“Mind mapping is not the center of the universe as some would have us believe… The center of the universe is ‘data’ which becomes ‘information’ which then can become knowledge.”
John England (MindSystems)
1 Bodies of knowledge
Fig 1 The inquiry (enquiry) learning cycle
Stephen Rowland ran a classroom inquiry course for school teachers in the University of Sheffield during the Spring Term 1986. The aim was to develop skills of observation and interpretation of children’s learning by integrating the roles of teacher and researcher. The course was one of six optional courses which, together with a dissertation, made up the requirement for an M.Ed at Sheffield University. Being part time, the course sessions at the University were held after school, for about two hours, on ten occasions during the term. There were eight course members excluding Stephen Rowland, the course tutor. They were in their first or second year of the three year part time M.Ed and taught in a very wide range of institutions from a primary special school to a College of Higher Education.
Reflecting on his tutoring Rowland highlighted the following comment made by Margaret, one of the course participants.
‘I learnt my body of knowledge, not someone else’s’.
He said Margaret’s comment “raised so many questions about the work we had been doing”. Such as:
“How does the ‘my body of knowledge’ relate to the knowledge of others? Wasn’t the ‘course’ supposed to be about sharing in the knowledge of other participants as well? How does this relate to the external knowledge as represented in research literature? How can such learning effect change in the classroom if we never get outside our own body of knowledge and view things from a different perspective”.
“ls this learning of one’s own body of knowledge part of a continuing process, or is it a result of a brief period of reflection and introspection, a kind of therapeutic interlude?
In reflecting upon the course he said “ I shall consider these four themes because I think their exploration is important if we are to empower teachers to make their own enquiries into the learning which they facilitate”. In fact Margaret had entered a personal learning cycle to build her own body of knowledge (Fig 1) in which asking questions was central to understanding her environment. It reminds us that the learning cycle is entered at any age through seeing and wondering. Each question leads to another and the outcome is action for change in the enquirer’s relationship to their environment.
A body of knowledge comprises the complete set of concepts, terms and activities that make up a mental domain, as defined by a learned society, a professional association, a group or an individual. Rowland’s students were actually creating their individual and group bodies of knowledge in a pre-IT, paper world. Now the medium of choice for assembling data and information, and presenting the knowledge would be a wiki.
A wiki is a server programme that allows users to collaborate in forming the content (body of knowledge) of a Web site. Wikis are websites where communities of users can collaborate online to build content and discuss progress. Google Sites is a structured wiki/integral Web page-creation tool offered free by Google. The declared goal of Google Sites is for anyone to be able to create simple web sites that support collaboration between different editors.
A wiki provides a simplified IT interface with a body of knowledge. At any time, contributors can review the history of the page they are working on or preview the Web page before publishing it. A wiki website operates on a principle of collaborative trust. The simplest wiki programs allow users to create and edit content. More advanced wikis have a management component that allow a designated person to accept or reject changes. The best known example of a wikiweb site is Wikipedia. Google Sites is missing two key features for an effective collaborative knowledge sharing platform (aka a wiki). First, users cannot subscribe to page changes. This means that if the content of the wiki that the user is interested in is updated, the user will not know unless they visit the site to check. Second, and a much bigger issue, is that Google Sites has no revision history. If someone edits or deletes a page, the previous state is unrecoverable. Many would say the ability to see the history of a page, and recover from deletions is central to the functioning of a wiki. Nevertheless, regarding its simple structure and ease of creation a Google wiki is ideal for facilitating archiving a small group inquiry online.
2 Comparisons
Traditional education generally relies on a teacher presenting data, information and his or her knowledge about the subject. All learners receive the same data, information and pre-formed knowledge. Students are also required to memorize information from instructional materials. In contrast, inquiry-based learning is assisted by a facilitator rather than a teacher or lecturer. Stephen Rowland was facilitating a non traditional, inquiry-based learning classroom. A facilitator is someone who engages in any activity that makes a social process easy or easier. Also, a facilitator helps a group of people or an individual to understand their common objectives and assists them to plan how to achieve these objectives; in doing so, the facilitator remains “neutral”, meaning he/she does not take a particular position in the discussion.
