The Great Balloon Debate

1
The Great Balloon Debate

• Who made me an inquiring learner?

Mark Leicester
(my A-level Geography teacher)
Example by Natalie Whelan
2
Mark Leicester

• I think that everyone in our class felt that Mark
  wasnt just your normal average teacher. He
  strived to make classes interesting, varied and
  exciting but still made us work very hard, and
  most importantly encouraged us to ask questions
  and inquire!
• To inquire is to seek knowledge and answers for
  yourselves using various resources to find these
  answers. The resources that Mark encouraged us to
  use were books, the internet, our peers, other
  staff and of course himself, although he didnt
  always give you the full answer that would have
  made the inquiry too easy!

3
So how did Mark make me inquire?
I remember my first ever lesson with him He
gave us a task

• Firstly, Mark gave every member of the class a
  complex piece of text to read alone in silence.
• Secondly, he then broke us off into groups and we
  were encouraged to discuss the text and any bits
  that we didnt understand. Here was our 1st bit
  of inquiry we used other people around us as a
  resource to ask questions!
• Thirdly he gave us the opportunity to ask him any
  questions or anything we didnt understand
  another resource for inquiry but as it was his
  first lesson, no one dared ask a thing even
  though we had many questions.
• Then Mark did something totally unexpected

4

• Mark Ok, wow so you all understand it?
• Class (Thinking not really in their heads)
• Mark Good because now I am going to ask all of
  YOU questions about it, because I didnt
  understand bits of it you guys must be amazing!

OH NO! WE SHOULD HAVE INQUIRED AND ASKED
QUESTIONS!
Since then, I became an inquiring learner
5
Resources for Inquiry

• Mark took us on many fieldtrips to help out
  inquiring minds he and other staff helped us
  collect data but it was up to us to find out what
  the data meant!
• He encouraged the use of the library, the
  internet and staff members to help us but he
  never gave us the direct answer we have to
  arrive at the answer by ourselves

6
In the second year at college, one whole
assessment was based on inquiry
We had to use purely the internet to find out
about Aid, Debt and Trade in Africa with no
starting point from Mark
I started with Google to research my ideas and
eventually came across some fantastic websites
and data to use in my project. The research took
a while but it was worth it. As there was no
initial guidance from Mark, all the students
found different data and different websites,
which gave all of our projects a unique avenue of
inquiry
The Inquiry Skills that I gained throughout my
time at college got my 100 in that project and
an A-grade overall in Geography
7
Mark Leicester made me an inquiring learner.

• From the start he made us ask questions, to
  question what was said and what we were taught as
  there are always two views to everything.
• These inquiring skills have made me a better
  learner throughout life and have made me become a
  better learner here at University. All thanks to
  my teacher Mark.