Models of Teaching: An Inquiry-Based Lesson on Fractions

A carefully designed progression of activities allows students to experience the meaning of division by a fraction in multiple ways. Mr. Scherrer doesn't even use the phrase "division by a fraction" until near the end of the lesson. This video shows the architecture of such a lesson and the kind of interactions a teacher has with students to ensure they interact productively with one another when "Inquiry" is the orientation to learning. Notice the productive use of good group work and making students' thinking visible moves by the teacher.

Consider the following activities for application of this video's content:

Print out the Steps of Inquiry-Based Lessons for each teacher in your group. Have a discussion about how one would incorporate this information into current teaching practice.
Pair up teachers to plan and implement an inquiry-based lesson. Partners observe each other and give feedback on which steps in the template occurred.
For more information refer to the Models of Teaching chapter in The Skillful Teacher.
Support Materials

"Hallway Conversations": Greeting Students with Expectation Messages: High School Transitions Script Without RBT Analysis

Video Information

Other videos by related topic:
Clarity
7 Steps or "Syntax" of Inquiry Learning
Skillful Teaching
Move/Skill:
wait time, students explain answers, non-verbal representations, activators and summarizers
Content:
Division by a fraction
Grade level:
5
Keywords:
Visual mental models, delayed objectives, inquiry model of teaching, making students' thinking visible, activating and summarizing