Each student-inquirer, helped by a facilitator, will identify, and research, issues of particular interest to them and pose questions to develop knowledge or solutions. inquiry-based learning includes problem-based learning. This is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem found in trigger material and is generally used in small scale investigations and projects, as well as research. It is principally very closely related to the development and practice of thinking and problem solving skills. In particular, the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information or new understandings indicates a high level of thinking. Facilitators should be encouraging divergent thinking and allowing students the freedom to ask their own questions and to learn the effective strategies for discovering the answers. The higher order thinking skills that students have the opportunity to develop during inquiry activities will assist in the critical thinking skills that they will be able to transfer to other subjects.
inquiry based learning is an individual or small group process by which ‘data’ becomes ‘information’ which then can become a body of knowledge meaningful to the group or to an individual. In this sense it can be said that the outcome is knowledge owned by a group or an individual.
3 Inquiry based learning
Inquiry based learning has been used as a teaching and learning tool for thousands of years, however, the use of inquiry within public education has a much shorter history. Ancient Greek and Roman educational philosophies focused much more on the art of agricultural and domestic skills for the middle class and oratory for the wealthy upper class. It was not until the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, during the late 17th and 18th century that the subject of science was considered worthy of academic study. Until the 1900s the study of science within education had a primary focus on memorizing and organizing facts. inquiry-based learning is primarily a pedagogical method developed within the learning-by-discovery movement of the 1960s.
While some see inquiry-based teaching as increasingly mainstream, it can be perceived as in conflict with standardized testing common in standards-based assessment systems, which emphasise the measurement of student knowledge and meeting of pre-defined criteria.
4 Methods
There is a spectrum of inquiry-based teaching methods available. Specific learning processes that people engage in during inquiry-learning include,
- creating questions of their own;
- obtaining supporting evidence to answer the questions;
- explaining the evidence collected,
- connecting the explanation to the knowledge obtained from the investigative process;
- creating an argument and justification for the explanation.
inquiry learning involves developing questions, making observations, doing research to find out what information is already recorded, developing methods for experiments, developing instruments for data collection, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data, outlining possible explanations and creating predictions for future study.
There are many different explanations for inquiry teaching and learning and the various levels of inquiry that can exist within those contexts.
Level 1: Confirmation inquiry
The teacher has taught a particular science theme or topic. The teacher then develops questions and a procedure that guides students through an activity where the results are already known. This method reinforces concepts taught and shows students how to follow procedures, collect and record data correctly and to confirm and deepen understandings.
Level 2: Structured inquiry
The teacher provides the initial question and an outline of the procedure. Students are to formulate explanations of their findings through evaluating and analyzing the data that they collect.
Level 3: Guided inquiry
The teacher provides only the research question for the students. The students are responsible for designing and following their own procedures to test that question and then communicate their results and findings.
Level 4: Open/True inquiry
Students formulate their own research question(s), design and follow through with a developed procedure, and communicate their findings and results. This type of inquiry is often seen in science fair contexts where students drive their own investigative questions.
Teachers should begin their inquiry instruction at the lower levels and work their way to open inquiry in order to effectively develop students’ inquiry skills. Open inquiry activities are only successful if students are motivated by intrinsic interests and if they are equipped with the skills to conduct their own research study.
An important aspect of inquiry-based learning is the use of open learning, because evidence suggests that utilizing lower level inquiry is not enough to develop critical and scientific thinking to the full potential. Open learning has no prescribed target or result that people have to achieve. There is an emphasis on the individual manipulating information and creating meaning from a set of given materials or circumstances. In many conventional and structured learning environments, people are told what the outcome is expected to be, and then they are simply expected to ‘confirm’ or show evidence that this is the case.
Open learning has many benefits. It means students do not simply perform investigations in a routine like fashion, but actually think about the results they collect and what they mean. With traditional non-open lessons there is a tendency for students to say that the experiment ‘went wrong’ when they collect results contrary to what they are told to expect. In open learning there are no wrong results, and students have to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the results they collect themselves and decide their value.
Open learning has been developed by a number of science educators including the American John Dewey and the German Martin Wagenschein. Wagenschein emphasized that students should not be taught bald facts, but should understand and explain what they are learning. His most famous example of this was when he asked physics students to tell him what the speed of a falling object was. Nearly all students would produce an equation, but no students could explain what this equation meant. Wagenschein used this example to show the importance of understanding over knowledge.
Phillip Brown defined inquisitive learning as learning that is intrinsically motivated (e.g. by curiosity and interest in knowledge for its own sake), as opposed to acquisitive learning that is extrinsically motivated (e.g. by acquiring high scores on examinations to earn credentials). However, occasionally the term inquisitive learning is simply used as a synonym for inquiry-based learning.
5 A way of thinking
Dewey’s experiential learning pedagogy is a form of inquiry based learning known as learning through experiences. It comprises the learner actively participating in personal or authentic experiences to make meaning from it, which include engaging with the content/material in questioning, as well as investigating and collaborating to make meaning. The meaning constructed from an experience can be concluded as an individual or within a group. In particular, Dewey proposed that science should be taught as a process and way of thinking and not as a subject with facts to be memorized. While Dewey was the first to draw attention to this issue, much of the reform within science education followed the lifelong work and efforts of Joseph Schwab. Schwab was an educator who proposed that science did not need to be a process for identifying stable truths about the world that we live in, but rather science could be a flexible and multi-directional inquiry driven process of thinking and learning. He believed that science in the classroom should more closely reflect the work of practicing scientists. Schwab developed three levels of open inquiry that align with the breakdown of inquiry processes that we see today.
- Students are provided with questions, methods and materials and are challenged to discover relationships between variables
- Students are provided with a question, however, the method for research is up to the students to develop
- Phenomena are proposed but students must develop their own questions and method for research to discover relationships among variables
Today, we know that students at all levels of education can successfully experience and develop deeper level thinking skills through scientific inquiry. The graduated levels of scientific inquiry outlined by Schwab demonstrate that students need to develop thinking skills and strategies prior to being exposed to higher levels of inquiry. Effectively, these skills need to be scaffolded by a facilitator until inquierers are able to develop questions, methods, and conclusions on their own. America’s National Science Education Standards (1996) outlines six important aspects pivotal to inquiry learning in science education.
- Students should be able to recognize that science is more than memorizing and knowing facts.
- Students should have the opportunity to develop new knowledge that builds on their prior knowledge and scientific ideas.
- Students will develop new knowledge by restructuring their previous understandings of scientific concepts and adding new information learned.
- Learning is influenced by students’ social environment whereby they have an opportunity to learn from each other.
- Students will take control of their learning.
- The extent to which students are able to learn with deep understanding will influence how transferable their new knowledge is to real life contexts.
Social studies education focuses on the practice of inquiry, emphasizing “the disciplinary concepts and practices that support students as they develop the capacity to know, analyze, explain, and argue about interdisciplinary challenges in our social world. The C3 Framework recommends an “inquiry Arc” incorporating four dimensions:
1. developing questions and planning inquiries;
2. applying disciplinary concepts and tools;
3. evaluating primary sources and using evidence;
and 4. communicating conclusions and taking informed action.
For example, a theme for this approach could be an exploration of etiquette today and in the past. Students might formulate their own questions or begin with an essential question such as “Why are men and women expected to follow different codes of etiquette?” Students explore change and continuity of manners over time and the perspectives of different cultures and groups of people. They analyze primary source documents such as books of etiquette from different time periods and form conclusions that answer the inquiry questions. Students finally communicate their conclusions in formal essays or creative projects. They may also take action by recommending solutions for improving the school’s social climate. Through the application of inquiry mode education each student develops their ability to confront complex problems and to create solutions to those problems. These are the two most important outcomes to turn student enquirers into leaders.
6 Misconceptions about ‘inquiry’.
There are several common misconceptions regarding inquiry-based learning, the first being that inquiry science is simply instruction that teaches students to follow the scientific method. Many teachers had the opportunity to work within the constraints of the scientific method as students themselves and figure inquiry learning must be the same. inquiry science is not just about solving problems in six simple steps but much more broadly focused on the intellectual problem-solving skills developed throughout a scientific process. Additionally, not every hands-on lesson can be considered inquiry.
Some educators believe that there is only one true method of inquiry, which would be described as the level four: Open inquiry. While open inquiry may be the most authentic form of inquiry, there are many skills and a level of conceptual understanding that students must have developed before they can be successful at this high level of inquiry. While inquiry-based science is considered to be a teaching strategy that fosters higher order thinking in students, it should be one of several methods used. A multifaceted approach to science keeps students engaged and learning.
Not every student is going to learn the same amount from an inquiry lesson; students must be invested in the topic of study to authentically reach the set learning goals. Teachers must be prepared to ask students questions to probe their thinking processes in order to assess accurately. inquiry-science requires a lot of time, effort, and expertise, however, the benefits outweigh the cost when true authentic learning can take place.
Inquiry-based learning is fundamental for the development of higher order thinking skills. It can be done in multiple formats, including:
- field-work;
- case studies;
- investigations;
- individual and group projects;
- research projects.
7 Authentic inquiry
Authentic inquiry is the ultimate expression of inquiry-based learning. It is an approach to learning which begins with the learner’s interest and experience, rooted in concrete place object or artefact and moves from there through a process of facilitated knowledge construction, to a particular negotiated outcome which meets publicly agreed assessment criteria. It’s bottom up, rather than top down. It’s authentic because it is ‘authored’ by the learner and because it is ‘real and genuine’ in their life story. A special issue of the Curriculum Journal was dedicated to this approach in 2009.
