Deeper Learning through Inquiry

The following outline offers suggested activities for presenting a multi-phase professional learning workshop on the topic of "Deeper Learning through Inquiry." We encourage you to adapt the materials, outline, and activities to meet the needs of your librarians! If you do lead a workshop on this topic, we'd love to hear about it and any additional suggestions you have to make the content meaningful for school librarians. Drop us a line at webinarSLC@abc-clio.com.

Outline

Part I: Prework

Introduction to Inquiry for Deep Learning

Objectives:

• Participants will be able to discuss a rationale for teaching inquiry for deep learning as part of their school library programs.
• Participants will practice and plan for opportunities for modeling dispositions for inquiry using read-alouds and/or lesson plans.

Time: About 60 minutes, self-guided

Materials:

• Duck! Rabbit! video read-aloud excerpt https://youtu.be/hPCoe-6RRks or a copy of the book (Chronicle Books 2009)
• Resource List, including SLC course video lessons (first two items)
• Create and share a collaborative document for posting responses (example: Google Doc or Padlet)
• Scripts for Dispositions of Inquiry

This set of readings, brief videos, and short exercises should be completed by each participant before the first group session. During this work, the librarians will tap into their existing knowledge of inquiry for deep learning, start to think about what students can gain from inquiry processes, and consider the dispositions of good inquiry practices. In total, the Prework should take about 60 minutes to complete.

1. Before viewing the introduction video, jot down 4-6 reasons for teaching inquiry skills to learners. You might think about these questions: Why teach inquiry? What are big ideas or transferable skills that librarians hope students will gain through an inquiry experience? What do you think inquiry "for deep learning" means, and why is this a desirable student learning goal?
2. Next, view the Introduction video by Jean Donham (1:50).
3. After viewing the video, look over your reasons for teaching inquiry (#1 above). Is there anything to add or edit within your list? Perhaps there are potential benefits that you didn't note at first, or different ways of thinking about inquiry? Add your revised reasons for inquiry to the collaborative document. Review your colleagues' reasons. These topics will support activities during the synchronous sessions.
4. Next, read the picture book, Duck! Rabbit! (Chronicle Books, 2009) or view the read-aloud version: https://youtu.be/hPCoe-6RRks.
5. View the Lesson 1 video, "Dispositions for Inquiry" and stop at the 3:05 timestamp. How might the suggested scripts be applied to a reading of this book? What are some possible responses and follow-up questions?
6. View the rest of the video, from the 3:05 timestamp to the conclusion at 7:59.
7. Finally, review the document, "Scripts for Dispositions of Inquiry." Identify an existing lesson or read-aloud for which you could inject some modeling of the dispositions of inquiry. For instance, to show open-mindedness, try the phrase, "why might someone disagree?" Or, to show skepticism, ask, "says who?" Bring your lesson or read-aloud idea with you to the synchronous session, with page numbers marked for potential dialog, bookmarks noted in the lesson plan timeline, or other indicators for quick reference and sharing.

Part II: In-Person Session

Guiding Students' Dispositions for Inquiry

Objectives:

• Participants will identify dispositions of inquiry and develop strategies for modeling and encouraging these dispositions in learners.
• Participants will construct passive programming activities for inspiring students' curiosity through background knowledge, uncertainty, and observation.
• Participants will discuss interventions, scaffolds, and other teaching opportunities for librarians during students' inquiry processes.

Time: 60-90 minutes

Materials:

• Presentation template (Google Slides)
• Librarians' individual lesson plans or read-aloud ideas from the Prework (print or digital)
• Resource List, including SLC course video lessons (items 4-5)
• Handout, Google Doc, or chart paper for six dispositions exercise
• Diagrams: Stripling Model of Inquiry and Kuhlthau Guided Inquiry Model

In-Person Session Outline:

Icebreaker

The icebreaker serves to welcome participants into the session and get them talking with each other about curiosity and inquisitive interactions.

