Examples+of+Inquiry+Learning+Tasks+in+HSIE

There are many differnet forms of inquiry tasks that can be utilised with HSIE. Regardless of the medium used what is important to acknowledge is that the students of today are digital natives and therefore a certain expertise with informaton processing technology needs to be achieved through specific skill and knowledge acquisition (Marsh & Hart, 2011).


 * Exploration centres - students explore items and materials in a container and record their thoughts, feeling and observations


 * Field studies - excursions/field trips to examine relevant sites first hand and make observations


 * Independent research tasks - research tasks using reference books, ICT sources and community members [[image:http://www.choice.com.au/~/media/Images/Reviews/Money/Shopping%20and%20legal/2009/Online%20xmas%20shopping/Books_iStock_.ashx width="179" height="191"]]


 * Graffiti boards - Online activity where students create art using key topic words


 * Literature circles - Disucssion groups where students share ideas and concepts from literature


 * Graphing & timelining - Students present ideas and findings in graph form or create timelines of events


 * Webquests "are ideal vehicles for inquiry-oriented activities (Gibson, as cited in Marsh & Hart, 2011, p.96).[[image:educ6040fall10/webquest width="260" height="171" align="right"]]

Here we will unpack webquests more thoroughly as an excellent 'vehicle' of inquiry.

//Webquests provide;//
 * Real problems to be solved
 * Group work with roles and perspectives
 * Higher order thinking skills
 * Scaffolding
 * Web resources which promote diversity of ideas and sources
 * Coclusion and planning for local action

//Essential Components//
 * 1) Introduction
 * 2) Focus question/Key task
 * 3) Process
 * 4) Resources
 * 5) Evaluation
 * 6) Conclusion