Inquiry-Based Learning Using Everyday Objects: Hands-On Instructional Strategies That Promote Active Learning in Grades 3-8

Object-based inquiry is a tested method that enhances the skills of the student, as well as the instructor, by engaging students in hands-on studies of everyday objects, raising their curiosity and enthusiasm for the learning process. Hands-on instructional strategies foster active learning, allowing students to investigate essential questions, while at the same time meeting curriculum standards and creating a profoundly new learning experience. In this exciting new book, educators and authors Amy Edmonds Alvarado and Patricia R. Herr explore the concept of using everyday objects as a process initiated both by students and teachers, encouraging growth in student observation, inquisitiveness, and reflection in learning.

Essential focal points of this teaching resource include:

• Concept and theory
• Getting started and gathering collections of different objects
• Lesson planning and student grouping
• Formative and summative assessments
• Sample lesson plans for language arts, science, social studies, and math

Inquiry-Based Learning Using Everyday Objects is a practical guide that will promote change in both teaching and thinking. It is a tool that all educators should add to their existing repertoire of teaching methods.

Amy Alvarado has thirteen years experience in the classroom and extensive expertise in helping educators improve instructional techniques and curriculum design in all content areas. She has an undergraduate degree in English and secondary education from the College of William and Mary and a masters degree in Educational Psychology with a specialization in gifted education from the University of Virginia. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Virginia.

Patricia Herr has eleven years of experience in the classroom and has participated in curriculum design in all academic areas during that time. She has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Social Science from Frostburg State University and a Masters Degree in Education from Marymount University. She also holds a certificate in Technology Education from George Mason University. She is currently teaching fifth grade at Ball’s Bluff Elementary School and has done so for the past seven years.

Mrs. Her has been identified twice as one of the Agnes Meyer Outstanding Educators in Loudoun County, Virginia. Additionally, she has mentored new teachers and supervised student teachers. Mrs. Herr has been actively involved in the Minority Achievement Committee county wide, serving as the chair for two years, and the co-chair for two years. She helped develop a mentoring program that was implemented county wide. She has also been the recipient of a number of grants to further the practice of object based inquiry teaching which has benefited students school wide with the addition of a museum exhibit area in the school. She has worked as a mentor teacher for the Naturalist Center’s Iwonder program, helping other teacher learn to incorporate object-based inquiry strategies into their classrooms and to develop object-based inquiry lessons.