Inquiry Learning and the Teacher-librarian (Initial Post for LCN616)

Thinking about the term Inquiry Learning has brought me unstuck. I know what the words mean independently. Inquiry, also known as enquiry, is "a request for information about somebody/something; a question about somebody/something; the act of asking questions or collecting information about somebody/something” and Learning is defined as "The acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught:”. So logic would suggest that Inquiry Learning is basically acquiring knowledge through questioning and collecting information. A simple enough notion, but what does it look like?

Almost ten years of countless professional development sessions with the department of education here in Victoria have meant that I’ve heard the term Inquiry Learning many times. Memories of the E5 Instructional model come to mind, we had speakers and professional learning teams, we rewrote curriculum into different templates over and over again. Don’t ask me what was done with that learning, all the new knowledge we were delivered. No doubt the next ‘focus’ or trend emerged for the region and we were sent to rewrite our curriculum again to suit the new vogue.

To me, now, Inquiry Learning is a process in which a person (or any animal for that fact) gains knowledge through questioning, searching and experimenting. It is a natural process which happens every day, it is HOW we learn from the moment we are born. We test boundaries, make mistakes and if unsuccessful try a different path in the future.

Entering the search term “Inquiry Learning” into google scholar (being sure to use parenthesis as I didn’t want to search the terms separately) I retrieved "About 399,000 results (0.53 seconds)”. Immediately after the obligatory wikipedia supplied meaning of my term I was happy to find two real hits about Inquiry learning, a PDF document entitled Inquiry Learning - Kath Murdoch and the site www.teachinquiry.com. Re-running the search on Google Scholar utilizing the ability to link the QUT Library database gave me “About 26,900 results (0.03 sec)” while a much narrower field of results it seems the lexical density grows exponentially from the previous search. I consider using “Inquiry Learning for dummies” as a new search, but resist the urge. The basic google search has given me enough fodder for a good nights’ reading to acquaint myself with the specific jargon associated with the area, but what do I really want to know going forward? It is clear that I will need to be precise in my searching terms to whittle down the results to specific models and/or subject areas. So which leaning area do I focus on? The beauty of being a Teacher-librarian is being across the curriculum, helping everyone - so maybe I should be focusing on a general inquiry into the models that might best fit my school. 

"Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” 

- Albert Einstein (maybe) 

The quote above which is often attributed to Einstein, although there is contention on the internet as to if this is true, is guiding me on this journey, this enquiry into Inquiry Learning. Throughout this semester, my final in this immensely transformative degree, I am striving to understand Inquiry Learning not simply know it and move on as I have done in the past. I want to understand the various models/frameworks of Inquiry Learning and find the best fit model/s for my school context. I want understand how I can assist teachers in building inquiry into their classroom/curriculum in a way which does not force them to re-invent the wheel as such, adapting current curriculum not re-writing it.

From my initial google search, be it just a scratch on the surface, I have formulated a few key questions to proceed with.

1. What are the various models of Inquiry Learning and how do they differ?
2. Which model would be the best fit for my school?
3. How can a Teacher-librarian best support staff to integrate Inquiry Learning into their curriculum in a gentle yet effective way?

Join me again soon in my next post where I will be delving deeper into Expert Searching using google and google scholar.