Levels of Inquiry-Based Learning

 from Marshall Memo 871:

A Continuum of Inquiry-Based Learning

In this article in Social Education, Kathy Swan (University of Kentucky), S.G. Grant (Binghamton University), and John Lee (North Carolina State University) describe their Inquiry Design Model, which involves building curriculum units around questions, tasks, and sources. The authors describe five types of inquiry, ranging from teacher-developed to student-developed:

• Focused inquiry – The teacher develops the inquiry but focuses on a particular disciplinary skill and piece of content – for example, causation, maps, or research. The authors describe a curriculum unit on the federal debt, guided by the “compelling question,” Does debt matter?

• Structured inquiry – The teacher develops the blueprint to scaffold disciplinary and civic outcomes. An example is a unit on the Great Compromise of 1787, with the question, Is compromise always fair?

• Embedded action – The teacher develops the inquiry, but focuses on structuring the understand-assess-act sequence into the core of the blueprint. The authors describe a curriculum unit on the debate over Obamacare, guided by the question, Why is the Affordable Care Act so controversial?

• Guided inquiry – The teacher develops the inquiry but there are dedicated spaces for students to conduct independent research. The authors describe a curriculum unit on the Civil Rights Movement, guided by the question, What made nonviolent protest effective during this movement?

• Student-directed inquiry – Students develops the blueprint on a question of interest and plan the inquiry using the blueprint. The sample curriculum unit here is an investigation of the LGBTQ+ movement, guided by the question, What makes a movement successful?

The “roof” over this “house of inquiry,” say the authors, is that students “ask good questions and develop robust investigations into them; consider possible solutions and consequences; separate evidence-based claims from parochial ones; and communicate and act upon what they learn.” Above all, students increasingly take ownership of the process and can replicate it in the years ahead.

“Blueprinting an Inquiry-Based Curriculum: Planning with the Inquiry Design Model” by Kathy Swan, S.G. Grant, and John Lee in Social Education, November/December 2020 (Vol. 84, #6, pp. 377-383); Swan can be reached at kswan@uky.edu.