The QUEST for Inquiry in the Classroom

           The word 'inquiry' was a prominent part of the educational lingo that I learned about in my undergraduate training, and it continues to be relevant today. In fact, it was the primary focus and term this week in my Instructional Applications of the Internet graduate class. The basic premise of inquiry is for students to be given the opportunity to ask questions, explore, and discover answers on their own. It is open-ended and requires higher levels of thinking. Some educators shy away from inquiry, given the fact that there is not a set process to follow and that there is not a single, predetermined outcome. For instance, it's safe from the science teacher's standpoint to have students mix baking soda and vinegar to get a reaction. The exact steps are known and can be easily followed by students, and the outcome is the same every time the experiment is carried out. Though these types of activities are highly engaging and entertaining for students, they do not promote constructivist learning or critical thought, and should be used more moderately in the science classroom. 

        I had the amazing opportunity to learn about inquiry in greater depth a few years ago when I took a graduate level course offered through Miami University of Ohio called Earth Expeditions. If you ever need credits in order to renew your teaching license, and you have a bit of an adventurous spirit, I would highly recommend participation in one of the courses that are offered. My travels led me to Australia where I studied the Great Barrier Reef alongside educators from many areas around the country. Throughout the weeks we spent abroad, the professors had us participate in inquiry investigations in order to not only learn more about our surroundings, but to also be able to take the knowledge from our own experiences of the process of inquiry back to our classrooms to use. 

Our accommodation for most of the trip was Reef HQ, which houses the world's largest living coral reef aquarium among other extraordinary creatures. On the first night, with the aquarium closed to the public, we were put into groups and instructed to explore the establishment, find an interesting creature in one of the tanks, identify distinguishing characteristics, and use books to determine which "family" we thought the creature belonged to in the reef. We had a purpose, but it was completely open ended. The professors had no idea what animals we would choose, what observations we would make about them, or what questions we would ask. Our group ended up studying the sawfish. I found myself asking questions that I never thought I would be interested in before and being more engaged at the aquarium than I ever expected. 

            So it was reading about inquiry this week that made me think back to the Earth Expeditions trip and the acronym they taught us in order for students to learn the steps of the inquiry process. It is Q.U.E.S.T., and oddly enough the word WebQuest has been another major component of this week's module, though the two are completely unrelated. I will share here what this Q.U.E.S.T. represents. Q stands for Question and Observe. U stands for Uncover a Comparative Question. E stands for Explore Predictions. S stands for Start an Action Plan and Collect Data, and T stands for Think Hard About Findings and Share Discoveries. One example of how I used it in my elementary classroom was during a study on seeds. The students posed questions after closely observing the seeds, and we devised ways, as a class, to make those questions comparative. In the end, the students ended up wondering about whether a seed would grow with any kind of liquid. We tested this with water, juice, and soda. The students would check daily to see what was happening with their seeds, and after about two weeks time, we discussed the results and why they thought the juice and soda didn't work in helping the seeds to grow. I loved that the students were driving the lesson based on their own curiosities. That is the essence of inquiry. I am excited to see how our group's inquiry-based WebQuest will turn out and what others in the class will think of it. 

       Until next time...