Personal Inquiry: scripting for inquiry learning by participatory design

1. Personal Inquiry: scripting for inquiry learning by participatory design Cindy Kerawalla, Eileen Scanlon, Alison Twiner, Paul Mulholland, Trevor Collins, Ann Jones, Mark Gaved, Karen Littleton, Canan Blake, Grainne Conole

2. Introduction • What is PD? • What is the role of children and young people in PD? • An overview of the personal inquiry project • Comparing the PD process across 2 studies • Conclusions kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

3. What is participatory design? “Learner-centred design (LCD) is a nebulous concept. It can range from attempts to design with the needs of the learner at the forefront, to involving the learner at various stages of the design process, sometimes throughout the whole process”. PD is not homogenous. Methods are contingent upon the context Good, J. and Robertson, J. (2006). CARSS: A Framework for Learner-Centred Design with Children. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education 16(4), 381-413 kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

4. What is the role of children and young people in PD? Are they: • designers • users • learners • design partners • informants • testers • domain experts? PD is not homogenous. The role/s of participants are contingent upon the context kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk Good, J. and Robertson, J. (2006). CARSS: A Framework for Learner-Centred Design with Children. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education 16(4), 381-413

5. A comparison of PD across two studies • An inquiry into urban heat islands towards a national qualification in Geography • An inquiry into the sustainability of food production as part of an after-school club

6. The Personal Inquiry project Have developed a toolkit (nQuire) to support personal inquiry learning across formal and informal settings Iterative approach Key Stage 3 (11-14 year olds) Geography (OU) & Science (UoN) inquiries Seven trials, 300 students, 7 teachers ‘Scripts’ to guide learners kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

7. : structuring an inquiry • Guides students and teachers through the inquiry process • Helps teachers to orchestrate student actions, students to monitor own progress • Supports shifts between class, group, and individual kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

8. Urban Heat Islands Milton Keynes (new town) Northampton (old town) Formal, examined. Decisions made by teachers, researchers and stakeholders over 5 months kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

9. Fieldwork can be in a group Report must be individual Report content was shaped by marking scheme No automating of graphs Tools to support thinking but not to think for the student kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

10. Sustainability Squad: semi-formal and informal contexts After school club (Geography). No curriculum. No assessment. Voluntary attendance. Self- motivated. Focus on investigating the sustainability of the food production cycle Home inquiries into packaging and storage (rotting) Waste Born or planted Eaten Reared or grown Stored Slaughtered or harvested Distributed Processed Packaged kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

11. Sustainability Squad - I would like to research more into the food industry. - I would like to find out about the longest lasting food. - Bread: how long it takes to rot. - Eggs: where do they come from? - What type of food rots faster organic or not organic? - I would like to find out more about where my food comes from . - See how much carbon dioxide we are putting into the world by - having food from far away - See how car pollution affects the environment - What is the main cause of pollution in the world? - What is the faster way of stopping global warming? - I want to now how much carbon dioxide we are putting into the environment and how we can reduce it. - When the busiest time of day is on roads. Personal choices: students chose and designed their own investigations Kellett, M. (2005). How to develop children as researchers, London; Paul Chapman Publishing kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

12. jjjj Inquiry design was part of the learning process

13. Students chose their own measures

14. Findings were personally relevant and meaningful Graphs could be automated nnnnn nnnnnn kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

15. After-school club PD continued into the study time: learning opportunity Involved the young people in setting up nQuire Relevant and interesting No curriculum or assessment Balancing interests within the group Practicality of topic and design Group reports Urban Heat Islands PD prior to study with teachers nQuire set up in advance Subject priorities Assessment Curricular constraints Limited student choice Practicality of topic and design Individual reports Summary kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

16. Conclusions • PD needs to meet local needs • It can involve young people in a variety of ways • nQuire is flexible enough to support the participatory design of inquiries inside and outside of curriculum and assessment structures kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

17. Thank you  kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk