Inquiry Based Learning
Within the MYP at Good Shepherd Lutheran College, teachers wholeheartedly embrace an inquiry approach to teaching and learning. Inquiry is best described as an approach that we use to build curiosity, challenge and extension within our everyday classrooms and beyond. Inquiry places the learner at the center of all classroom and College-wide activity and views learners as thinkers with their unique developing ideas of their identity and the world around them.
As inquiry teachers we seek to promote deep thinking and learning in our classrooms, that enable learners to apply critical and creative thinking skills in the classroom and beyond. Each inquiry unit is developed using an inquiry cycle to guide a concept-driven curriculum where learners are given multiple opportunities to explore, question, develop essential 21st century skills and respond in an increasingly complex manner as they progress throughout the MYP.
Inquiry based learning places the learner at the heart of learning and encourages all learners to take ownership of their own learning. The purpose of this is to promote a love for learning that will inspire all Good Shepherd Lutheran College learners beyond their school years to future study and learning endeavors.
The learning journey we offer within the MYP at Good Shepherd Lutheran College is an inclusive journey. Our aim is to foster an inclusive learning environment in which all learners, no matter their learning needs, are able to experience success and achieve their individual potential.
Approaches to Learning
Within the MYP at Good Shepherd Lutheran College we place a strong emphasis on skills for learning and the development of self-managed learners. The International Baccalaureate encourages our College to explicitly teach and equip learners with a broad variety of skills that enable all learners to effectively engage in our fast-paced, changing and increasingly interconnected world. Embedded within learning experiences at Good Shepherd Lutheran College is the explicit teaching and application of the following approaches to learning skills.
Communication skills
- Communication skills
Social skills
- Collaboration skills
Self-management skills
- Organisation skills
- Affective skills
- Reflection skills
Research skills
- Information literacy skills
- Media literacy skills
Thinking skills
- Critical-thinking skills
- Creative-thinking skills
- Transfer skills
The reason we place such an emphasis on approaches to learning skills at Good Shepherd Lutheran College, is because we firmly believe that when our learners are equipped with relevant 21st century skills, they can draw upon a repertoire of skills in multiple contexts and situations, in order to proactively and effectively embrace all learning challenges. Through the development and mastery of relevant skills, we broaden learners possibilities and equip them as confident, independent and self-managed lifelong learners.