What is Inquiry Learning?
Inquiry learning is a pupil centred process of building on prior knowledge, with the teacher as a facilitator of learning. Inquiries can be structured or open inquiries, depending on the learning objective.
SLA member Darryl Toerien built on Barbara Stripling's work to develop FOSIL - a framework and skills map for inquiry learning. The images below give you an insight into the thinking behind FOSIL. Inquiry learning and the research process are closely linked, and there are lots of applications in schools already - the IB, EPQ, HPQ and individual school's research projects.
Darryl explains more about the role of the library in inquiry learning: "The problem with sourcing reliable information used to be that it was difficult to find because information was scarce. This was primarily a problem of access. Sourcing reliable information is still difficult, but this is because information is overwhelmingly abundant. This is primarily a problem of discernment. FOSIL addresses this problem in two ways. Firstly, it directs students towards a rich collection of age-appropriate scholarly resources, both print and online, which allows them, initially, to focus on developing their mastery of the processes and skills of inquiry. Secondly, the skills that enable Investigate and Construct include, for example, the effective use of internet search engines to find information and the critical use of web-based information.
The role of the library
Creating and maintaining the combination of conditions outlined above is a complex task. In countries with a long history of learning through inquiry, librarians and teachers work together as an instructional team. It soon becomes obvious why. Teachers, clearly, are specialists in their academic discipline, who ought to have up-to-date knowledge of developments within their discipline. Librarians are information specialists, who ought to have a concern with how information becomes a coherent body of interdisciplinary knowledge, which is reflected in the library’s collection. Because learning to learn for ourselves needs to be taught, and supported, the focus of collaboration between teachers and librarians is threefold:
- Designing a good inquiry, which requires an understanding of the type of inquiry that is appropriate – closed, guided or open.
- Supporting the inquiry, which requires an understanding of the stages involved in inquiry – including the affective, cognitive and physical demands that inquiry makes of students.
- Resourcing the inquiry, which goes beyond age-appropriate information to include time and resources to help students manage the inquiry process."