The challenge of coming up with a really solid inquiry question seems daunting at the moment. I'm glad to know that we'll have time and support during the process. On the theme of being in the garden, I'm very interested in outdoor education and trying to tie all curriculum to our local environments. There is some aspect of Indigenizing the curriculum woven into this as well. I have always loved the outdoors and feel a strong connection to my living environment. I feel that some of my best creativity, peace, and contentment comes when I am in nature (often when I am alone, but I think that is beside the point here). I think that the relative blankness of mind and perhaps "boredom" also primes one to learn! I usually have a book with me while camping and feel that I remember the content better in these surroundings. On top of this, RWK introducing me to the idea of plants and animals as teachers is really making me interested in how I can incorporate these ideas in my pedagogy. With my teachable being physics, my idea for an inquiry topic is "How can a physics teacher best achieve a sense of environmental connection and stewardship while keeping the content rigorous?". I immediately wonder if this is too specific, but as a first step I think it is solid.
Now to sort this down into two/three concepts. My topic splits (somewhat by design) nicely into two main sections: "connection to the living world" and "stewardship for the land". Both of which must contain some level of "keeping the content rigorous". In this vein, I think two obvious concepts are "physics as a tool to foster connection to the living world" and "encouraging stewardship for the land in a physics classroom". Hopefully this is what is expected of us! Not exactly sure how the topic should be broken down or if this is specific enough.
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