Introducing inquiry-based learning to Estonian teachers: Experiences from the Creative Classroom project

摘要

The project “Creative Classroom” was launched in September 2014 with the main goal of assisting Estonian schools in their digital turn. The project is co-financed by the Erasmus+ program and will continue until the end of August 2016. Partners from Estonia, Finland, Slovenia and Croatia work together to design and deliver innovative training for Estonian teachers in order to enable them to use tools and methods for e-learning. Under the guidance of European educational technology experts, the group of Estonian teachers participate in four workshops on topics concerning ICT and teaching methodologies such as trialogical learning, flipped classroom, project-based learning, game-based learning, problem-based learning, and inquiry-based learning. They are expected to develop innovative lesson scenarios which are going to be published as an electronic lesson guide book and shared with other teachers in Estonia and across Europe. This paper describes experiences in delivering the workshop about inquiry-based learning (IBL) and e-tivites. The IBL is introduced as question-driven or problem-driven approach to learning based on seeking new knowledge and understanding. It involves students investigating complex, ill-structured problems. As an example of an IBL problem, teachers perform a WebQuest e-tivity using Web 2.0 tools.