A Response to Jan's Question

Hi Jan,
I've been teaching this class since early Aug 2006 which was the beginning of the academic year here. My students are Indonesian and for most of them English is their second language. I am the inquiry teacher (UOI - unit of inquiry) and English teacher. There is a class teacher who does Math and Indonesian language. We teach UOI together. Our class blog is http://www.mrsjane3.blogspot.com

Last year in Grade 3, I made a company that created and sold gemstone jewelry. We would go to the Jakarta Gemstone markets to buy in bulk. We made a profit of US$500 with which we bought a computer for the classroom. By the end of the project, the kids were running the market days themselves. It was very successful but didn't really have much ICT integration except that we wrote the story of the inquiry and published it as a book using the brand new computer! (A parent printed the book for us)

I love inquiry learning! I try to make it as real and enduring as possible. It is so immediate and perfectly suited for Digital Natives. The hardest part is running around scoping out the primary resources.
Jane