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At HES, we have created a culture of inquiry in a variety of ways. We work hard to create a culture of creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication.

• Teachers and staff implement questioning visually, tactically, and cooperatively.  

• Our teachers and staff question students in ways that require them to be curious, and also challenge them with "why" and "how" questions  to utilize higher-order thinking skills.  

• Students in all classrooms work daily in collaborative pairs to ask and answer research questions with their peers.  We use the EIE (Engineering in Elementary) design process to support problem solving.

• A poster of EIE can be found in every classroom.

• Teachers also model questioning, and display questions in many different school settings to create an environment of inquiry.  

• Questions can be found posted in classrooms, on bulletin boards, and on walls in the hallway to activate inquiry.  

• We provide opportunities for inquiry and research by holding school-wide STEM units that involve every student in our school, our staff and our community partners.

• A new initiative this school year is implementing a "Growth Mindset", which encourages students to focus on the process and effort of their work and learning instead of the success or product of their efforts. We have found that this alters student perception of "success" and helps to alleviate fear of failure.  

• Students are learning that even when an effort is not successful, we learn from that, which encourages more inquiry and investigation.

• Our PBL lessons are natural ways for students to use inquiry skills and their creativity. 

• Students are challenged each month with a design challenge. 

• Schoolwide we build a culture of inquiry by having themed STEM units for the whole school.

 

 

 

               Below are pictures showing collaboration and inquiry among our students. 

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