Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings argues that instead of organizing curriculum and instruction around the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?,” we can go further in supporting young people in meaningful, culturally relevant and sustaining ways if we instead ask: “What problems do you want to solve?”
This certificate focuses on how to follow Ladson-Billings’ suggestion and re-organize our pedagogies around the questions and problems that youth and their communities want to pursue. Rather than approaching teaching as a process of transmitting information and skills to youth, this certificate helps teachers position youth as people whose questions, problems, and problem-solutions are inquiry-worthy.
The certificate offers coursework that introduces teachers to research and theorizing about how people learn through inquiry, how communities engage in knowledge-building and inquiry within and across subject areas, and how teachers can organize curriculum and pedagogy to create inquiry-based learning experiences with young people in schools. The certificate culminates in a capstone experience positioning teachers as pedagogical leaders who can organize and sustain professional learning among peers and colleagues through practitioner inquiry into how young people learn when given the opportunity to pursue questions and problems that they want to solve.
Students who wish to take classes and separately complete certificates without enrolling in the full MA program should see the Teacher Leadership program graduate certificate pathway.
Requirements
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| EDUA 5023 | Inquiry-based Pedagogy: How Questions, Dilemmas, and Problems Matter for Learning | 2 |
| EDUA 5024 | Inquiry-Based Pedagogies: Inquiry Within and Across Different Disciplines and Communities | 2 |
| EDUA 5025 | Inquiry-Based Pedagogies: Designing and Facilitating Inquiry-Based Learning Experiences | 2 |
| EDUA 5026 | Inquiry-Based Pedagogies Capstone: Leading for Pedagogical Growth through Practitioner Inquiry | 4 |
| Total Credit Hours | 10 | |
In order to earn a certificate, students must receive a minimum grade of a C or higher in each course. The cumulative GPA for certificate courses must be 3.0 or higher.
Learning Outcomes
The certificate will prepare teacher leaders to:
- Apply current research exploring how people learn in order to demonstrate the importance of inquiry-based learning as a valid pedagogical strategy.
- Consider how different cultural communities—including subject areas and disciplines—engage in inquiries to build understanding and how communities can incorporate young learners into these inquiries.
- Investigate how different K-12 instructional designs orchestrate curricular and pedagogical tools to organize inquiry-based learning experiences.
- Develop and, if feasible, carry out an instructional design that organizes an inquiry-based learning experience within or across subject areas using a combination of curricular and pedagogical tools.
- Develop and, if feasible, conduct a practitioner inquiry using tools of teacher research to examine and analyze how inquiry-based pedagogies could transform your classroom, your learning community and yourself as a teacher.
- Prepare possible plans for engaging in teacher leadership to build capacity for inquiry-based pedagogies and practitioner inquiry in your school/system.