Inquiry-Based
Learning
Cory Laverty @ your Education Library
What is Inquiry?
• Originates with John Dewey’s philosophy that education
begins with the curiosity of the learner.
• Focuses on guiding students through research process.
• Driven by questions of interest rather than general topics.
• Involves teacher-librarian/ teacher team to model and build
inquiry and information literacy skills.
• Coaches students as they go.
• Assesses progress in developing inquiry skills as well as
understanding of content.
Sketch a concept or mind map of inquiry skills you’ve seen in the
classroom or discussed in your program.
Why Use Inquiry?
Provides opportunity for best teaching and learning strategies:
• Small-group participation in various contexts.
• Reality-based authentic learning problems.
• Interdisciplinary and multicultural approaches.
• Engages learner through their interests.
• Foundation for lifelong learning.
• Develop a culture of asking questions.
• Alternative assessments.
• Home-school partnerships.
• Constructivist approach.
• Stimulating classroom environment
NCTE 21st- Century Standards for Literacy
• Develop proficiency with technology.
• Build relationships to pose and solve problems collaboratively
and cross-culturally.
• Design and share information for global communities.
• Manage, analyze and synthesize information.
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts.
• Attend to ethical responsibilities.
National Council of Teachers of English. (2008). Towards a definition of
21st-century literacies.
David Warlick: Redefining Literacy
Redefining Literacy: The 3Rs become the 4Es
Reading
Writing
Arithmetic
Ethics
Exposing
knowledge
Expressing
ideas
Employing
information
Ethical
use
Information is
power and
property:
assess, respect,
and maintain it
Warlick, D.F. (2004). Redefining literacy for the 21st century.
Worthington, OH: Linworth.
Decode info.
esp. multimedia
Construct digital
libraries
Competing
content
Be compelling
Use multimedia
Use numbers to solve
problems
Use software to
manipulate info.
Ontario Model
for Inquiry
Learning
Ontario School Library Association. (2010). Together for learning:
School libraries and the emergence of the learning commons: A vision for the
21st century. Toronto: OSLA.
Inquiry Learning Outcomes
Inquiry Skills to Research
“Cocooning”: Civics
Stage 1: Exploring
The problem of no question:
• What information are you looking for? Copying of facts leads
to patchwork information and no interpretation.
• Problem with the notion of "knowledge telling" (Bereiter &
Scardamalia, 1985) that dominates broad inquiry tasks.
Bereiter, C. & Scardamalia, M. (1985). Cognitive coping strategies
and the problem of “inert knowledge”. In S. F. Chipman, J. W. Segal, &
R. Glaser (Eds.), Thinking and learning skills: Research and open
questions (vol. 2, pp. 65-80). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Creating Good Questions
Activity: In one minute, brainstorm questions around cocooning.
Use 5Ws prompts: who – what – when – where – why - how
How to sort and group questions?
• Use Bloom’s if you want to focus on more critical thinking.
• Great Question Press for ideas on re-stating questions.
Teaching Strategy:
• Model process using think-aloud
• Students brainstorm for questions in groups, sort, prioritize
• Student applies to individual topic and gets peer feedback
Creating Good Questions
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
list
summarize classify
order
rank
combine
describe
interpret
experiment
explain
assess
plan
outline
illustrate
calculate
differentiate
conclude
compose
label
paraphrase solve
organize
compare
design
state
explain
relate
interpret
predict
mash-up
demonstrate
integrate
hypothesize
identify
Stage 2: Investigating
Where do you send students for information? An assignment
should name appropriate reference types and students should
be shown how to find them.
Teaching Strategy:
• Work with teacher-librarian to introduce resources
appropriate to topics
• TDSB website as model:
http://www.tdsb.on.ca/libraries/cat.asp?schoolNo=9
• Knowledge Ontario databases for all Ontario schools
• Video-streaming resource for all Ontario schools: Learn360
and Access Learning
• Searching the Web: search methods: what would you teach?
Teaching Web Searching
Download web searching guide at Education Library
Use Google search lessons for sequential learning
Watch How Search Works in You Tube
Make concept map of resources on the web
Introduce Google Scholar, Google Books, Google Earth
Test all operators and compare searches on web and between
resources.
Stage 3: Processing
Notetaking: Think Literacy documents and handout on EL
website; understanding plagiarism – You Quote It, You Note It
Evaluation of sources
Search cocooning in Wikipedia and on the web.
What methods would you use to evaluate results?
Organization of ideas: graphic organizers in SMART Ideas
Documentation of sources
BibMe and Citation Machine
Copyright
Evaluating Websites
•
•
•
•
How to evaluate information? Meaning?
Select 3 websites and a create list of evaluation criteria.
Class creates evaluation checklist.
How to decide what are good criteria (purpose of the task –
what is good/useful information)
• Test your criteria by ranking 5 sites.
• In groups, take on specific role (author, bias, content) and
compare ranking of sites across groups.
• Include criteria for inclusion on inquiry project.
Stage 4: Creating
Creating: digital tools Your recommendations?
Assessment: diagnostic – formative – summative
Presenting: PowerPoint/Prezi does not offer evidence of critical
thinking
Consider addition of annotated bibliography and interactive
presentations
Sharing and Creative Commons
New Skills?
Draw a ring around what your existing concept map.
Add an outer layer showing what additional skills you would
teach or how you would teach a skill differently.
Please leave the maps here.
Inquiry in the Future?
What will inquiry look like in the future? The medium is the
message? The machine is us. The message is us.
Advertised: World-wide information and collaboration.
We can be experts in everything.
Reality: Multimodal texts where everyone is an author.
Cognitive demands need to be recognized by teachers and
students.