Inquiry Learning at St Margaret Mary’s draws content from the Victorian Curriculum areas of Humanities (Civics & Citizenship, Economics & Business, Geography and History), Health, Science, Technologies (Design & Technologies and Digital Technologies) and The Arts.

It also provides a context for students to develop skills in Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical, Intercultural and Personal & Social Capabilities.  Over a 2 year period the students develop their understanding of concepts related to;

Inquiry Learning in the Junior Grades – Learning to Inquire (Discovery)

It is in the Junior years that the students are learning to inquire and the skills for Inquiry are explicitly modelled and taught. In Grades Prep, 1 and 2, our students are encouraged to develop their curiosity through Discovery where they are immersed in content to stimulate their curiosity. Students are encourage to voice their wonderings and interest in topics to assist the teachers to develop practical, hands on shared experiences to explore content from the curriculum areas.

Inquiry Learning in the Middle Grades – Learning about Inquiring

In the Middle grades (3&4) our students are learning about Inquiring.  As more complex concepts are introduced into the Victorian Curriculum areas in Grade 3 and 4, the Middle year students are given opportunities to inquire in different ways eg. field study, research, problem solving and design process. Students are guided through 3 stages of Inquiry;

Building – determining students’ prior knowledge of the topic and building their foundational knowledge and skills
Investigating – taking the investigation further and supporting the students to examine an aspect of interest
Applying – taking action to apply their learning in a real life context.

Inquiry Learning in the Senior Grades – Inquiring to Learn

In the Senior grades (5&6) our students are Inquiring to learn.  Students are given opportunities to follow independent or group Inquiries as part of a broader focus unit.  Teachers design the learning in the initial Building phase of Inquiry but the students are expected to steer their learning in the Investigating and Applying phases. This enables students to deepen their knowledge and understandings of concepts whilst drawing together Inquiry, Numeracy and Literacy skills.