Guided Inquiry @ Work:Insights from AIS Research

Project

Dr Ross J Todd

Director, Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries

Professor, School of Communication & InformationRutgers, The State University of New Jersey

rtodd@rutgers.eduwww.cissl.rutgers.edu

www.twitter.com/RossJTodd

Todd 1 and Todd 2

Panama Canal

Macchu Pichu

Bucharesti, Romania

What was Nicolae Ceaușescu thinking?

Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland

“We set sail on this sea because there is knowledge to be gained” (J. F. Kennedy)

Quality teachers and quality teaching as the most important influence on student learning

Meta-analyses of educational research shows that the most significant impacts on achievement are:

the role of teacher and quality of instruction; developing a supportive learning environmentengaging students in discovery, inquiry, thinking and knowledge building

(Prof John Hattie, Auckland University: Effect Sizeshttp://www.acer.edu.au/documents/RC2003_Hattie_TeachersMakeADifference.pdf)

The Importance of the Teaching Role

What did you do at school today?

Willms, J. D., Friesen, S. & Milton, P. (2009).What did you do in school today? Transforming classrooms through social, academic, andintellectual engagement. (First National Report) Toronto: Canadian Education Association.© Canadian Education Association 2009

INTELLECTUAL ENGAGEMENTAT HEART OF

QUALITYTEACHING

Australian Government Quality Teacher Program

Taking Professional Standards into Practice

• Innovation in learning and teaching• Instructional interventions underpinned by

research• Effective utilisation of the information and

technological landscape• Connected, shared learning – for teachers

and students• Evidence-based practices• Collaborative teams

What do you want your school library to do?

The school library is the school’s physical and virtual learning commons where inquiry,

thinking, imagination, discovery, and creativity are central to students’ information-to-

knowledge journey, and to their personal, social and cultural growth.

The Pedagogy

A Framework For Meaningful Research In School Libraries and

the Information Universe:Building on Evidence

The learning process?

Prof Carol Kuhlthau

Information Search Process Carol Kuhlthau

Tasks Initiation Selection Exploration Formulation Collection Presentation Evaluation---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Feelings uncertainly optimism confusion clarity sense of satisfaction or(affective) frustration direction/ disappointment

doubt confidence

Thoughts vague----------------------------------------→focused(cognitive) ----------------------------------------------→

increased interest

Actions seeking relevant information-------------------------------→seeking pertinent information(physical) exploring documenting

Information-to-Knowledge Journey

Zone of Intervention: the critical point / need for instruction

GUIDED INQUIRY

EVIDENCE – BASED PRACTICE

Guided Inquiry AIS Project Goals

• To understand the dynamics of developing and implementing collaborative Guided Inquiry units, based on the Information Search Process model: learning, instructional, collaborative

• To track and understand how students build on their existing knowledge of a curriculum topic and how their knowledge of a topic changes in the context of a collaborative guided inquiry unit;

• To examine the transformation and integration of found information into existing knowledge, and the creation of new personal knowing, and reflective processes

• To use some school-based tools for measuring and charting knowledge development

The Participating Schools

• Abbotsleigh• Broughton Anglican College• Loreto Kirribilli• Newington College• Northholm Grammar School• Queenwood School for Girls• Roseville College• Santa Sabina College – Senior and Junior• St. Luke’s Grammar School• St. Paul’s Grammar School• St. Vincent’s College• Wenona

Scope of Research

• Most projects were in Years 7-10.– 8 in History, 1 in English, 1 in PDHPE (us), 2 in Geography,

and 1 in Science.– Two primary schools participated – Year 5 Geography, Year

4 Science– Most developed new units of work for the project, some

used existing ones, adding Guided Inquiry scaffolding on. – The number of lessons the projects took varied from Year

long to 9 lessons – however, all had significant teaching input from teachers and teacher librarians

– The number of classes the GI project ran through varied from whole form to 1 class – with one class being much easier to administrate in terms of the SLIM Toolkit.

– Total Number of students and educators involved: 34 teachers, 18 teacher-librarians & 935 students

Examples of Research Tasks

• Historical Fiction• Ancient Egypt• Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing• Geographical disasters• Australia between the wars• Solar System• Medieval life

• Use of the Information Search Process (Kuhlthau) as the instructional design framework

Instructional Planning: Roseville

Guided Inquiry Stage Potential Instructional Interventions(Including IT )

Evidence Strategies / Assessment (Formative / Summative; informal, formal

INITIATION Introduce research project. Hand out process folders and discuss how process is included in final assessment.

Discuss the Information Search Process acknowledging emotional part of research.

