(3 areas of education you are passionately interested in and may want to do your inquiry 1 & 2 project on.)
To teach or not to teach? This is the fundamental question which some experienced teachers question to themselves. However, the phrase may be more appropriated addressed as To learn or not to learn? What is the trifecta foundations of education? Despite the phrased rhetorical and ambiguous question, I believe that the foundations of acquiring knowledge are the most crucial aspects of education. Based on personal anecdotal experience, I believe that curiosity, epistemology, and passion are the three major pillars of education.
Individuals may argue that knowledge, curriculum, pedagogy, and may be the most potent aspects of educational inquiry. However, how can one excel without the intrinsic desire to seek observations, answers, and knowledge? This form of learning is known as active learning, which curiosity, epistemology, and passion promotes. Detailed factual learning may be adequate for regurgitation of information, yet it does not build nor expand acquired knowledge as fundamentally as independent learning. Passive learning based on knowledge acquisition which are dependent on an external source -- such as a teacher deliver material -- usually promotes little interaction with the students themselves.
Curiosity, epistemology and passion provides the framework of inquiry. John Yamamoto once said that "You do not need to be knowledge experts in every field, but you do need to be inquirers of knowledge -- the rest of the information will follow along." Last summer I visited elementary schools in Prince George for science demonstrations for the local STEM summer camp. One of the most successful and impactful projects with the kids were air-powered paper rockets. To see the amazement of paper rockets made from everyday accessible materials such as paper, cardboard, tape, and scissors fly over a soccer field was almost intangible -- "It [was] mind blowing or mind blasting" was often exclaimed by the nearby children who witnessed there rockets shoot across space. This was one of many experiences which captivated the collective curious, epistemology and passion within a singular project.
Below is an image of the contraception used to launch these explosive rockets:
Rocket Launcher
Other examples of empowering projects.
(Photos are publically permissible based on UNBC Active Mind Waivers):
Cylindrical Rubber Band Rollers
Newspaper Tower Structures
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