Overview

With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!  (Dr. Suess 1957/1990)     

The final adventure in my inquiry journey focuses on the use of inquiry in the curriculum.  As discussed earlier in my blog, my professional context has influenced my choice of topic and curriculum area. As a primary school teacher based in Queensland, the use of Curriculum to Classroom (C2C) units have become a looming presence in the planning and implementation of the Australian Curriculum in Queensland classrooms.  Teachers are required to teach mandated units and assess using common assessment tasks. Since the implementation of C2C, I have seen the engagement levels, research skills and higher order thinking skills of students decline. It has lead me to question the effectiveness of the inquiry approach in these units and question how curriculum can be implemented in a more engaging and student-centred manner.

As a result, I have chosen to critique the use of inquiry in a Year 6 C2C Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) unit Australia in the past. This unit explores the following inquiry question: How have key figures, events and values shaped Australian society, its system of government and citizenship? Having previously taught this unit, I could see the potential for an improved inquiry approach and the richness of the topic particularly appealed to me. This unit is a combined History and Civics and Citizenship unit that examines the Federation of Australia as well as investigating its democratic structures including the rules and responsibilities of government. The unit duration is 16 lessons, which is equivalent to approximately two terms or one semester’s teaching.  This critique will focus on the first nine lessons that explore the topic of Federation. These nine lessons are equivalent to one cycle of inquiry. The learning outcomes from the unit plan are as follows:

Please click here to view my critique of the unit

Reference: Dr.Seuss (1990). Oh, the places you’ll go! New York, NY: Random House. (Original work published 1957