Do Reflection Sheet 1.

Folders containing assessment task sheets including rubrics and templates

Research River powerpoint Reflection Sheet 1

SELECTION Students to read widely for background knowledge, and possible areas to investigate.

Interventions: Help locate books on shelves Online databases on Rosenet Questia as a source of information State Library databases Individual discussion with students on possible areas of

interest

Building background knowledge template Constructing meaningful choices sheet E-jazz template from Loertscher, David V. et al. Ban

those bird units: 15 models for teaching and learning in information-rich and technology-rich environments. Salt Lake City: Hi Willow, 2005.

Blank E-jazz template adapted from Loertscher, David V. et al. Ban those bird units: 15 models for teaching and learning in information-rich and technology-rich environments. Salt Lake City: Hi Willow, 2005. p20

EXPLORATION Students continue to research for background knowledge.Interventions Note-taking Bibliographies Evaluating resources Annotated bibliography

Templates on Rosenet Notemaking scaffold Link to Citation Maker ABCDE scaffold for evaluation

FORMULATION Students formulate “big question”.Interventions Meaningful questions Higher level thinking skills Individual discussions on potential questions to investigate

Building thinking questions scaffold Bloom’s taxonomy revised sheet

COLLECTION Students engaged in research. Starting to think about presentation.Interventions Individual help to refine question Individual help with research Individual help with note-taking Reminder about bibliographiesStudents to complete Reflection Sheet 2.

Organizer scaffold Analyse scaffold Assess scaffold Compare and contrast scaffold adapted from

Loertscher, David V. et al. Ban those bird units: 15 models for teaching and learning in information-rich and technology-rich environments. Salt Lake City: Hi Willow, 2005. p67

Crtically analyse scaffold Developing an argument scaffold Refection sheet 2

PRESENTATION Students to complete final product. Interventions Explanation of requirements for justification IT help where required Help with bibliographies where requiredStudents to complete Reflection Sheet 3.

Reflection sheet 3

ASSESSMENT Teachers to mark product and justification according to rubric provided.

Teacher librarians to mark process folders evidence of note-taking from a variety of resources evidence of organising information evidence of refining question annotation of one resource bibliography

References:GIresearchers wiki: Guided inquiry essentials and resources.<http://giresearchers.pbwiki.com> Kulthau, Dr. Carol C., Todd, Dr. Ross J. “Guided Inquiry: A

framework for learning through school libraries in the 21st century schools”. 2007. Rutgers University. 26 February, 2007. <(www.cissl.scils.rutgers.edu/guided_inquiry/foundation.htm>

Loertscher, David V. et al. Ban those bird units: 15 models for teaching and learning in information-rich and technology-rich environments. Salt Lake City: Hi Willow, 2005.

Broughton College: Ancient Egypt

• 2. Act:• TL – construct wiki using PBwiki software. Design home page and upload research plan for

students to follow – including assessment guidelines• TL - Teach class about ethical use of a wiki and skills to make their own wiki page –

downloading and uploading files etc

• Using The Information Search Process framework:• Initiation: Immerse students in general information about the topic using videos, books and

websites so students can select their personal areas of interest - Selection

• Exploration: Students search for information and read widely in their chosen area

• Formulation: Students required to compose a Big Question reflecting the depth of the upper three levels of Blooms Taxonomy (available on wiki) Class teacher (subject specialist) and TL assist in the composition of questions - Intervention

• Collection: Students compose a wiki page of the answer to their question – guidance and relevant scaffolds given to assist them – needs gauged from SLIM reflection sheets – TL or teacher intervention given when needed

• Presentation: Students perform peer reviews (PQP). Each student assigned two wiki pages to review that are not topic areas they have studied.

• Students combined their knowledge through discussion groups with ‘experts’ from separate areas of knowledge in each group. Zing software was used to type answers to the BIG Question on the whiteboard and saved for publication to the wiki home page.

• Final Reflection sheet used for assessment of task and skills. Class teacher assesses BOS outcomes. TL assesses GI process and ICT skills

Instructional Interventions

• Involved planning of instructional interventions to initiate the unit on inquiry, help students select topics, help them build their background knowledge, help them develop their specific focus questions, to help students analyse, synthesise, deal with conflicting knowledge, develop arguments, and develop personal positions and perspectives. SCAFFOLDING

• Involved an area of inquiry which allowed students freedom to develop their own focus questions.

• All began with developing and using existing background knowledge.

• Provided high quality resources for students, and instruction in their use.

