Inquiry+Skill


 * __ Inquiry Skill __**

Callison and Preddy (2006) ask, “How did your research questions evolve over the information search process?” (p. 173). This “question evolution” is one of the key experiences for the student scientist as they evolve from novice to expert. For this unit, it may very well be the most important experiences for the students.

As a teacher, my goal for this unit is that through the inquiry process, students’ perception of the subject matter will evolve, leading to a deeper understanding and level of interest. For example, the sixth graders are going to be asked to research a planet in our solar system and create a PowerPoint presentation to present to a group of third graders.

I can understand if the gut reaction is something like, “Looking up stuff about a planet…how boring!” Callison and Preddy note that with a successful inquiry, your questions will evolve to become “more detailed, specific, or interesting as you explored more background information” (p. 173). My hope is that the sixth graders will have an experience something like the one I had when creating the sample PowerPoint for this unit. It felt like I was more ill-prepared for this task than a sixth grade class would be, because I couldn’t think of any interesting facts about Uranus. What I discovered was that the more I inquired into the subject, the more my questions evolved and became more detailed and interesting.

The idea of question evolution also lends itself well as a discussion point for the reflection stage of the inquiry. Students will be able to ask themselves, “Did my questions evolve? Was I asking the right questions?” They’ll be able to reflect back to the assimilation stage and ask themselves if they extracted the most important information from the new things they learned.

Callison, D. & Preddy, L. (2006). //The blue book on information age inquiry, instruction and literacy//. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.