Authentic inquiry offers a way of framing an inquiry – whether formal, informal or problem solving in the workplace. It can be led by an individual or participated in by a team. The purpose of the inquiry provides the energy for the journey. Learning power is how that energy is regulated over time and how the learner approaches the identification, collection, curation, mapping, re-structuring and presenting the data and information needed to achieve a purpose. Authentic inquiry is a procedure with nine iterative processes.
First, the student is encouraged to choose an object or place that fascinates her. Careful, ‘hands-off’ prompting and guidance may be needed from the teacher, to ensure that personal interest is strong and authentic. The rest of the process will be highly influenced by the integrity of this choosing process. Sometimes the ‘object’ turns out to be a person, or event; it is its susceptibility to observation and the strength of the student’s interest and engagement that are important.
Second, she observes and analyses the chosen object/place, both as a separate, objective entity and in relation to her own interest and reasons for choosing it. In this, she is developing her sense of personal responsibility. This initiates the cycles of a personal development process which is recorded in a workbook and in which the student, tutor and later others participate. It requires the student to develop the critical curiosity and strategic awareness necessary for independent learning, in the context of effective learning relationships. She is also developing a sense of herself as a learner who can change and grow over time.
Third, she starts asking questions: obvious, but open ones, such as: How did it get there? What was there before? Why is it how it is? Who uses it? How and why did they get involved? She is initiating and conducting a process of inquiry and investigation, driven by personal interest and shaped in turn by the answers to her own questions. She is exercising and developing critical curiosity. All the time, the student is encouraged to reflect on her motivation, reasoning and identity as a motivator of her own learning.
Fourth, the questioning leads to a sense of narrative, both around the chosen object and in the unfolding of new learning. Historical and present realities lead to a sense of ‘what might be’ both for the object/place and for the learner and her learning. She is becoming the author of her own ‘learning story’ or journey.
Fifth, the learner begins to discern that this ‘ad-hoc’, subjective narrative leads in turn to new, objective facts and knowledge. Subjective learning starts to be related to a wider, objective awareness. The learning becomes a ‘knowledge map’ which can be used to make sense of the journey and of new learning as it comes into view. She is ‘making meaning’ by connecting new learning to the ‘story so far’.
Sixth, with informed guidance and support from the teacher, the student’s widening ‘map’ of knowledge can be related to existing maps or models of the world: scientific, historical, social, psychological, theological, philosophical… This is where awareness of the diversity of possible ‘avenues of learning’ becomes useful. It requires the teacher to act as supporter, encourager and ‘tour guide’ in the student’s encounter with established and specialist sources and forms of knowledge
Seventh, the student arrives at the interface between her personal inquiry and the specialist requirements of curriculum, course, examination or accreditation. Her development as learner enables her to encounter specialist knowledge and make sense of it, in relation to what she already knows and in the way she already learns, interrogating it and interacting with it, instead of simply ‘receiving’ it, using the model of learning :and ‘knowledge mapping’ skills she has developed through the inquiry. This is where the resilience will be tested, that will have started to grow through the responsibility and challenge of a self-motivated inquiry.
Eighth, the student can forge links between what she now knows and institutional and social structures receptive to it: qualifications, job opportunities, learning opportunities, needs, initiatives, outlets, relationships, accreditation, publication… Initially, this takes the form of a portfolio or presentation, based on the workbook, making explicit both process and outcomes of the inquiry. Her learning has met its communicative purpose. She has created a pathway from subjective response and observation towards the interface with established knowledge.
Ninth In doing so, she has also achieved life-enhancing personal development by asking and answering such questions as: Who am I? What is my pathway? How did I get there? Where does it lead me? What were the alternatives? Who helped me and how? The outcome of this learning facilitates a sense of vocational identity – how I can make a difference in the world.
This highlights authentic inquiry as a process, summarized in a sequence as: pose real questions, find resources; interpret information; report findings as new knowledge (Fig 2).
Fig 2 Organising the inquiry process
Authentic inquiry is planned, constructed and enacted in accordance with the following design principles:
It is reflexive.
It is rigorous in integrating and assessing outcomes.
It is in community.
It is collaborative and conversational.
It is Integrative.
It is person-centred/personal.
