TypesofInquiry

=**Types of Inquiry and The Importance of Questioning**=



The above visual representation is based upon Herron's Model of Inquiry (1971) and Inquiry Minds (Jan-Marie Kellow, 2009). =**Questioning**= We all remember the University classes that focused in on the theorists and ideas that, at the time, seemed so far removed from our reality as university students. For many of us all of that information didn't really make a lot of sense because it was learning "out of context". It wouldn't have been until we were classroom bound that some of that theory would have begun to enter our world of possibility. Now that we are "in context" and see the challenges that many of our students come to us with, it once again becomes necessary to take a good look at one of those learning ideals created by [|Benjamin Bloom].

[|Blooms Taxonomy] is a great place to begin when we are teaching with an Inquiry viewpoint. Asking our students to question their world deeply is a task that involves a great deal of modeling, re-visiting, and practice within a variety of situations. We as professionals must also focus in on the higher levels of questions to promote deeper understanding and more complex thinking skills with our students. Below is a great visual of the verbs necessary to incorporate with our questioning to promote higher level thinking with our students. This is a great example because it also includes examples of technological literacy skills that correspond to each one of the levels. Check out [|Blooms Revised Taxonomy] for more great ideas.



"The Inquiry process is driven by one’s own curiosity, wonder, interest, or passion to understand an observation or to solve a problem. The process begins when the learner notices something that intrigues, surprises, or stimulates a question—something that is new, or something that may not make sense in relationship to the learner's previous experience or current understanding." ([|Institute for Inquiry], 2010)

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With this, it is revealed that the next step in the Inquiry process is to "take action" and, with this, comes observations, posing questions and making predictions ([|Institute for Inquiry], 2010). It is often implied that inquiry based learning is about asking questions. Ideally, students would have the experience and knowledge to frame their own questions. However, it is suggested that "students require several experiences with teacher generated questions before they can shed years of practice with trivial information-gathering questions" (From Now On, The Educational Technology Journal, 1996)=====

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 //** "Schools should devote more time to essential questions and less time to Trivial Pursuit." ** // ===== -- FNO, The Question Mark (March 2005) Whether it be a student's question, or a teacher's, the question is essential to Inquiry-based learning. Grant Wiggins (What is An Essential Question?, 2007) suggests a question is essential when it:
 * 1) causes genuine and relevant inquiry into the big ideas and core content;
 * 2) provokes deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, and new understanding as well as more questions;
 * 3) requires students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support their ideas, and justify their answers;
 * 4) stimulates vital, on-going rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, and prior lessons;
 * 5) sparks meaningful connections with prior learning and personal experiences;
 * 6) naturally recurs, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and subjects.

**Figure it Out Yourself**
media type="custom" key="5610377" As adults, we know that figuring it our for ourselves really is the "fun" part. We know that when essential and relevant learning takes place we ask the deepest questions, because we truly want to know and "figure it our for ourselves". This however, is a phrase that we as professionals need to become much more comfortable in saying to our students when it comes to developing and promoting questioning minds and deeper understanding. Tim Feeney calls teachers "help-aholics" in that we can't help ourselves from giving kids the answers or in doing the thinking for them. So when our students ask us a question we need to come up with a variety of ways to say, "figure it out for yourself" so that they feel supported, yet challenged enough to begin taking risks within the process.

Additional Resources:**
 * Provisions are often necessary when considering a student's age and grade level. From Now On (The Educational Technology Journal, 1996) provides and outlines questions that work at four different age levels: primary, elementary, middle and high school.
 * Galileo Educational Network Association
 * The Art of Questioning
 * Youth Lear