Education at this time in our society is becoming more and more inquiry based. Teachers are guiding and allowing their students to explore topics of their interest and create projects based off of that in order to represent their learning. Even as a student in university, we are learning many things about inquiry as well as participating in many inquiry projects this term. Michael introduced us to the EdCamp foundation this week.

EdCamp is a foundation that supports communities of educators in guiding their students towards inquiry based learning. The four main principles of EdCamp are free and open to all, participant driven, experience, not experts, and the rule of two feet. EdCamps are based around conversations, learning about others and their experiences as well as building off of them. This is a great exercise that can also be used in the classroom. Giving the students a guided topic, allowing them to vote on their favourite ideas, and then splitting out into groups to discuss is an extremely engaging activity that challenges the students to think and be creative. It also gives a great opportunity for teachers to gage their students interests, and utilize this information in other lesson plans to ensure it is engaging for the class. This activity allows for the students to engage mentally, and also socially.