What is inquiry?

[Kristin Fontichiaro]

Before we start the book, it might be interesting to talk about how we each perceive inquiry. Feel free to share your personal hunches, links to books, blog posts, or online resources, and more!

[Debbie Abilock]

She told me she bases her books on her own teaching experience and students - I was certainly on an "inquiry journey" as a reader.

[Debbie Abilock]

Context lost here - I was referring above to Blue Balliett the author of Chasing Vermeer .

[Kristin Fontichiaro]

I got it. :) When I first read CHASING VERMEER, I couldn't stop comparing it to Konigsberg's FROM THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER. Maybe it's no coincidence that Konigsberg was a middle school science teacher and her books are about kids figuring out something they're passionate about. Her science inquiry mind must have been at work!

[Andrea Walker]

We have just had Dr Ross Todd visit our school to focus on Inquiry. Out of that I have come to the understanding that Inquiry must be a process of transforming information into deep knowledge. So we have to work hard to engage students with the information in meaningful and authentic ways. Real Inquiry needs to be owned by the students so tasks have to capture their attention and be relevant to their needs to inquire.

[Joan Upell]

student-centered real world problem solving

[Liz Deskins]

I have been thinking about this question for several weeks before posting a comment. Now, here goes! I am a "seasoned" teacher-librarain (translate that however you want!) but when I started in this biz, I was in a school setting labeled informal education. It was very John Dewey, with student-directed learning, inquiry decided by student interest, passion above most curricular content. So, I learned my librarianship with each child reading a different book, no whole class books there, ever fluid small groups of students "studying" a topic of interest, and teachers as co-learners with their students. My own children also attended a school like this, so I thought this was the norm! When I moved to another district and learned the ways of a "traditional" program, it was a real eye-opener. These students had no idea how to be sef-directed learners, they needed everything handed to them in a prescribed fashion. Having been at both ends of the spectrum now, I try and see the big picture ~ and I think (this may change through our online discussions) this: learners need to learn how to learn; how to engage with their own learning; and have the adults that surround them ever ready to seize that passionate interest in something and, with them, turn it into an educational adventure with learning of necessary facts and skills carefully introduced at point of need. Now I do recognize that content is crucial, and there are some skils that just have to be taught straight up; but I see inquiry as the bridge between pre-programed content-driven curriculum and free-form learning that has no standards of excellence.
Wow -- off that soapbox!! I am presently in a great district that does advocate inquiry learning, yea! It is done partially through the use of trade books over text books which makes the media center an important part of the learning process. The most disquieting thing I see these days is less time allowed for the full inquiry process; time is such an issue that corners are being cut. My fear is that once again, students will not be given the time to learn how to learn.

[Kristin Fontichiaro]

Liz - I love the descriptions of the schools you thought were the norm! A breath of fresh air. I see some of what you describe -- "students had no idea how to be self-directed learners." I know that when we did the AASL Webinar on skills earlier this year, that was one of the identified barriers -- that students who had been told what to do for years would balk at taking on additional responsibility.

[Debbie Abilock]

My experience is similar to yours Liz but I think you meant to say that some schooling teaches students to unlearn the process of inquiry that they have used since birth; they come to school as naive but self-directed learners. And, while their learned passivity is a tragedy, knowing that they have experienced inquiry can offer us hope because this is their prior early childhood experience. Indeed, they are still learning through inquiry in their daily lives - whether it's "geeking around," or afterschool programs/clubs or private interests. Librarians can tap into their prior experience by creating opportunities - even within the most proscribed, inch-deep, shallow content - for inquiry discussion groups and inquiry research. In the kind of schools that you and I have worked in, it wasn't an uphill battle, so I do appreciate the difficulty in certain school climates. But isn't it really the only battle worth fighting for that can create lifelong learners? One other minor quibble: I have worked with all kinds of schools - traditional, hybrid and "free-form" - there can be inquiry in any of them. Inquiry is a state of mind - not certain media or books, or a particular teaching structure or academic discipline.

[Liz Deskins]

I stand corrected, you are right about students coming to school as self-directed learners. Maybe that's why I love my time with kindergarten! I would also agree about inquiry being possible in all types of schools, some is just more directed than others.
I do want to make clear that I love the inquiry method; and am so looking forward to our conversations about the various ways to integrate it throughout the school climate.
As an aside; I got a phone call today, a Sunday, from my third grade team who was planning for the new year. They wanted to plan an inquiry unit with me, and wanted to sure we could meet this week! Now that is exciting, isn't it? I mean this group and I use inquiry alot, but to call on a Sunday, the last day of a break?! I love my job, and my staff!

[Kristin Fontichiaro]

You're right about kindergarten! We gathered for a story a few weeks ago, and the kids' eyes kept looking around me at the window. No wonder -- there was a big dirt-moving machine that was in our back yard to prep the ground for our school's outdoor gazebo. I didn't have a state-mandated list of objectives to cover. When inquiry is our goal, we librarians have the freedom to shift from a story to the machines outside.

[Liz Deskins]

Learning can still be fun!

[Kristin Fontichiaro]

And it was such a BIG MACHINE!!!!! RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW!!!!!!