Presentation by: Sandra Filippelli
Session: Session A | Time: 9:30AM – 9:50AM | Location: Room 200
Now as a PhD candidate and ESL educator, I have begun to take an inquiry-based approach to my own learning that is leading me to explore new areas of arts-based research. Whether it be poetic inquiry or art education research, I find myself engaging in a fulfilling personal investigation that I can transfer to my teaching and interaction with international students. I have learned that the practice of inquiry can provoke questions that lead me to see the world in new ways, increasing my mental agility and flexibility. I can then engage my students in investigative inquiries of their own. UBC offers a variety of activities that have inspired me as well as my international students. Walks through Nitobe Gardens, MOA, the Chung Collection, or the Pacific Museum of the Earth have generated educative reflective inquiry. We have investigated the East/West bridge present in Nitobe Garden and reflected on how we can construct our own international bridges through study and work abroad and how entering the new country has impacted upon and altered us. Exploring geology, becoming aware of the mineral elements in our cellphones, awakens an investigation into our own environmental consciousness. In this way, I notice the process of inquiry makes classes more engaging.