I've spent the last 15 years studying inquiry based learning, thinking about the research (Kuhlthau) that explains how students go through a process when they are learning from multiple sources of information and asking their own questions. This is so different from textbook learning. And now we are in a time when open ed resources are widely available, and textbooks are taking a backseat. It's an exciting time in the "wild west" of information for educators.
But to make this shift so that what and how we teach in this environment of information abundance has effects that positively impact student learning is not a cake walk. That's why I'm happy to be a part of the creative team who designed the Guided Inquiry framework to support teachers to guide learning experiences for students that begin with their own curiosities and move directly into the curriculum. We call this the third space.
There are many challenges to inquiry learning in school but one of the challenges that teachers often mention is doubt that students will learn what the course requires if it is taught in an inquiry approach. This team explained it this way-
One of the ELA teachers voiced a concern that some of her students veered completely away from the original topic of our OPEN with their research questions. For example, we gave students readings about "X" during EXPLORE, which some found very interesting; some of those students ended up being curious about drones, self-driving vehicles, etc., since the articles were largely about technology. In the end, the student and the teacher struggled to find a way to tie what the student produced back to the opening topic of urbanization. Our supervisor echoed the teacher's concern, reinforcing that we've all seen so many times students don't address the assigned topic in an essay or paper. (OPEN and EXPLORE are two phases in the beginning of the Guided Inquiry Process designed to build curiosity and provide time for students to learn about the topic before finding their focus for their research.)
Guided Inquiry Design places the teacher in the role of instructional designer. As the designer of inquiry learning we can design the learning experience more tightly so the right questions do arise.
Notice in this comment- the teachers got creative and placed resources about future cities in front of the students- and what happened? They got curious about those aspects of the article. This is natural. I've seen it happen over and over again in my work with teachers.
So what to do?
1. Choose resources that really match the learning outcome. A tangentially related video or article that has exciting content, probably will steer your students to ask questions about it, rather than the topics at hand. Be really careful what they consume in the early phases is really important. Curating sources that are focused on the aspects of the topics you are teaching is important. The school librarian can help you find the right sources. This will take some time to get right, but there's no real harm done when sources aren't perfect. Just keep reflecting on what you used and what effect it had on students' learning and inquiry. Then adjust.
2. If you do choose to put that video in. Remind the students as they Identify, or through the Explore phase, "So, as a class, we are hoping to learn more about X through this inquiry. Is this more about ____ or more about X? What do you think learning about this will help you understand about this (insert main concept you are trying to teach X)? Or what connections are you making from this to the major concept of the unit?
3. Provide a rubric for the focus so they know they can look at their area of interest, but in their quest, they have to show a connection to the big idea that the Inquiry Community is investigating.
But to make this shift so that what and how we teach in this environment of information abundance has effects that positively impact student learning is not a cake walk. That's why I'm happy to be a part of the creative team who designed the Guided Inquiry framework to support teachers to guide learning experiences for students that begin with their own curiosities and move directly into the curriculum. We call this the third space.
There are many challenges to inquiry learning in school but one of the challenges that teachers often mention is doubt that students will learn what the course requires if it is taught in an inquiry approach. This team explained it this way-
One of the ELA teachers voiced a concern that some of her students veered completely away from the original topic of our OPEN with their research questions. For example, we gave students readings about "X" during EXPLORE, which some found very interesting; some of those students ended up being curious about drones, self-driving vehicles, etc., since the articles were largely about technology. In the end, the student and the teacher struggled to find a way to tie what the student produced back to the opening topic of urbanization. Our supervisor echoed the teacher's concern, reinforcing that we've all seen so many times students don't address the assigned topic in an essay or paper. (OPEN and EXPLORE are two phases in the beginning of the Guided Inquiry Process designed to build curiosity and provide time for students to learn about the topic before finding their focus for their research.)
Guided Inquiry Design places the teacher in the role of instructional designer. As the designer of inquiry learning we can design the learning experience more tightly so the right questions do arise.
Notice in this comment- the teachers got creative and placed resources about future cities in front of the students- and what happened? They got curious about those aspects of the article. This is natural. I've seen it happen over and over again in my work with teachers.
So what to do?
1. Choose resources that really match the learning outcome. A tangentially related video or article that has exciting content, probably will steer your students to ask questions about it, rather than the topics at hand. Be really careful what they consume in the early phases is really important. Curating sources that are focused on the aspects of the topics you are teaching is important. The school librarian can help you find the right sources. This will take some time to get right, but there's no real harm done when sources aren't perfect. Just keep reflecting on what you used and what effect it had on students' learning and inquiry. Then adjust.
2. If you do choose to put that video in. Remind the students as they Identify, or through the Explore phase, "So, as a class, we are hoping to learn more about X through this inquiry. Is this more about ____ or more about X? What do you think learning about this will help you understand about this (insert main concept you are trying to teach X)? Or what connections are you making from this to the major concept of the unit?
3. Provide a rubric for the focus so they know they can look at their area of interest, but in their quest, they have to show a connection to the big idea that the Inquiry Community is investigating.
4. Or let them learn about whatever it is and then in the end have them circle back to the original idea and now that they know about their own topic through their own research, let them apply this new learning to the concept in an essay. This would be a useful exercise for them. Give them a resource from the beginning and help them to make the bridge and connection.
Learning from inquiry is an amazingly fluid process. There are many ways to guide students through this process through your planing, in the design of the unit, the curation of resources(or not!) and of course how you interact with students along their learning journey. These are just a few of the strategies offered with the use of the GID framework.
Stay Curious!
Leslie Maniotes, PhD
