Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology - by Teresa Coffman (Paperback)

About the Book

This book guides the reader through the process of identifying objectives, big idea questions, finding resources, and building a web-based inquiry lesson that will include a webquest, web inquiry, and a telecollaborative activity_all in a non-threatening format. Teachers can e...

Book Synopsis

Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology is designed for anyone interested in integrating both inquiry and technology as a tool into a teaching and learning environment. This book will provide easy to follow step by step procedures to both plan and create an inquiry activity that uses the Internet as a learning tool.

Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology provides an overview of inquiry learning and the benefits of inquiry learning strategies and methods in a classroom. This book will have readers working through strategies for integrating technology into a teaching and learning environment and at the same time personalizing the experience for the teacher so they can create activities and lessons for their specific curriculum needs.

Readers of the Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology book will be guided through the process of identifying objectives, big idea questions, finding resources, and building a web-based inquiry lesson that will include a webquest, web inquiry, and a telecollaborative activity. The book concludes with a section regarding assessment in inquiry oriented activities and an overview of inquiry activities using the Internet as a tool to engage learners in the process of learning.

This book presents necessary information in a non-threatening format. Teachers can easily progress through this book and begin practicing building inquiry-oriented activities in a classroom to better meet the needs of their students.

Review Quotes

"This book serves as an excellent primer for teachers on the value of inquiry learning as a teaching modality. Coffman clarifies the importance of inquiry learning under the umbrella of self-directed knowledge construction. Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology offers teachers both the theoretical underpinnings of inquiry learning as well as practical takeaways of activities that can be put to immediate use in the classroommmm" --Dave Mirra, chief technology officer, Stafford County Public Schools, Stafford, VA

"Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology is easy to read and follow, even if you are not a teacher. One of the most important things I learned was to be a guide and to not set too many limits for the students." --Ashley M. DeBord, preservice teacher and graduate education student

"Web inquiry allows students to take charge in their assignment and is more focused on them finding information online than having the teacher post Web sites for the students to use. These activities make students think and will keep them focused on finding answers that they need. I have to make my hook interesting in order to keep my students motivated and interested in the topic." --Brian Southerland, preservice teacher and graduate education student

"What a great resource! Coffman makes the reading easy to understand but gives plenty of information and detail; her knowledge of the subject matter comes through without impeding the reader with many technical terms. What I thought about when I read Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology is how little I really understood about Web-based inquiry. This text gives me some innovative ideas for my own web-based activity." --Jeanne Bergeron, math teacher and graduate student in education

"Wow! After reading Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology, I have a much better understanding of a Web inquiry activity. When designing and developing my web-based lessons, I will remember to keep the ideas interesting. I want to hook students and get them actively involved in their learning. The more my lesson intrigues students, the better their learning and development of ideas because they are truly interested and want to learn more. When students analyze and synthesize their own ideas, they don't get the ideas of a filtered textbook; instead they create meaning from what they are discovering. In the web-based inquiry activity, my job is to assist students and be their support when they have problems not guide their every single movement." --Stephanie Iero, preservice teacher and graduate student in education

"Textbooks provide a good solid source to use in the classroom, but too many teachers use them as their only source. Why would you not use the Web when it has so much valuable information right at your students' fingertips? Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology really helped me to understand all the good things that come with using technology in the classroom." --Kelley A. Dent, preservice teacher and graduate student in education

"This book serves as an excellent primer for teachers on the value of inquiry learning as a teaching modality. Coffman clarifies the importance of inquiry learning under the umbrella of self-directed knowledge construction. Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology offers teachers both the theoretical underpinnings of inquiry learning as well as practical takeaways of activities that can be put to immediate use in the classroom" --Dave Mirra, chief technology officer, Stafford County Public Schools, Stafford, VA

"The inquiry-oriented activities discussed in Coffman's book allow students to be active and engaged in their own learning. This approach to educating twenty-first century learners is exactly what students need to be competitive in this global marketplace! The use of WebQuests, Web-based inquiry, and telecollaborative activities provides students with the hands-on learning they need to be twenty-first century citizens. Students in today's classroom not only need to be engaged, motivated, and interested in learning; they also need to apply their knowledge to the world they live in. . . . I would highly recommend this book to any practicing teacher who wants to do more in the classroom than just lecture and who sees the benefit of real-world application to stimulate theoretical, textbook learning." --Mary Beth Klinger, professor of business, College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD

This book serves as an excellent primer for teachers on the value of inquiry learning as a teaching modality. Coffman clarifies the importance of inquiry learning under the umbrella of self-directed knowledge construction. Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology offers teachers both the theoretical underpinnings of inquiry learning as well as practical takeaways of activities that can be put to immediate use in the classroom

Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology is easy to read and follow, even if you are not a teacher. One of the most important things I learned was to be a guide and to not set too many limits for the students.

Textbooks provide a good solid source to use in the classroom, but too many teachers use them as their only source. Why would you not use the Web when it has so much valuable information right at your students' fingertips? Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology really helped me to understand all the good things that come with using technology in the classroom.

The inquiry-oriented activities discussed in Coffman's book allow students to be active and engaged in their own learning. This approach to educating twenty-first century learners is exactly what students need to be competitive in this global marketplace! The use of WebQuests, Web-based inquiry, and telecollaborative activities provides students with the hands-on learning they need to be twenty-first century citizens. Students in today's classroom not only need to be engaged, motivated, and interested in learning; they also need to apply their knowledge to the world they live in. . . . I would highly recommend this book to any practicing teacher who wants to do more in the classroom than just lecture and who sees the benefit of real-world application to stimulate theoretical, textbook learning.

Web inquiry allows students to take charge in their assignment and is more focused on them finding information online than having the teacher post Web sites for the students to use. These activities make students think and will keep them focused on finding answers that they need. I have to make my hook interesting in order to keep my students motivated and interested in the topic.

What a great resource! Coffman makes the reading easy to understand but gives plenty of information and detail; her knowledge of the subject matter comes through without impeding the reader with many technical terms. What I thought about when I read Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology is how little I really understood about Web-based inquiry. This text gives me some innovative ideas for my own web-based activity.

Wow! After reading Engaging Students through Inquiry-Oriented Learning and Technology, I have a much better understanding of a Web inquiry activity. When designing and developing my web-based lessons, I will remember to keep the ideas interesting. I want to hook students and get them actively involved in their learning. The more my lesson intrigues students, the better their learning and development of ideas because they are truly interested and want to learn more. When students analyze and synthesize their own ideas, they don't get the ideas of a filtered textbook; instead they create meaning from what they are discovering. In the web-based inquiry activity, my job is to assist students and be their support when they have problems not guide their every single movement.

About the Author

Teresa Coffman has worked on both a middle-school and high-school level as a classroom teacher, technology coordinator, and Director of Academic Technology.