos and other traces of children’s work to unearth the meaning in the children’s play �" researchers making meaning of their observations: What theories are the children exploring through their play? What questions are they asking? What relationships are they building? From their observation and study, teachers plan ...