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Welcome to those interested in inquiry as a way of learning
This wiki has been set up as a collaborative space to focus on inquiry and what that can look like in classrooms.

So what is inquiry? And what is it not? Jill's thoughts to set the ball rolling, but please add your thoughts below.

Inquiry is. ..

a baby exploring || ||
 * [[image:Oilbird2.jpg width="225" height="150"]] ||=

a problem needing a solution || a question demanding an answer ||


 * What would you do? ** ||
 * [[image:path.jpg width="225" height="167"]] ||

a pathway yet untried ||

a doorway to be opened || ||
 * [[image:jigsaw.jpg width="220" height="161" align="center"]] ||

an unassembled jig-saw ||

a photo without a caption || ||
 * [[image:stones.jpg width="256" height="192"]] ||

a hypothesis to be investigated ||

a trial to be judged || ||
 * [[image:fingerprint.jpg]] ||

a clue as yet unsolved ||

It can be random, cyclic, requiring of perseverance, not easy to answer, unanswerable today and maybe even tomorrow, complex, infinite,not always achievable, invigorating and engaging,self sustaining, global, local, messy, multi-layered, collaborative, personalised, student enabling, building on previous work,

IT IS NOT. ..
 * [[image:in-box.jpg]] || * linear
 * filling the boxes
 * painting by numbers
 * roaming only in the known
 * rigid in structure
 * one school term in duration NO MATTER WHAT!
 * just what you do in the afternoons,
 * confined to one learning area nor outside of learning areas
 * simply a display in a powerpoint, a movie or a wiki
 * totally teacher orchestrated
 * totally up to the kids to direct and control
 * a research project
 * unleashed chaos . . . x 31 or 27
 * every child an island
 * devoid of specific teaching
 * concluded by a SO WHAT?!?
 * something you only do sometimes because you need more than that to balance the curriculum ||

**INQUIRY IS ABOUT GETTING KIDS OUT OF THE BOX - NOT INTO ONE!**



Inquiry models are ways that have been developed to 'manage' inquiry. They may be helpful to the teacher, and the student, but they should not confine and limit what is achieved. They should grow beyond what they start out to be as we become more conversant with inquiry, and gain confidence to explore further, wider, deeper.

Success is measured only in what new ground is explored or achieved - knowledge, new skills, new processes, new applications.

Inquiry leads to change in the students, in the class and beyond.

Inquiry is regularly reflective, self assessing, seeking feedback, new goal setting and monitoring, inquisitive

Assessed - sometimes summatively but always formatively

Inquiry leads to further inquiry.

It may start with a problem, a big question or a little question. It's where it goes that counts.
 * [[image:tap.jpg width="270" height="183"]] ||

What happens when you turn on the tap? ||

It requires deliberate acts of teaching in a classroom to further enable and empower students to take on more of the ownership and control. Students need help to enrich their questions, extend their boundaries, challenge their thinking, require them to justify and validate their stand.

It requires deep thinking - critical, analysis, compare and contrast.

__Please sign in and add your thoughts below. Feel free to challenge the above, asks questions, whatever will move us all forward as we inquire into inquiry.__