Instructional Features

• All focused on presence of teachers and teacher librarians at each stage of the process to guide and intervene, both in planned ways, and in unplanned ways which arose out of information provided by students in the SLIM Reflection Sheets. DIAGNOSTIC

• Focused on process more than product, and most did not tell students what the product was to be until they had passed the Collection phase of the Information Search Process. PROCESS

• Gathered data from students at three points of the Information Search Process - at Initiation, at Collection, and at Assessment. EVIDENCE

Data Collection

• Student Learning through Inquiry Measure (SLIM)

SLIM Handbook

SLIM Reflection Instruments and Scoring Guidelines

SLIM Scoring Sheet

• http://cissl.rutgers.edu/impact_studies.html

Instructional Teams: Multiple Expertises

Flexible team approach; alliances for shared learning

- Alliances within school - Curriculum expertise- Disciplinary expertise- Information expertise- Technical expertise- Reading / Literacy expertise- Special needs expertise- Watchful Eye expertise- Student expertise & learning through students

From “A One-Man Band” to “The Beat of Different Drums”

Student Planning: Explicit Project Management

Instructional Interventions

Predominant focus on complex knowledge building tasks

• To enable student’s progression from information to knowledge and understanding

• Not abandoned at the complex knowledge building stage ie doing something with the found information) Collection Stage

Three predominant types of instructional interventions:1. Question formulation2. Knowledge construction (analysis, argument,

perspective, position)3. Critical thinking / reflection

Sharing of exemplars via wiki

Wiki

Enablers of Learning

• Instructional intervention: providing the intellectual scaffolds for connecting with, interacting with and utilizing information

• 3 kinds of scaffolds valued by students: Reception Scaffolds: building a foundation for deep knowledge: background knowledge as basis for choice of topic and developing personal questions

• Transformation Scaffolds: assist learners in transforming the information they've received into some other form. This involves imposing structure on information

• Production Scaffolds: assist learners in actually producing something observable that conveys the complexity and richness of what they have learned.

• Guided inquiry: not abandonment• Modeling the process and Feedback

Scaffolds• Guided Inquiry at work planning sheet - CISSL• Research river PPT - Loreto/Barker• The Research Clock – Queenwood• Building background - Loreto/Ban the birds• Developing Questions using Blooms and Goldilocks – Abbotsleigh• Blooms and Goldilocks - Abbotsleigh• Creating questions – Abbotsleigh• Creating Questions with Blooms – Anderson and Krathwohl• Question development – Queenwood• Initial question development – Santa Sabina• Building thinking questions – Santa Sabina• Notetaking scaffold 1 – Loreto• Notetaking scaffold 2 – Loreto• Notetaking scaffold 3 - Loreto• Notetaking scaffold 4 – Santa Sabina• Notetaking practice – Santa Sabina• Synthesis – Developing deep perspectives – Santa Sabina• Synthesis – Analyse – Queenwood• Synthesis – Assess – Queenwood• Synthesis – Compare – Queenwood• Synthesis – Critically analyse – Queenwood.• Intext citation – Loreto• Bibliographies - Loreto

• Primary:• Curiosity scaffold – Santa Sabina• KWL chart – Santa Sabina

Topic Selection

Topics of interest to me

Intriguing factors Positives Negatives Rank 1- 5

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Rank your topics on a scale of 1 – 5 (1 = of little interest; 5 = very interesting)Circle your two most interesting topicsExplain your choice in your conference with your class teacher / teacher-librarian

Building Background Knowledge

Year 9 PDHPE - Aboriginal Health and Well Being Guided Inquiry Building background knowledge statement Your group:

This assignment starts off with what you already know about aboriginal health. Please fill that in here.

What do we already know about Aboriginal Health?

Next you will watch a selection of Click view videos, have a guest speaker, as well as doing some broad background searching on aboriginal health. Add to the chart that follows as you find out more about the state of Aboriginal health in Australia. Please keep your information very general at this stage.

That’s interesting…..

We didn’t know that….

Question Formulation

Skinny questions Fat questions

Understanding questionsShow, list, name, how many? What?

Wondering questionsdistinguish, analyse, compare, why?

Deciding questionsExplain, describe, identify, outline,

what? Who?

Persuading questions Connect, design, reorganize, how?

Figuring out questions Collect, demonstrate, classify, how?

Predicting questionsPredict, judge, interpret, assess, what

if?

Inventing questionsHow could I? What would happen if?

