Term
Summer 2023
Capstone
Capstone Project
Degree Name
MAT
Facilitator(s)
Laura Halldin and Julianne Scullen
Content Expert
Justin Wewers
Abstract
Inquiry-based learning (IBL) allows students a more authentic learning experience by providing them the opportunity to question, explore, investigate, analyze, draw conclusions and create. In contrast, traditional didactic teaching methods often hinder students' deeper comprehension and disenfranchise students from institutional education as a whole. This paper advocates for the integration of IBL methodologies within high school economics education by exploring the question, how can high school seniors use inquiry-based learning in economics? IBL's cognitive advantages, including heightened student involvement, critical thinking enhancement, and improved problem-solving skills, are explored in this paper. By encouraging active questioning, collaborative investigations, and exploration, IBL mirrors real-world inquiries, enabling a more profound grasp of understanding. The project itself implements IBL into a 10 day personal finance unit in a 12th Economics course. The curriculum was created using a four levels of inquiry framework from Banchi and Bell and Understanding by Design from Wiggins & McTighe. Throughout the unit, students are scaffolded from structured inquiry to guided inquiry to allow for an increasingly more authentic and challenging learning experience. Students will investigate the guiding question for the unit, how could I plan for my ideal future life? This will be broken down into more digestible experiences with 6 supporting questions that each involve an activity. These activities provide students more time to engage in the content while the teacher transitions to a facilitator of learning. A budgeting project allows students to investigate how they can practically plan for their ideal life. By the end of this unit, students will be able to effectively engage in problem solving through inquiry, and obtain a thorough understanding of fundamental personal finance topics.
Project Type
Curriculum
Keywords
Curriculum, Social Studies, Inquiry, Economics
Recommended Citation
Prince, Nathan, "Implementing Inquiry in a High School Economics Course" (2023). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects. 959.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_cp/959
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Education Student Capstone Projects