Students consolidate and communicate observations, decisions, conclusions, goals, choices, strategies, and/or solutions clearly, logically, and effectively by using correct terminology and expressing information/results orally, in writing, or through demonstration or performance tailored to audience needs. They collaborate with others to deepen learning.
As educators guide students through the Communicate component, they may refer to Figure 5 to give consideration to the planned level of student autonomy, taking into account student needs and educator comfort.
In the Communicate component of the inquiry process students “go public” with their learning and share their new understandings with others. Students can communicate their conclusions in various ways including oral, written, graphic, and/or multimedia forms. When presenting their conclusions in a meaningful way, students need to consider the following:
- The genre for presenting their information (e.g., oral, visual, written, multimedia, performance)
- Audience (e.g. audience, peers, teammate, younger students, educator, family, community member)
- Purpose (e.g., to inform, persuade, instruct, refute, or promote)
Students need to be able to use proper vocabulary in order to communicate effectively. This includes the specialized terminology in the Health and Physical Education curriculum (e.g., preparation, execution, follow-through) as well in the context of inquiry-based learning (e.g., assess, analyse, evaluate, synthesize). A student’s use or misuse of inquiry vocabulary provides information about further learning needs.
Teaching students the vocabulary associated with inquiry-based learning occurs throughout all of the stages of the inquiry process. Each stage of the inquiry process contains specific terminology, and a student’s understanding of such vocabulary will enhance their ability to use inquiry for learning. In Health and Physical Education, students communicate with their bodies as well as with words. Students learn to use non-verbal communication to share information and to interpret body language for a variety of purposes.
Opportunities for students to practise and develop their communication skills can occur in various ways throughout the various components of the inquiry process, not only during the communicate stage. “Through purposeful talk, students not only learn to communicate information but also to explore and to understand ideas and concepts, identify and solve problems, organize their experience and knowledge, and express and clarify their thoughts, feelings, and opinions” 1. For example, students can:
- work in a group to brainstorm questions about a topic,
- turn and talk to a partner about the credibility of a source, and
- participate in a knowledge-building circle, telling the class what they discovered about using strategies during games play.
In Health and Physical Education, students communicate with words as well as with the body. Students learn to use non-verbal communication to share information and to interpret body language for a variety of purposes.
Offering multiple opportunities for students to talk about a range of topics (e.g., fitness, movement skills, game strategies, substance use, conflict resolution skills, decision making, goal setting, etc.) helps students to develop the oral communication skills needed to present their findings.
1 Ontario Ministry of Education. (2015a). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1 to 8: Health and Physical Education, 2015 (Rev. ed.). Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/2019-health-physical-education-grades-1to8.pdf. Ontario Ministry of Education. (2015b). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 to 12: Health and Physical Education, 2015 (Rev. ed.). Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/health9to12.pdf