Guided Inquiry

Guided Inquiry

Learning in the 21st Century

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What is Guided Inquiry?

Guided Inquiry motivates students to learn because they are in the drivers seat of their involvement.It is a system of learning in which lessons, guided by librarian-teacher cohorts, are presented to students in a way that allows them to explore knowledge they werent aware they had to solve a problem.The aim is for students to find and use a variety of information sources and ideas to increase their understanding of a problem, topic, or issue.Students should gain deeper understanding of subject areas and also develop information literacy using this method.

Bullet point 1: Instead of the business as usual intake and regurgitation model, students are asked to be engaged in their own information seeking by drawing from their own experiences and as a collective with their classmates, creating knowledge instead of just taking in a bunch of facts and figures.

Bullet point 2: Students learn to locate, analyze, and evaluate resources of different types; so they may use a printed text for one part of the inquiry, but an Ipad, or gaming module for other parts.2

Why does Guided Inquiry matter?Students learn to ask:What do I know?What do I want to know?How do I find out?What did I learn?How do I use what I learned?What will I do next time?Teachers and Librarians benefit from collective leadership.

Bullet point 1: Guided inquiry is not just test preparation! It teaches students how to be lifelong learners. It is rooted in the curriculum and has a team of teachers, librarians, and other education professionals using their expertise to provide a collaborative learning environment where students retain and build on previous knowledge. Students develop social, language, and reading skills. They learn to create their own meanings for concepts and gain independence in research and learning.

Bullet point 2: Teachers get to teach information skills and subject matter together, not separating one skill out from another. They can have more creativity in their lesson planning because students are learning to how to learn or identifying the pieces to the puzzle, thereby improving the whole upon completion. Librarians benefit because they get to contribute directly to the student learning process and showcase the library, not just as a repository of books, but as an active learning environment. This results in enhanced professional interaction for all. 3

Six Principles of Guided InquiryYouth learn by being actively engaged in and reflecting on an experience.Youth learn by building on what they already know. Youth develop higher level, higher-order thinking through guidance at critical points in the learning process.Youth have different ways and modes of thinking.Youth learn through social interaction with others.Youth learn through instruction and experience in accord with their cognitive development.

The process of discovery is even more important than what the participants may discover. Students must view the parameters with creativity, problem solves, question, and explore various perspectives, and challenge their own knowledge to create new ideas. GI is based on the constructivist approach, which combines learning by doing with reflection on the subject matter. This allows students to develop information processing skills that will help with understanding not only schoolwork, but their place in the nation and the world.4

Example

Ok, ok, so now that Ive introduced the concept and explained what it is and why it matters, What does it all mean? Well, I thought youd ask, so Ive created this real world example. A favorite assignment of mine is to ask students to design a campaign speech for class president. The caveat is, that they will give the speech as their favorite book character! This can be accomplished in a few different ways and hopefully will provide you with some crosswalk ideas. Students will have to utilize the principles highlighted on the previous page to get the final product, i.e. the speech. Of course, the speech is important and the intended result of the assignment. It should be thoughtful and well written, and students will also gain some public speaking exposure, however the beauty of this assignment is in the process.

Im using the above three examples because students are very enthusiastic to chooses characters from young adult fiction that has recently been made into popular film. This usually works out wonderfully because if certain members of the class arent familiar with the characters, childrens and young adult fiction that have been made into a screenplay are usually covered under the schools viewing license, but this differs from schools to school, so make sure to check with your media coordinator. and we can watch them as a class. Students love a movie day of course, but dont also realize they are taking in educational information from a different perspective. Edutainment is a great trick! If you are unfamiliar with the above titles, you should definitely check them out, especially if you wrangle middle or high school students! Without giving too much away, they have a similar themes of a dystopian society, with lack of hope of a way out or of creating change, in which a single character arises, Phoenix-like from the ashes to save their compatriots from certain destruction. Students then synthesize which characteristics they feel they can get across in a 3-5 minute speech, which would leave their candidate victorious! This assignment is always interesting because it varies wildly from student to student. Ive had students use the cunning and dastardly side of characters to enforce law and order, and I have students herald the heroic almost savior-like qualities5

References:Kuhlthau, C. Maniotes, L. K. & Caspari, A. K. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited

News.au.com. (News Outlet).(2011). Nikeshia Plumridge. [Photo]. Retrieved from http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2011/09/29/1226152/242739-learner-driver-nikeisha-plumridge-with-her-mother-lorin.jpg

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