Knowledge Building Scaffolds

Compare Scaffold – Santa Sabina

Issue to be compared:

SimilaritiesPoint: Elaboration and support:Point:Elaboration and support:Point:Elaboration and support:

Points to note:Identify the things to be compared from the question.Preview each point you will raise. Topic sentence at the beginning of each point followed by explanation and relevant examples to illustrate point.Use linking words between each point such as: also, in addition similarly, another similarity is”.“For instance”, “This can be seen in”, “An example of this is” and “for example” can be used to start sentences that provide examples for your points.Must make a judgement related to the similarities and differences in the topic.

DifferencesPoint: Elaboration and support:Point: Elaboration and support:Point: Elaboration and support:

Conclusion and judgement:

Broughton College: Question JigSaw

Data Collection

Initiation, Focus and Presentation stages SLIM Toolkit (Student Learning Through Inquiry

1. Write the title that best describes your research project at this time.

2. Take some time to think about your research topic. Now write down what you know about this topic.

3. What interests you about this topic?4. How much do you know about this topic? Check ()

one box that best matches how much you know. Nothing, Not much, Some, Quite a bit and A great deal

5. Write down what you think is EASY about researching your topic.

6. Write down what you think is DIFFICULT about researching your topic.

7. Write down how you are FEELING now about your project. Check () only the boxes that apply to you. Confident, Disappointed, Relieved, Frustrated, Confused, Optimistic, Uncertain, Satisfied, Anxious or Other.

8. Task 3: easy, difficult, reflections on learning

Did they learn anything?

• Each school showed substantial growth to deep knowledge (as evidenced by number of explanations), while the number of facts remained high. In fact, the majority of students at all schools continued to express their knowledge as facts. The language of the facts changed to accommodate greater knowledge of deeper aspects of the topic

• It was interesting that Abbotsleigh had the strongest growth to explanations and conclusions. This was the only project that went for a whole year, and was the one that had by far the greatest freedom for students to develop their own area of interest arising out of reading any historical fiction.

• Metalanguage – specificity of technical vocabulary

Achievements of AIS Project

• Doing quality research is simply hard work – on part of teaching teams and students

• Provides insights into own habits of minds and potential for adapting personal approaches to learning

• Increased awareness of teachers and students of importance of staged process to research.

• Teacher appreciation of design of task influences how students approach an assignment.

• Rich insights into the intellectual journey of students: cognitions, behaviours, feelings

• Valuing of staged approach and formative assessment along the journey; instructional support not abandonment in the name of “independent learning”

• Interest level high in all schools: hard work – teachers viewed process as informing and empowering their teaching

• Interest / motivation maintained across project, with clear dip at second response, in line with ISP research

• Question negotiation: ownership, interest, motivation• Excellent range of research questions; Strong evidence

for the rewarding nature for students of choosing an area of interest and their own question.

• Clear link between process and quality of product• Excellent final products created with much less

plagiarism than usual: depth rather than superficiality of knowledge

Achievements of AIS Project

Achievements

• Development of disciplinary knowledge: intellectual quality and intellectual agency (mastery of information competencies)

• Complexity of knowledge building: struggle to narrow broad topics and develop deep focus questions; Complexity of question formulation; challenge to craft arguments; conclusions, positions – growth evident

• Student valuing of information structures: support to help analysing and structuring information / arguments / conclusions

• Students less concerned than usual with grades• Recognition that this is not achievable fully in just one

unit• Finding that GI methods do not need whole new unit to

be developed - can be incorporated into existing ones

Achievements

• Excellent basis on which to build the substantial independent research projects in senior subjects.

• Collaborative partnerships – shared expertise, learning from one another; mutuality of intent

• Understanding how the SLIM reflection sheets can be used both for guiding interventions with students on an individual and group basis, and as an individual diagnostic tool for formative assessment.

• Further development of students’ love of reading • Students valuing individual feedback - most positive

experience; Student appreciation of being asked to reflect on their process of research;

• Understanding how reflection sheets allowed for design of interventions from teachers and TL.

• Raising awareness of scholarly databases, such as Questia• Instructional teams gained knowledge of the process of

effective research and now feels confident to lead the school in the Guided Inquiry approach.

Students have difficulty ..

Developing focus questions (absence of building background knowledge)

Finding the "right" information targeted to focus – looking for the “right answer”

Taking notes - link found with poor notetaking and plagiarism

Synthesising information: putting information together, developing arguments, conclusions

Acknowledging sources Interest dip at Formulation stage

Difficulties

Abbotsleigh: Percentage of students experiencing difficulties:

• 54% - finding good websites• 42% - finding a variety of sources• 25% - choosing relevant, reliable, accurate information• 64% - making notes and plagiarism• 40% - synthesizing information, creating a product• 24% - formulating a bibliography

Queenswood:• Developing an appropriate question, analyzing and

assessing information, and translating information into appropriate product.