Activity: Curious Questions

In groups of 3-4, ask participants to create a list of 4-5 questions that would inspire curiosity and conversation among students, for conversation starters in a class, for posting in the school library, hallways or cafeteria, or in virtual spaces, such as the library website or social media. Aim for interesting, complex questions, and more concepts than facts. Challenge them to create . . .

• questions that intersect subject areas
• questions that students across grade levels might answer
• questions that have local relevance
• questions that students might talk about at home
• or, pathways to other creative and complex thinking or dialog

Here are some examples:

• What time should school start for ____ (high school, middle school, elementary school)?
• Why is the voting age 18 in the U.S.?
• Why are touchdowns worth 6 points in football?
• Would you rather _____ ? Offer age-appropriate choices, e.g., Would you rather be covered in fur or scales? Would you rather be able to talk to land animals, animals that fly, or animals that live under the water? Would you rather never be able to use a touchscreen or never be able to use a keyboard and mouse?
• Why is the state capital located in (your state's capital city here)?
• If you could redesign your classroom (or cafeteria, library, etc.), what would you change and why?
• Where does wind come from?

After about 5-6 minutes to brainstorm, invite each team to share their favorite question with the group. Wrap up with a conversation on how the librarians might introduce these kinds of questions into their libraries and schools.

Today's Agenda and Review of Prework

Begin the formal time together with any introductory remarks, a roadmap for the session, and a quick review and sharing of the concepts introduced in the Prework. You might begin by asking everyone to share some of their reasons for inquiry, which they listed as part of the Prework. Key points introduced in the Prework involve (1) thinking through the rationale for deep learning through inquiry, and (2) considering the dispositions of inquiry. Refer to the slides for sample content.

A few points you might present are as follows, with excerpts from Jean Donham's "Deep Learning through Concept-Based Inquiry" (or supplement with your own resources).

• "In 2005, Loertscher, Koechlin, and Zwaan published Ban Those Bird Units in which they urged educators to move away from the conventional 'locate information—cut and clip—report' model of library projects. Similarly, Gordon characterized a problem of 'no-learning inquiry' when she stated, 'Reporting has masqueraded as researching for so long that the terms are used interchangeably' (Gordon 1999). Yet, the reports continue as students locate facts with less and less difficulty using a simple Internet search engine to gather what they need, transfer it to their word processor, and dress it up in favorite fonts and formats. Authentic inquiry, on the other hand, requires risk-taking; it requires entering into the quest for answers to unanswered questions—exploring unknowns. Too often, we educators give students inauthentic exercises to gather known facts and report them. It is not surprising that students find such exercises uninteresting and unimaginative. It is no wonder they seek the path of least effort to accomplish these tasks. It is no surprise that students complain of boredom in school."
• "Learning in the library should present opportunities to enrich student learning activities to address concerns of interest and cognitive complexity, but these must be tasks that call for in-depth analysis—not merely gathering facts. Library learning experiences need to demand enough of students to keep them interested and also need to be accompanied by the supportive expertise of the school librarian."

Address questions or invite discussion as time allows, and transition to the debrief on the Prework.

Activity: Six Dispositions for Inquiry

In this exercise, the participants will work with their lesson plan or read-aloud ideas from the Prework, in which they layered in opportunities for modeling dispositions of inquiry through the use of prompts. This is one approach to introducing inquiry into one's teaching: building upon existing activities with a more intentional effort to ask questions and motivate curiosity.

1. In six groups (if possible, to align with the wrap-up and reporting out), gather and briefly share out the lesson ideas and scripts that everyone developed in the Prework.
2. Using a chart with the six dispositions of inquiry suggested by Richard (described in the Lesson 1 video), fill in examples from group members' sample lessons. Can the group come up with one example script or prompt for each disposition? Use a simple handout, Google Doc, or chart paper with these headings: open-minded, curious, metacognitive, investigative, strategic or planful, and skeptical.
3. In a whole group debrief, ask for one example for each disposition (one per group, or multiple rounds as time permits).

