Mindfulness and Purpose in Early Childhood Education

Inquiry-based learning is all about asking questions.  Teachers do not lay out facts for the children so the learning process is smooth.  They spark children's interest and then encourage them to find their own answers.  The teacher lays the path for learning from behind, rather than leading children from the front. In an inquiry -based learning environment, the teacher has questions, intriguing ideas as the centre of all learning experiences.  The questions are the nucleus from where learning bursts open with the children finding their own answers.  Learning is a shared responsibility where a question is asked and the teacher must create an environment where the children learn to find the answer. Children are expected to use evidence-based reasoning and creative problem solving in order to find answers to questions. Children learn by doing, experimenting, questioning, reasoning, and observing.  They learn by learning and are taught how to learn....

Traditionally, classrooms in Ontario have followed the rote learning model, which is a technique based on repetition and memorization.  But recently, those classrooms are disappearing in favour of a more collaborative space, in which teachers are facilitators using a technique called inquiry-based teaching. “Inquiry-based teaching is an approach to instruction that begins with exploring curriculum content and providing a framework for the students to ask their own questions which builds interest and curiosity,” says Louise Robitaille , an elementary teacher in Midland.  Encouraging students to be active learners, posing their own questions and problems and following through on those, rather than passive learners simply receiving information is believed to create greater student engagement and, in turn, create greater student achievement.  Inquiry-based learning is not a new idea. It is a teaching method born in the 1960s out of a response to the more tr...