Guided Inquiry Chapter 9

ByShannon Tompkins, Amy Poe, Yvonne

Ward, Rebekah Haithcock, Lisa Landreth, Meredith Ader, Marika Peterson, Susan McFarlane, Amanda Long,

Michelle Barkley, Stephanie McCall, Janine Jamison, Justin Asbell

Interventions for Guiding InquiryThe foundation of guided inquiry is intervention at important points.

• Guided inquiry requires flexibility; it is not “one size fits all.”• Although research is usually considered an individual activity,

inquiry is enhanced by involving the academic social community.• Inquiry needs to be guided through the process.This chapter makes suggestions for guiding students through

intervention. The chapter offers guiding principles and strategies. • Each intervention should be “tailored” to the student.• Interventions need to be planned by the team.• Instruction is actually one type of intervention.

Open Ended Questions

Students presented with open-ended topics can then generate open-ended questions that they find interesting, thus making the learning experience more meaningful. Studies have shown that students are more positive toward topics they come up with themselves than those that are simply assigned to them (Gross, 1998; McNally, 2005).

The open-ended questions of GI are comparable to what Wiggins and McTighe, (1998) call “essential questions” in Understanding By Design in which teachers begin with identifying the desired learning outcome and works backward from there. The GI core team plans at the beginning of the inquiry process what outcomes will be and what assessments will be used to measure learning.

Open Ended Questions

Students are encouraged to “address” questions rather than “answer” them in an effort to promote higher learning and discourage simple, non-reflective fact finding missions. Addressing open-ended questions gives students a chance to explore and construct a deep understanding of a specific topic.Inquiry assignments should have an invitational tone at the beginning rather than an indicative tone. An assignment that sets an indicative mood will shut down the inquiry process before it ever starts. An invitational tone, however, fostered by open-ended questions opens up creativity.

Basic Inquiry Abilities

• Can be introduced in Pre-K, developed throughout elementary school, applied to extensive inquiry projects in middle school and expanded to more independent projects in secondary school.

• The 4 basic inquiry abilities are to be able to: recall, summarize, paraphrase, and extend

Recall

• Definition: to reflect and remember certain features of what has been read, heard and observed.

• Is based on what is already known, creating a frame of reference for selective remembering

• What is remembered varies from child to child• Goal is to have the student connect what they

already know to what fit with or contradicts their present construct

Summarize

• Definition: to organize selected ideas in a meaningful sequence

• Main objective: to organize information in an abbreviated form by determining the ideas that convey personal meaning.

• Intervention questions include: “What do you think is important?” and “What comes at the beginning, middle, and end?”

• What is left out is as important a choice as what is retained.

Paraphrase

• Definition: to retell in one’s own words the ideas encountered in the inquiry process

• When we do not place value on paraphrasing, students often resort to copying and plagiarism.

• Guided inquiry helps students determine when to use their own words, what to quote, and how to document their sources.

• Intervention questions might be: “What was interesting and new?” and “Tell me what you learned.”

Extend

• Definition: to form new understandings and raise new questions

• Goes beyond fact finding and question answering to synthesis, and creating a deep understanding of their own.

• Intervention questions include “What if?” questions, “What connects to something else you know?”, “How does it relate to something you have read, seen, or done?”, and “What else would you like to know?”

Intervention Strategies for Guided Inquiry

• Collaborate: Work jointly with others.• Converse: Talk about ideas for clarity and

further questions.• Continue: Develop understanding over a

period of time.

Zone of Intervention

• Developed by Vygotsky, the zone of intervention is the area in which interventions would help the learner the most.

• It is a zone that the student can still perform in but only with the guidance of the teacher.

• This zone assists the Guided Inquiry team by letting them make decisions which enrich the student’s learning.

Intervention Strategies cont.