New Content: Prime the Pump for Curiosity

As discussed in the Prework, curiosity is one of the dispositions of inquiry learning; indeed, it is often highlighted in articles and research about motivation, sustained interest, and excitement about learning. The following are a few examples.

• Writing about curiosity's connection to ownership as part of inquiry learning, Judi Moreillon cites Jean Donham's 2014 study of college students' readiness to pursue college-level research, noting that "curiosity motivates people; it helps them persevere when the process is not easy. Inquiry learning requires that students take ownership of the learning process and become more self-reliant in terms of motivation and decision-making" (2016).
• In the book, The Curiosity Classroom (ASCD 2016), Wendy Ostroff writes of honoring and encouraging students' active roles in their own learning,

"When the teacher is a co-learner, the knowledge and insight that the students bring to the classroom is just as important, and equally worthy to learn, as that of the teachers (Freire, 1998). This doesn't mean that teachers need to let children's every question and moment of tinkering derail the lesson plan. But they can plan significant portions of the curriculum around the goal of inviting and encouraging children to pursue their curiosity, helping children figure out just what it is they want to know, and then showing them how to systematically go about getting the answers to their investigations and explorations. One of the most valuable functions a teacher can serve is to help children become more aware of, and deliberate about, their curiosity."

• Finally, Dr. Donham explains that librarians use both active and passive interventions to stimulate curiosity, a vital disposition of inquiry. In recent years, "passive," or self-directed, programming has gained popularity in libraries across age groups.

In this exercise, participants will design a passive program that aligns with one of the three themes that help pique curiosity: background knowledge, uncertainty, and observation.

Activity: Background Knowledge, Uncertainty, and Observation

1. View the Lesson 2 video, "Inquiry Defined: Curiosity" (8:00).
2. Divide up into teams of 3-4 people. Assign each team one of these themes: (1) background knowledge, (2) uncertainty, and (3) observation, aiming for about equal numbers of teams per theme.
3. Invite each team to brainstorm a passive program aligned to their assigned theme to encourage curiosity. Passive doesn't mean that learners aren't actively thinking and engaging! "Passive" indicates that the activities can be entirely or mostly self-directed, which can work in a variety of settings, with some consideration of students' age groups and the library or school spaces. A passive program might be a book display or "I Spy" bulletin board, a digital presentation at a kiosk or on a website, objects, puzzles or coloring pages set out on a table, a scavenger hunt, or an audio experience.*
4. Share out the brainstorms as a group.

* For more information and ideas on passive programming, here are a few resources:

• Passive Program Models on Programming Librarian: https://programminglibrarian.org/programs?library_type=All&topic=949
• Forrester, Amy. "Passive Programming in Practice." ALSC Blog. (December 23, 2014). https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2014/12/passive-programming-in-practice/
• On Pinterest.com, search passive programs, passive programming, or passive library programs

New Content: Mental Models of Inquiry

The last activity of the session pertains to models of inquiry. For the following section, multiple models are included; if your district follows a particular inquiry or research model, you might focus the discussion there, or perhaps highlight it among the others mentioned here.

As Leslie Maniotes explains, "true curiosity is the best start to engage the motivation needed to pursue a deep research question. But, there are also strategies we can use to foster perseverance through the process" (2020). Maniotes suggests that the scaffolds and guidance embedded in the Guided Inquiry by Design model offer this sustenance to students in their processes. Other research models, such as the Stripling Model of Inquiry, also provide similar opportunities for librarians and teachers to instruct, coach, and support students so that their curiosity and stake in their learning are centered in their experience. To read more from Leslie Maniotes on the connection between inquiry and research, see "Tightening the Knot on Inquiry and Research."

The next video offers the useful example of a student's fact-based, topical report on a marine animal as compared to an inquiry stimulated by curiosity about how often jellyfish sting. The basic animal/country/state report is familiar to librarians and teachers, and it's a good foundation to talk about why curiosity matters. When practiced along with the stages of an inquiry model, the dispositions of inquiry—including curiosity—can become part and parcel of how students envision research tasks. For consistency in language and thinking processes, Donham recommends school-wide adoption of an inquiry process such as the Stripling Model of Inquiry or the Kuhlthau Guided Inquiry Model.

Activity: Leveraging Inquiry Models for Deep Learning

1. View the Lesson 3 video, "Mental Models of Inquiry" (7:28).
2. Reconvene the small groups from the previous activity on dispositions of curiosity. Using the Stripling Model of Inquiry, Kuhlthau Guided Inquiry By Design, or the research/inquiry model of your district, have the groups brainstorm some possible questions, resources, interactions, and/or instructional segments or mini-lessons to build out their passive programming topic into an inquiry experience.
3. In the small groups or as a whole group, ask: what inquiry questions might be part of this process? What experiences would immerse learners in the subject? What activities might serve to sustain students' curiosity? What could students create to show their thinking and learning? What could be some learning objectives or outcomes, and in what ways might librarians assess student learning? For examples on possible roles for librarians, see the following ideas, adapted from the Maniotes article above:

• Librarians jump into action in the design and planning phases by curating resources that match the learning goals and standards-based content for teachers. This can take many forms from centers in the library with stations of books, maps, computer stations, and so on.
• Librarians guide students to their question by providing structures for students to think about what interests them. They confer with students to draw out their personal line of research that moves their curiosity into a focused question for research.
• Librarians offer virtual and real spaces where students actively search for information to learn about their question.
• They help students with search terms and finding resources that they may not find on their own.
• Libraries are the natural place for creation through making and the sharing of ideas.

This idea-generating exercise will support activities in the self-study and second synchronous session, in which more structured development of lessons will take place. Following this activity, transition to the wrap-up.

Looking Forward

Wrap up and look ahead to the self-study and second session. Provide a short preview of the second synchronous session and resources for reference during the upcoming self-study segment. Distribute and collect or provide a link to submit session evaluation forms. Thank everyone for their active participation!

Part III: Self-Study

Leveling Up to Conceptual Understandings

Objectives:

• Using a topic that they currently teach or collaborate to teach, participants will evolve a content-focused inquiry to a concept-focused inquiry.
• Participants will lead an informal discussion with a teaching colleague to introduce and discuss the inquiry process.

Time: 2-4 hours, self-guided, over the course of 1-3 months

Materials:

• Curriculum, academic standards, and/or content-area resources for developing (will vary)
• Resource List, including SLC course video lesson (item 8)
• Inquiry Task Template
• Leveling Up Tables (could be converted to a collaborative document)
• Article, "Deep Learning through Concept-Based Inquiry," by Jean Donham

Inquiry requires a shift from content projects, such as a biography project or a biome report, to conceptual projects, where more complex questions are posed and researched. The shift really starts with the librarian or teacher in the project design. Questions like "what evidence," "what if," "what effect," and "what could," applied to content project, can help drive the shift.

The goal of the self-study period is to practice and apply this thinking process, using an existing topic from a collaborative lesson, or a potential topic for an upcoming lesson. Working on this exercise independently allows for time to review curriculum, select and work with a particular subject and student learning outcome, and ideally, to meet with a classroom teacher colleague to discuss and reflect on the process.

Self-Study: Leveling Up to Conceptual Understandings

1. View the Lesson 4 video, "Concept-Based Inquiry" (9:13).
2. Read the article, "Deep Learning through Concept-Based Inquiry," by Jean Donham.
3. Identify a lesson, unit, or inquiry/research project that you would like to work with for this exercise, and to develop further during the second synchronous session. Keep in mind that the goal is to "level up" a content-oriented experience to one that is concept-driven, as described in the video and article, so select a curricular focus that would work well in this frame. You might select something you've done already, or a new plan, and it's also ok to select an example similar to those provided in the video or article.
4. Using your selected topic, complete the two tables in this document. [Facilitators: you might instead provide a link to a collaborative version for gathering and sharing this work.]
5. We'll work more with questions (Table 2) in the second synchronous session, so try your hand at writing a few conceptual questions, but know that more practice is forthcoming. See the samples in the tables, adapted from the Donham article listed in #2 above.
6. Write a draft lesson using the Inquiry Task Template. Include your questions in the Enduring Understandings/ Essential Questions section. If possible, share your draft with a classroom teacher colleague. What feedback do they offer?
7. Have your "conceptual shift" documents and template draft ready for reference at the second synchronous session.

Part IV: In-Person Session

Developing Good Questions and Authentic Inquiry

Objectives:

• Participants will construct inquiry questions and discuss strategies for having students develop different types of inquiry questions.
• Participants will develop an inquiry lesson or experience using the Inquiry Task Template and selected research/inquiry model (varies by school or district).
• Participants will design an authentic inquiry task that is observation-grounded, concept-oriented, and has value beyond school.

Time: 60-90 minutes

Materials:

• Presentation template (Google Slides)
• Image for icebreaker (e.g., a nature scene, a historical image or map, a work of art, or gears in a machine. Try pixabay.com for copyright-free images)
• Inquiry Task Template and sample Inquiry Task Template
• Completed self-study activities: Leveling Up Tables; draft of Inquiry Task Template
• The article "Assignments Worth Doing" by Jean Donham
• Curriculum, academic standards, content-area resources for developing lessons (will vary—be sure to ask participants to have this information accessible for today's session)
• Resource List, including SLC course video lessons (items 12-13)

Outline:

Welcome and Icebreaker

As participants arrive, display an image that might pique curiosity, along with the words:

• What do you see?
• What do you think about that?
• What does it make you wonder?

The photo might be anything—a nature scene, a historical image or map, a work of art, or gears in a machine. Try pixabay.com for copyright-free images.

Ask participants to respond to the questions among themselves or as a group, and encourage them to use all three stems together (i.e., I see ___, I think ___, I wonder ___). Ask: how might this thinking routine be used in the school library to develop students' inquiry skills and dispositions (Project Zero 2019)?

Welcome everyone to the second synchronous session, and go over the agenda and objectives for the day.

Activity: Reviewing the Self-Study

1. Begin with a think-pair-share with everyone's self-study lesson topics and ideas. Ask: As you review your lesson ideas and conceptual questions, what are you feeling confident or excited about? What do you need to learn more about? Then have partners share their responses and their ideas for building an inquiry experience for deep learning.
2. After everyone has had an opportunity to share, transition to the first new content segment.

New Content: Building Questions

Good questions get students thinking. To answer good questions, students must engage in deeper process, thought, and effort than a quick Google search requires. For younger children, we can teach three classifications of questions: knowing questions (what, when, where), analyzing questions (how, what evidence), and creating questions (speculative questions, what would, what should, what if). For older students who may be designing their own questions, librarians and teachers can share a more sophisticated version of these same three categories, and have students align their questions with the categories. Then teachers and librarians can help students with the mental model of inquiring into their question, and anticipating results (facts versus insights).

The Lesson 5 video, "Questioning for Deep Learning in Inquiry," is about 11 minutes in length. We suggest splitting the video into two segments, stopping first at the 5:16 mark. View the video segment, then pause for any discussion and the next activity.

Activity: Constructing Good Questions

1. Have the participants look over their content questions and concept questions from the Prework. Invite them to apply the three categories from the video (knowing, analyzing, creating or speculative) to their questions.
2. Spend a few minutes of independent time writing new questions related to this concept. See this Question Stems document by Paige Jaeger for reference in building questions.

Continue the Lesson 5 video, picking up at the 5:16 mark. The next segment delves into more detail on shaping good questions.

Following the video, circle back to everyone's questions once again, allowing more time to add and edit, or share out, as time permits. You might ask: where in the lesson is the librarian (or teacher) asking and modeling questions? What are opportunities in the lesson or unit to have students construct their own questions? Thinking about the examples from the video, what are strategies for scaffolding students' skills in asking questions? Then transition into the next activity: building out the lesson ideas using the inquiry template.

Activity: Applying the Inquiry Template to Lesson Ideas

1. Introduce the Inquiry Task template and sample. Allow time for participants to revisit their drafts from the self-study.
2. View the Lesson 6 video, "Authentic Inquiry" (4:38). Review the additional information on the slides 37-38.
3. Introduce the "Guide to deep learning through inquiry" (slide 39), which is Figure 1 in the article, "Assignments Worth Doing," by Jean Donham. Allow time for everyone to review and assess their lessons according to the chart, completing the questions, "how does this project measure up?" and "how can it be improved?" For ideas on developing performance tasks, see the resource, "Constructing a Task Scenario," by Jay McTighe (2010). This resource follows the GRASPS approach: Goal, Role, Audience, Situation, Product/Performance and Purpose, and Standards/Criteria for Success.
4. As time permits, invite participants to share one way they aim to improve upon their lesson or project.

Conclusion and Looking Forward

If time permits, view the Closing video (1:46). Wrap up the session with instructions on next steps, including support for implementing the next steps of finalizing and implementing their inquiry lessons/units. Thank everyone for their contributions and provide a session evaluation form.

Part V: Continued Application

Teaching and Growing in Inquiry

Objectives:

• Participants will revise and finalize their Inquiry Task Templates, then teach and reflect upon their lessons or projects.
• Participants will develop and teach a new inquiry task or experience (such as a thinking routine), and reflect on their professional growth.

Time: Varies

There are many ways to continue following up with the concepts covered in this workshop over the course of the year. Determine what works best for your community of librarians to help them actively apply and reflect on their own learning.

Suggested Follow-Ups

• Create Reflection Teams, where participants can check in with each other periodically throughout the year to share lessons and experiences.
• Ask participants to share a quarterly written reflection, journal or research log, or other feedback form with you
• Rotate posting about progress and new understandings to a district library blog or website.
• Provide additional resources for librarians to explore and discuss including (select video, resources, etc.).

Further Resources

"Inquiry-Based Learning: Bibliography." School Library Connection, July 2019, schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/2214580?learningModuleId=2214085&tab=3&topicCenterId=2158571

Works Cited

Abilock, Debbie. "Adding Friction. How Do I Teach Students to Write a Researchable Inquiry
Question?" Library Media Connection, 33, no. 5, March 2015. School Library Connection, schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/1947796.

Donham, Jean. "Assignments Worth Doing." School Library Monthly, 28, no. 2, November 2011. School Library Connection, schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/1967345.

Donham, Jean. "Deep Learning through Concept-Based Inquiry." School Library Monthly, 27, no. 1, September 2010. School Library Connection, schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/2004830

Jaeger, Paige. "Getting Started with Inquiry: Question Stems." School Library Connection, November 2015, schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/1990283?learningModuleId=1988313&tab=3&topicCenterId=2158571

Maniotes, Leslie K. "Tightening the Knot on Inquiry and Research." School Library Connection, March 2020, schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/2212471

McTighe, Jay and Grant Wiggins. Developing Performance Tasks. 2010. https://jaymctighe.com/downloads/GRASPS-Design-sheets.pdf

Moreillon, Judi. "Making a Space for Curiosity and Creativity: Classroom-Library Collaboration for Inquiry Learning." School Library Connection, April 2016, schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/2009303.

Ostroff, Wendy L. "Introduction: How to Cultivate the Curiosity Classroom." In Cultivate Curiosity in K-12 Classrooms. ACSC, 2016. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/116001/chapters/Introduction@-How-to-Cultivate-the-Curiosity-Classroom.aspx.

Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education. See, Think, Wonder Thinking Routine. 2019. https://pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/See%20Think%20Wonder_2.pdf

Rosenthal, Amy Krause. Tom Lichtenheld, illus. Duck! Rabbit! Chronicle Books, 2009.