Valuing the voice of the learners: Negotiating an inquiry-based curriculum with grade 5/6 students

Abstract

Garth Boomer is championed for his impact on curriculum design and pedagogy, yet his curriculum negotiation approach has not been widely adopted by schools (Green & Meiers, 2013). My interest in what resonance and application his ideas have for current teachers and students, and for mandated curriculums, grounded the investigation undertaken for this thesis. The study explores how grade five and six teachers and their students in a government primary school in the state of Victoria, Australia, applied Garth Boomer’s (1982) conceptualisation of curriculum negotiation when undertaking inquiry-based learning. A qualitative case study methodology was adopted with a threefold aim: to identify ho..