Workshop Outline

The interactive workshop provides a deep dive into Concept-Based Inquiry focused on teaching strategies and specific ideas for implementation.

This practical session begins with a model lesson where teachers explore using guiding questions and a range of case studies to build conceptual understanding themselves. The lesson debrief invites teachers to consider the role of questions and the process of inductive teaching.

This workshop then introduces a model of Concept-Based Inquiry developed by French and Marschall with six distinct phases. Educators will be engaged in a variety of teaching practices that help students think conceptually. Video clips of Concept-Based Inquiry will be shared to illustrate key strategies. Educators will have the opportunity to consider how specific, practical instructional strategies can enhance units they are currently teaching in schools. Educators will leave with a toolkit of strategies that can be immediately implemented in the classroom.

Teachers reflect on when and how they use structured, guided, and open inquiry to promote conceptual understanding. Video clips of teaching and learning will illustrate the kinds of thinking that are developed at each stage.

Bio for Rachel French

Director of Professional Learning International and certified Independent Concept-Based Consultant, workshop facilitator, trainer, and author, Rachel French, MA Ed. has led innovative curriculum design and transformed how educators teach and students learn for over 12 years.

Mentored by the founders of Concept-Based Curriculum themselves, Dr. H Lynn Erickson and Dr. Lois A. Lanning, Rachel was entrusted with the exclusive worldwide rights to be the sole provider of the Erickson and Lanning Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction (CBCI) Trainer Certification Institute — the certification that kick-started her journey into Concept-Based Inquiry.

Rachel French, Dr. Lynn Erickson, and Dr. Lois Lanning have co-authored the second edition of ‘Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom,’ 2017, and Carla Marschall and Rachel French co-authored ‘Concept-Based Inquiry in Action’ (2018).

Rachel has presented numerous workshops and conferences on Concept-Based Learning globally and now hosts the annual Concept-Based Inquiry Learning Labs Conference. This conference is dedicated to bringing together passionate CBI educators from around the globe.

Rachel’s mission is to help other educators transform their classrooms and schools by accessing leading professional development, planning and implementing Concept-Based Inquiry units, and adopting a Concept-Based curriculum development approach.