• Choose – select what is interesting and pertinent

• Chart – visualize ideas using timelines, pictures, and graphic organizers

• Compose – write all the way along, not just at the end; keep journals

Five Kinds of LearningThat require intervention in order to foster and develop certain skills (and who in the instructional team likely would perform these interventions):

• 1. Curriculum Content (teachers) • 2. Information Literacy (school librarian) • 3. Learning How to Learn (the whole team) • 4. Literacy Competence (reading teacher or

literacy specialist)• 5. Social Skills (the whole team)

The Student's World

With its grounding in the Constructivist Perspective, Guided Inquiry seeks to help students make connections. Creating Third Space through such activities as modeling and listening and, especially, having conversations draws students into the curriculum and into fuller understanding

Connecting to the Students’ World

• Kuhlthau explores effective ways through Guided Inquiry for educators to combine both the students’ personal life with the curriculum to create a third space which was discussed in Chapter 3.

• The purpose of the Guided Inquiry team is to plan an intervention that will enable third space interaction (Kuhlthau, 2004).

Connecting to the Students’ World• Third space takes a students’ personal experience

infused with the curriculum to provide a meaningful learning environment (Kuhlthau, 2004).

• Conversing, Modeling, and Listening are effective ways for educators to incorporate the third space into their daily curriculum.

• According to “Kuhlthau’s Six Cs”- collaborate, converse, continue, choose, chart, and compose– these are intervention strategies to create third space in the classroom (Kuhlthau, 2004).

Intervention for a Community of Learners

• The instructional team employs the type of intervention that most efficiently and effectively delivers instruction or advice best suited to the stage of inquiry and the needs of the learners (zone of instruction).

• Small group interaction is best suited to conversation with the instructional team to talk about ideas, raise further questions and construct knowledge by thinking and reflecting with each other.

• Work pairs are used when working together moves the inquiry along for both learners.

Intervention for a Community of Learners

• Individual conferences are scheduled when one-on-one guidance is indicated.

• Whole class instruction is utilized when it is the most efficient intervention for learning about sources, content, process or learning skills.

• Working together at all stages of inquiry intervention fosters collaborative learning of research skills, content knowledge, reading comprehension, language skills and social skills.

Planning for Guided Inquiry• Inquiry requires careful planning and thoughtful

implementation, with insightful interventions at critical points. (pg 145)

• One way to set up the sessions is to plan each around a starter, a work time, and a reflection. (pg 145)– Starter – formal instruction– Work time – instruction developed through mini-lessons– Reflection – at the end of each session to discuss what has been

learned and how to prepare for the next session• Products need to be suited to the audience. They enable the

students to learn from each other. Products should be creative and fun. Sometimes, the best products come when students decide how to present their learning.

True or False?

1. Interventions need to be planned by the student.2. Guided inquiry requires flexibility it is not “one size fits

all.3. Each intervention should be “tailored” to the student

4. Students are more apt to respond positively to assignments that create an invitational mood.

1.F 2.T 3.T 4.T

True or false?

• 5.To extend is to remember what stands out in your mind.

• 6. Where paraphrasing is not valued, indiscriminate copying and plagiarism frequently results.

• 7. When summarizing, what is left out is as important a choice as what is retained

• 8.Recall is just reciting back what has been taught.

5. F 6. T 7. T 8. F

9. Learning through inquiry involves not only gathering information but also: ______, ______, ______, _______.

Answer: reading, reflecting, raising questions, and exploring ideas over an extended period of time to construct new understandings.

10. When intervening, select what is interesting and _________.

Answer: pertinent

11. Guided inquiry lends itself to what kind of classroom?

Answer: Differentiated (p. 143)

12. What type of intervention is used during Guided Inquiry?a. Whole class instruction.b. Small group interaction.c. Work pairs.d. Individual conferences.e. All of the above.

Answer: e. All of the above

True or False13. Inquiry requires careful planning and thoughtful

implementation, with no interventions.14. Guided inquiry is composed of an inquiry unit that engages

students in their own learning, with instruction and guidance at strategic points along the way, in zone of intervention.

13. F 14. T 15. Literacy intervention

Fill in the Blanks15._______enables students to comprehend the materials they find and to articulate what they have learned.