• (Notetaking/synthesis)• Students think they find skills of locating and organizing

easy until their question is such that it cannot be copied

Difficulties: Working Diagnostically

Roseville: • Many found difficulty with applying information in critical

thinking and problem solving but did not always acknowledge that in the reflection sheets ( 5.4% said this was easy to do, 8.9% said it was hard to do and 8.9% said they learnt how to do it during the project.

• Only 1.8% of students said they could distinguish between fact and opinion and identify misleading information.

Santa Sabina:• Developing questions• Searching for specific information,• Notetaking – using scaffold provided, which precluded

cutting and pasting.

Wenona:• Substantial number of students still found it difficult to

organize all the information – i.e. notetake and synthesise into a product.

Reflections: Students

• Question formulating was difficult and required a lot of thinking and deliberating.

• I was very interested in my topic, it made me think what life was like back then. I want to read more about my topic.

• These skills have come in handy for some of my other projects. • This project has helped me to acknowledge and use other

sources such as documentaries, books and encyclopedias• I saw the value of multiple sources to cross check information

for reliability• Before this task, I was very uncomfortable taking notes. After

the library lesson on it, I felt that I knew the method but needed practice. Taking notes from multiple books, videos and websites really improved this skill.

• Some things I liked about this project was the independence I was given and the support when it was needed. No one made decisions for me and although this was hard, it made me think.

• That making summaries and writing a range of notes before diving straight into the final project helps to eliminate some of those overwhelming and stressed feelings.

• I learnt to at least TRY using different methods of study. I usually only ever user the internet as a method of research, but during this project I tried using books.

• I know it’s weird. I usually hate research but I’ve loved researching this topic and I’ve learnt so much.

Reflections: Students

• But what do we have to hand in? I can’t start until I know.• I loved making up my own questions. (This) made me more

comfortable with what I was researching.• The process took too long because I was capable of doing it on my

own. • Research is fun• The thing you have to know before you start researching is if you are

interested in the topic of not. And if you are not, you will not make a big effort to find the information you want. So, always choose a topic that you are interested in!...

• Research takes time and patience• That you don’t have to use all the information you collect.• That instead of just writing down the facts you also need to

elaborate and interpret it. • I learnt that having a choice of topic meant that I had freedom and

individuality. I enjoyed this because I was able to work on something no-one else did. More of this type of work would be good.

• I learnt the process of doing the assignment is just as important as the final product.

• I learnt that the library is a great place to go to study and learn, as it’s a great working environment.

Student reflections

• “I now understand that I need to search for very specific information which answers my question rather than finding general information like we usually do”.

• “Finding information was easy because I knew what to look for.”

• “Having different steps to take made it easy”

• “Going through all the process was time consuming. I didn’t like it”

• “All the steps were very time consuming but I can see how important they are now”

• “It was easy because we didn’t have to do it on our own”

• “Help from the teacher librarians made it easy”

• “It was good that we were allowed to bother the teachers if we didn’t know something.”

Reflections: teachers

• Guided inquiry enabled the staff to experience student research where the process was more important than the product.

• The project encouraged me to develop new approaches in developing critical thinking skills for the students. These skills enabled students to access information in greater depth… interventions have allowed students to progress, unblocking their progress.

• Whilst not being a practical tool for all learners, or groups, it does offer an alternative that virtually guarantees …. student engagement, ‘deep learning” and the promotion of ‘independent lifelong learning’

• I had no idea process was so important.

• I’ve heard some staff members talk about how good it has been. Yes please, it will be brilliant for my Geography students next year!

• The development of the students in setting questions, thinking about the period (of history) and interacting with their peers and the teachers was a joy to witness. The growth in the students was clearly visible even though at times they could not see this.

• Focus on deep knowledge as opposed to “cut and paste” learning and the importance of students constructing their own knowledge are crucial aspects of the project.

Reflections: Teacher Librarians

• This project enabled me to understand the relevance of seeking feedback, via the SLIM Toolkit, from students at critical stages of the information search process, in order to strategically develop instructional interventions without which students are unable to proceed with the research. I was able to document the changes that have occurred in both the student’s amount of knowledge and the substance of that knowledge. …..Students often reflect a sense of abandonment in the research process. In future I will feel confident to intervene at the critical stages.

Teaching as a Subversive Activity

“One you have learned how to ask relevant and

appropriate questions, you have learned how to learn and no one can keep you

from learning whatever you want or need to know”

Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner