What is Inquiry-based Research?

Laura Matheny, MICDS Middle School Librarian

What is Inquiry-based Learning? Student-centered approach –Wonders and Questions–Is curious, creative–Is an active thinker–Utilizes high order learning–Finds purpose in learning–Creates new knowledge

The teacher is the guide/coach/facilitator

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Why is this important?

• “The gap between question and answer is where creativity thrives and scientific progress is made” (Leslie).

• “The practice of asking perceptive, informed, curious questions is a cultural habit we should inculcate at every level of society. In school students are generally expected to answer questions rather than ask them. But educational researchers have found that students learn better when they’re gently directed towards the lacunae in their knowledge, allowing their questions to bubble up through the gaps” (Leslie).

“Information is Not Knowledge” or

Turning Straw into Gold

What is the differencebetween informationand knowledge?

What is the difference between Inquiry-based, Project-based and Problem-based Learning?

PBL

– Open ended – Challenging– Process not just content– Knowledge creation – Authentic audience– Teacher as facilitator

Inquiry-based• Starts with student

questioning– Open ended – Challenging– Process not just content– Knowledge creation – Authentic audience– Teacher as facilitator

What Does Inquiry-based Research Look Like?It is a student-centered approach to learning which naturally utilizes: - Higher Order Thinking - Problem Solving - Information Processing

via questioning

AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action

Inquiry-based Research Models

WISE Model for Elementary School Learners

Striplings Model

• Developing a plan

• Selecting resources

• Analyzing and evaluating information

• Organizing• Finding

patterns• Drawing • conclusions• Creating

knowledge and new understand-ings

Sharing learning with the world (often through technology)

Analyzing the process and the end product

Generating a Research Question and lots of fact-based informational questions

Tapping into prior experience

Inquiry-based Research Starts with Questions

What Does a Fat Research Question look like?

Meaty, deep, engaging, authentic, wondering, driving, catalyst-inspiring

Fat Research Questions can begin with ‘Why’, ‘I Wonder’, ‘Should’ or ‘What If’. Synthesis and conceptual knowledge is the only way to answer Fat Research Questions

Types of Questions:

• Skinny Questions

• Can this be Googled?

• Fat Research Question

(chart by Jaeger)

TransformingReporting to ResearchTopic-based• Ancient Roman education• Ancient Roman customs and

practices for entertainment in the arena

• Ancient Roman military• Ancient Roman technology• Roman dress, costume and

fashion• Vergil• Gladiators

Inquiry-based• Imagine you are an exchange student to ancient

Rome. Would you have enjoyed being educated in the Roman Empire? Why or why not?

• Suppose you lived in ancient Rome? Would you find going to the arena entertaining? Why or why not?

• If Julius Ceasar came back today, what would he think about America’s military discipline in comparison to the Roman military?

• Did the Roman Empire surpass our own civilization in its engineering and public works projects? If so, in what ways? If not, in what ways?

• How do the fashions of ancient Rome mirror Roman values?

• Why should we read the writings of Horace and Vergil today?

• Would you have been proud to be a Gladiator? Why or why not?

Examples of Fat Research Questions• Imagine you could travel to another planet in our Solar System? Please tell about that planet

and why you would want to go? • Should Pluto have been removed from the Solar System?• Does Ulysses Grant deserve to be on the $50.00 bill?• Suppose you lived in China? Which festival would you enjoy the most?• What if Christopher Columbus came back today, what would he think about the changes? • Imagine what would have happened had the Founding Fathers not signed the Declaration of

Independence?• Suppose you could travel to another planet please tell about that planet and why you would

want to go.• What do you think about native people destroying the rain forest so they can farm?• Should cursive be taught in schools? Justify your opinion.• How has ______________ made the world a better place?• How did ______________change history?

Naturally Dovetails with 6+1 Writing Traits

Ideas: Developing a Fat Research Question and generating a Thesis

Organization: Outlining and Note Taking

Voice, Style and Citation

Who Benefits the Most?

• At-risk children. (Inquiry-based learning is not just for the top students or for the upper grades).

• This approach can be used in the primary grades all the way through a student’s learning experience.

How do I get students to buy in and take ownership of their learning?• Frontload it properly – Find a great hook.• Provide time at the beginning of the project for inquiry,

background knowledge and presearch so students can get curious, find out what interests them and start asking meaningful and meaty questions.

• When students define their own investigative research they own it and are more motivated to do it.

What are the steps in Inquiry-based Learning? • The student explores a subject or theme and chooses a specific

focus for research• A central research question for inquiry is formulated• The student develops a plan of research, based on critical

questioning and the attempt to anticipate findings, and • These research findings are brought to bear on the central

question. • The inquiry is usually directed towards researching knowledge that

is already known in the discipline, but can result in the discovery of knowledge new to the discipline as well. (Phillips and Wilson).

Inquiry-based Learning: Do you have what it takes?

• Are you optimistic, open to new ideas, appreciative, flexible, purposeful? (Markham).• Do you want to provide students with the skills and dispositions for lifelong learning in an

information-based society and workforce?• Are you willing to let go of a teacher-directed approach?• Do you have administrative and collegial support?• Are you open to new ideas and do you have an ability to be an intellectual and academic

risk taker?• Do you have time to follow through with students and colleagues who need support?

CoverCover UncoverUncover DiscoverDiscover

Good Questioning Takes Modeling and PracticeThe Question Game•In pairs or as a whole group, participants decide on a topic to question. One starts with a question, then the other responds with a related question. This goes back and forth as long as they can continue without asking a skinny question, making a statement, or repeating a previous question.

Example – Skinny Questions – light bulb A. Who invented the light bulb? B. How does a light bulb produce light? A. Where is light used? B. What different kinds of light are there?

Example Fat Research Questions - light bulb:A: Why is it important to have light?B: How does light help people?A: What would happen if there were no light?(Asking Questions).

The Challenge: Repackage the Project1. How can you generate intellectual curiosity with your students?

1. Wonder Wall/Wiki – Where students can pose/post questions

2. What unit would you like to move from a ‘reporting’ to research model?3. Frontload the unit with something exciting and relevant4. Design a Broad or Essential Question5. Expect students to generate their own Fat Research and Skinny Questions

fostering curiosity, creativity, student choice and voice6. Tie your project in to authentic learning tasks and real-world applications7. Publish the project and share it with the world

Works Cited• "Asking Questions." YouthLearn Technology, Media & Project-based Learning to

Inspire Young Minds. Education Development Center, 2012. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/teaching/techniques/asking-questions/ asking-questions>.

• “Inquiry-based Learning,” Thirteen.com, Educational Broadcasting Corp., 2004. Web. 12 Apr., 2011.http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html .

• Jaeger, Paige. "Questioning Is My Superpower: What's Yours?" SlideShare. LinkedIn, Apr. 2015. Web. 25 May 2015. <http://www.slideshare.net/PaigeJaeger/questioning-is-my-superpower-whats-yours>.

• Leslie, Ian. "Google Makes Us All Dumber: The Neuroscience of Search Engines." Salon. Salon Media Group, 12 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 May 2015. <http://www.salon.com/2014/10/12/google_makes_us_all_dumber_the_neuroscience_of_search_engines/>.

• Phillips, Barbara, and Jay Wilson. "Problem and Inquiry-Based Learning What Are These?" Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness. U of Saskatchewan, n.d. Web. 6 June 2015. <http://www.usask.ca/gmcte/ problem-inquiry-based-learning>.

• Ratzer, Mary Boyd and Paige Jaeger. RX for the Common Core: Toolkit for Implementing Inquiry Learning. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited, 2014. Print.

• "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner," American Library Association. Web. 8 Apr., 2011. http://ww.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_Learning_Standards_2007.pdf