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Music inquiry modules

The following are included in this course/collection:

Resources

The course of a good inquiry will depend on specifics, not only on the subject area and goals of the inquiry and the interests and prior understandings of the learners, but also on the resources available for the inquiry, including any teachers or facilitators. This course is my attempt to put inquiry methods into practice in the specific situation of using open Internet-based resources to support self-directed music learning. Even if this course works well, other good inquiries are likely to look very different due to different circumstances.

Inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning will also vary considerably because they are based on the ideas of different education theorists, philosophers, and psychologists; a variety of approaches have been tested by teachers and education researchers in many different types of situations. If you are interested in learning more about inquiry and inquiry-based learning, here are some general suggestions to get you started.

    Online searches

  • As of this writing, The Inquiry Page and Thirteen.org had useful introductory information about inquiry-based learning.
  • Searches for "inquiry-based learning" will turn up journal articles on education research, as well as suggestions from other teachers for inquiry curricula in the classroom. You may want to focus on "inquiry based lessons" or "inquiry based lesson plans." If you want to know what research is revealing, inquiry methods and study findings depend a lot on the context; look for studies that happened in a similar situation to yours (for example, high school science classes). Keep in mind that "inquiry-based learning" is a very broad concept that different educator/researcher communities may define in different ways. If you are looking for help constructing lesson plans, you may want to search, for example, for "inquiry based learning science" or "inquiry based learning social studies". However, some educators feel that the division of the curriculum into subject areas is antithetical to the idea of inquiry; after all, an inquiry about music can easily generate questions about math, science, literature, history, or culture. If this makes sense to you, try looking for "inquiry based interdisciplinary learning". Finally, if you are interested in taking an inquiry/research approach to your own teaching (basically, researching/inquiring into how best to lead inquiries in your situation), try searching for "education action research".

    Books

  • Cochran-Smith, M., and Lytle, S. L. (2009). Inquiry as Stance: Practitioner Research for the New Generation . New York and London: Teachers College Press. Inquiry-based learning is often considered to be closely related to the practice of research as inquiry. Both this book and the one by Wells discuss inquiry as an approach both to teaching and to researching one's own teaching practice.
  • Dewey, J. (1938/1997). Experience and Education . New York: Touchstone. This book lays out the argument for taking an inquiry-based approach to education, by the philosopher-educator who is considered one of the founders of this approach.
  • Knowles, M. (1975). Self-directed Learning: A Guide for Learners and Teachers . Chicago: Follett Publishing Company; Knowles, M., and Associates. (1984). Andragogy in Action: Applying Modern Principles of Adult Learning . San Francisco and London: Jossey-Bass Inc. Andragogy is Knowles' preferred term for learner-based methods, and these two books are practical guides for conducting a widely-tested inquiry-style method.
  • Sleeter, C. E. (2005). Un-Standardizing Curriculum: Multicultural Teaching in the Standards-Based Classroom . New York: Teachers College Press. This book makes the argument that learner-centered education is particularly crucial for students whose lives and experiences are furthest away from the assumptions of the standard curriculum (for example, those from locally-minority cultures or low socioeconomic status), and provides advice for teachers who would like to implement these ideas within the confines of standardized curricula and testing.
  • Wells, G. (2001). Action, Talk, and Text: Learning and Teaching through Inquiry. New York and London: Teachers College Press.

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Source:  OpenStax, Music inquiry. OpenStax CNX. Mar 18, 2013 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11455/1.4
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