Merging Inquiry and EQAO

 EQAO (the standardized testing that takes place at the end of the year for grades 3 and 6 students in language and math) is a reality for Ontario teachers; it's not going anywhere.  So what does a teacher whose students have spent the greater part of the year immersed in inquiry do?  Leverage the habits of inquiry to deepen student thinking using the tools of EQAO. Below is an example of how to do this.

My students have been exploring the United Nations as part of our Social Studies inquiry: What Does it Mean to Be a Global Citizen?  They've been posing questions, researching, constructing knowledge, identifying misconceptions and forming better mental models throughout the process. Hovering over us during the inquiry, however, has been EQAO. One expectation of EQAO is that students recognize various question words and know how to structure appropriate responses. For the activity below, I provided students with an explanation sheet for each term. They then had to formulate questions or commands that demonstrated their understanding of the word as well as their inquiry content.

I was astonished by the results. From this activity and the content students chose to include in their questions or commands, I could tell the depth of their understanding. It was such a useful activity for gathering information about my students' learning without having to complete a test. The student below referred to her own notes and drew from the insights she had developed during the inquiry.

Nicely done Clara and thank you for being willing to share your work so others can learn.

This task is very much connected to the work we do in integrative thinking. Integrative thinking looks for value in conflicting models and uses what is valuable in each model to create something new. It takes us out of conflict and into solution.