7 Learning for effective leadership
The art of inquiry is at the heart of effective leadership as it enables leaders to remain curious and unlock the ideas, perspectives and strengths of those they are seeking to inspire and influence. Without engaging people in genuine two-way conversation, leaders run the risk of paying attention only to their own thoughts and perspectives. They also stop growing as they incorrectly assume they are ‘experts’ who haven’t got anything more to learn. This is likely to limit their effectiveness as co-workers and other stakeholders will start seeing them as forceful, arrogant and autocratic, behaviours that will ultimately derail their career if left unchecked
Leading management author and business psychologist, Edgar Schein, who wrote a book entitled “Humble Inquiry”, defined inquiry as “the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not already know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person.” . This underscores the importance of drawing out others’ ideas and perspectives and asking open-ended questions to help tackle organisational challenges and create a learning, growth mindset where making ethical changes by making ethical choices are features of effective leadership, which are also central to building a personal body of knowledge by applying the outcomes of inquiry based learning.
Marilee Adams, president and founder of The Inquiry Institute states that, “Inquiring leaders operate inside a self-learner mindset.” which serves as a guide for all leaders in the inquiry process. In addition, she has identified the following as characteristics of Inquiring leaders who:
- understand that the quantity, quality, and intention of people’s questions largely determines their ability to learn, think critically and strategically, build and maintain relationships, gather information, make decisions, solve problems, manage conflict, and drive positive change and effective results.
- recognize that “great results begin with great questions” and that “every question missed is a potential crisis waiting to happen.”
- ask questions of themselves and others in ways that are constructive rather than critical, that seek to uncover and challenge assumptions, and that promote new thinking and possibility as well as responsibility and accountability.
- listen carefully and respectfully (especially when not agreeing with what they hear). This listening is focused by solution-seeking questions such as,” What can I learn?” “What’s useful about this?” and “What are our goals?” They do not listen with problem-oriented, blaming questions such as, “Whose fault is it?”
- solicit honest feedback, comprehensive facts, and multiple perspectives.
- create an inquiring culture in their organizations and on their teams by encouraging people to ask questions of them, each other, customers, and stakeholders.
- are comfortable with “not knowing” and “not being right;” they have humility.
- have high emotional, social, and moral intelligence, are proactive and responsive rather than reactive, and are skillful with self-management.
- see the “big picture’ and think short-term, long-term, and systemically.
Accordingly, inquiring leaders: are self-reflective, self-correcting, and committed to learning from mistakes and failures. They value change, continuous learning, growth, and development for themselves and others. (Fig 3).
Fig 3 Creativity and the inquiry mind set.
These features of leadership are going to be of great importance in education for life in a zero carbon economy particularly in promoting the liberal arts. A liberal education is not about developing professional or entrepreneurial skills, although it may well promote them. Nor is it for everyone; we need pilots, farmers, and hairdressers as well as managers, artists, doctors, and engineers. But we all need to be well-informed, critical citizens adapting to new ways of measuring prosperity. Liberal arts in an inquiry based pedagogy prepare students for citizenship in all three senses—civic, economic, and cultural.
8 Internet references
Critical thinking and the liberal arts
Appendix 1
The following list is an archive of Google Sites each of which presents a body of knowledge developing an aspect of the cross curricular concept of cultural ecology. They are the outcomes of an authentic inquiry pedagogy produced by facilitators and student enquirers in Welsh schools participating in a research programme coordinated by International Classrooms On Line.
Classic Format
- ‘Ownership’ Through Heritage
- Ageing Lifecourse
- Cosmos Templates
- cosmosresources
- Cultural Ecology
- culturalecology dot info
- Denbigh Area
- Eating within limits
- Eco-carbon counterss
- Hyperbox Club
- Islands of Sustainability
- nectarpointnetwork
- NowScan
- NPN Citizen Science
- One Wales Now
- place in culture: culture in place
- Scan Resources
- The Coal Exchange
- Venice Solutions for Resilience
- Wales East Africa Community Conservation Arena
New Format
https://sites.google.com/view/theplanetweshare/home
https://sites.google.com/view/blything/home
https://sites.google.com/view/communityfishingheritage/home
https://sites.google.com/view/lowestoft/home
https://sites.google.com/view/bellamybunch/home
https://sites.google.com/view/educationforocnservation/home
https://sites.google.com/view/skomerisland/home
https://sites.google.com/view/agencyempowerment/
https://sites.google.com/view/cultural-ecologies/home
https://sites.google.com/view/nineparishes/home
https://sites.google.com/view/resilienceuk/home
https://sites.google.com/view/rescuemission/home
https://sites.google.com/view/livingsustainably/home
https://sites.google.com/view/dream-islands/home