Expert Searching with ProQuest education

Moving on to my last database search in this series of Expert Searching posts I explore ProQuest, an American based International database. Using an advanced command line search in ProQuest's education database I was able to target my search terms to specific fields within the results. While some papers are aptly named, many do not use the terms I am searching in the title. Searching the abstract (AB) specifically allowed me to return results were more targeted and not results where my terms are coincidentally mentioned in the full text.

As the Scientific Method is basically the epitome of inquiry and is, at my school, practised heavily across the 7-12 Science curriculum I have decided to remove science from my search string to allow other disciplines to show up. Choosing to limit the publication date to within this century (2001 - present) will also bring me more usable results as use I.T. and Web 2.0 technologies feature heavily within my school and any viable framework will need to take these into account.

screenshot of ProQuest search by author

The 14 results retrieved from the search above (listed here in pdf format using ProQuest's handy export function) were helpful as they made me take stock of what I was actually looking for. My searches have been rather broad, as are my guiding questions. I am still trying to find an angle to approach Inquiry Learning from. My aim in this searching has evolved to locate resources that will help me approach teachers during curriculum development as say... 

'Hey have you heard about this? I've just read an awesome paper about a Inquiry project that I can see working in your class on [insert topic here]. Would you like to read it? If you're interested I could help you run something similar.'  

So with my mind a little clearer I chose to dive back into the inquiry cycle and re-trace previous clicks back through Google Scholar. Using my new search string (basically just omitting Science) and gather some useful information to help me help others in my school going forward with Inquiry units.

screenshot by author

Check out my Scoop.it curation board on "Inquiry across the curriculum" to see some of the great resources I've found so far. Below is one such example, a nice model called the Spiral of Inquiry (Timperley, Kaser & Halbert. 2014) which nicely illustrates my travels thus far, what has felt like being on a metaphorical möbius strip. 

Spiral of Inquiry (Timperley, Kaser & Halbert. 2014)

I have felt that I have spent a lot of time back and forward between the scanning, developing a hunch and learning phases... on second thoughts my journey is probably better represented by my fancy spiral hair tie - like a loop of telephone cord or DNA... lots of mini repeating cycles which can easily get tangled up along the way! 

My fancy spiral hair tie/ Inquiry Journey (E. Crampton, 2015)

Join me next time in my last post on Expert Searching post looking at Social Media.