What is inquiry research?

It is the process by which students learn to:

• Formulate appropriate research questions

• Organize search data

• Analyze and evaluate the data found

• Communicate the results in a coherent fashion

How does research inquiry fit into my lessons?

• Inquiry is a part of everyone’s curriculum.

• It is not something more to add to your already overloaded curriculum.

• It creates researchers with the ability to adapt the process they learn into real life situations.

Why is inquiry research important?• Developing the inquiry process in students is what

takes a student from report writer to researcher.

Report Writer to Researcher:

• Reading

• Investigating

• Thinking

• Presenting

Skills Students Develop:

•Critical Thinking

•Creative Thinking

•Problem Solving

•Meaningful Learning

•Effective Communication

Why is inquiry research important?

• It helps students become independent thinkers and lifelong learners through meaningful learning strategies.

• Components of Inquiry

– Questioning -- Inference

– Exploration -- Reflection

– Assimilation

What will this do for students?

• Allow students the intellectual opportunity to select and specify a topic to investigate. 

• Give students the opportunity to use a variety of traditional and non-traditional resources, which allows them to interpret, analyze and evaluate.

• Offer a variety of options for project conclusions, including a peer evaluation aspect. 

More of what this will do for students

• Include a presentation component for a selected audience (fellow students, parents, other educators) to help students develop oral presentation skills. 

Allow students to complete a self- evaluation, so they can learn from

their experience. 

More of what this will do for students.

As a result of

ownership of the

experience reverts to

the students; it is no

longer dependent on

the educators.

Creating successful student inquirers

• Build the lesson from the students’ base knowledge. 

• Provide expectations, guidelines, and requirements in writing and review in class. 

• Use a research journal for optimum organization success and easier evaluation of the process. 

Creating successful student inquirers

• Show students examples of quality work.

• Give students the skills to use the information tools necessary.

• Guide students through the whole process (beginning through assessment).

• Allow students to have an audience other than the teacher.

• Have students internalize their experience through daily reflections, annotated bibliography, and notes. 

• Have students develop an annotated bibliography that includes their story in the annotation, as research well as details about the source.

Creating successful student inquirers

Creating successful student inquirers

Provide for student success by offering final product options that meet most learning styles.

Provide templates for various stages of the research process.

Inquiry research questions and prompts

Research Question Help

• Who• What• When

• Where

• Why

• How

• Defend . . .

• In what ways . . .

• Predict . . .• If . . ., then . . .

• How do . . . How does . . . How did . . .

• What procedures . . . What actions . . .

• What are/were the effects of . . .

• What happens/happened when . . .

• What was the role of . . . in . . .

• What was the difference between . . .

• What causes/caused . . .

• What are/were the results of . . .

• How/Why did . . . decide to . . .

• What is/was the relationship

between . . . and . . .

• What are/were the competing

sides . . .

• How does/did . . . change . . .

• What are some possible

consequences . . .

Recursive Nature of Questioning in Inquiry Research

Formulate researchquestion

Determine best method and

source to answer question

Answer

raises newquestions

Answer question

adequately

Sample inquiry template

EXPLORATION Activity

• General Topic we have been studying: _________________________________

• Related topic I want to investigate: _________________________________

• Why I chose this topic. Be specific and relate it to yourself as much as possible (family, personal, community interest or connection to this topic):

• What I all ready know about this topic:

• Questions I want to find the answer to about this topic:

?

?

??

?

?

Annotated bibliography guidelines

Writing an Annotation

• What was the specific format of the source? (encyclopedia, interview, video, etc.)

• Where did I find this source? (public library, school media center, home, etc.)

• How did I find this source?

• Generally, what kind of information could be found in the source?

• What information did I find in/with it that was important to me?

• What did I really like about this source?

• What did I find difficult about this source?

Annotated bibliography template“Student Inquiry in the Research

Process”

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

General topic we have been studying:_________________________________________________

Specific Topic I chose for my research:_________________________________________________

Citation #1__________________________________________________________________________________________________

ANNOTATION: _________________________________ _________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Citation #2__________________________________________________________________________________________________

ANNOTATION: _________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Storyboard example

Concealing Colors

Biochromes Color Change

How Animal Camouflage Works

Express Mood Element of Disguise

Disruptive Coloration

Storyboard template1. Your task is to develop a storyboard to help you organize your thoughts just like you

would if you were a producer developing a music video, television program, or movie.

2. Lay your story out with a picture in a box of what will be happening for each major event.

3. Place a label below each picture, between 1-3 words, to represent the action that will be occurring.

4. Only use as many boxes as you need. If you need more boxes, add sheets of paper.

5. If you don’t like the sequence that you’ve placed things, rearrange the boxes until you like the order.

6. Finally, your last event should always summarize the events in some way that brings closure for your audience.

Title Page

Picture Caption

Bibliography

Picture Caption

Picture Caption

Storyboard template

Picture Caption

Picture Caption

Picture Caption

Assessment of inquiry process

• What is a rubric?

• In Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning, rubrics are defined as a

– “scaled set of criteria that clearly defines for the student and the teacher what a range of acceptable and unacceptable performances looks like.”

Rubric design helpful hints

VARIATION:

Instead of the educators

developing the rubric

guidelines, hold a class

discussion and allow the

students to take ownership

of their learning by helping

to create their own

requirements for

excellence.

Sample rubric

0

No effort

1

Minimal effort

2

Below average

3

average

4

Good

5

Excellent

Inquiry

Process

Deadlines

Bibliography

Display

Presentation

Mechanics

The Information

Research Journal

Comments

What do I do if I do not like rubrics?

• Use a checklist. 

• A checklist is a guide through the process and product. 

• Just like any rubric, the checklist would be given to the student before any work begins, so that the student knows what the expectations are and can excel toward those expectations. 

EVALUATION CHECKLIST: The Product 3 points 2 points 1 point 0Excellent Satisfactory Needs Improvement No Effort

VISUAL___on time—met deadlines___accurate, correct, and significant facts___colorful and creative___neat and organized___shows originality___no plagiarism___emphasizes important points in student’s research___credit/descriptive captions appear for graphics/documents when appropriate___content emphasizes important points in student’s thoughts and opinions

ORAL PRESENTATION___on time—met deadlines___accurate, correct, and significant facts___engaging, enthusiastic, interesting___varies pace and does not use a monotone___faces audience___engages audience and answers their questions accurately___directs audience, when appropriate, to emphasize points

WRITTEN___on time—met deadlines___accurate, correct, and significant facts___purpose clearly stated___proper grammar, punctuation, spelling___uses words the students understands and can explain___used complete sentences and variety of sentence formats___no plagiarism___contains original thoughts___covers topic thoroughly: uses relevant details and examples

EVALUATION CHECKLIST: The Research Journal

+ complete satisfactory - incomplete credit

1. TASK DEFINITION

___includes general topic notes from class discussions

___Pre-search Activity complete

2. INFORMATION SEEKING STRATEGIES

___includes general topic notes from class discussions

___Questioning complete

___Exploration Activity 1 complete

___Exploration Activity 2 complete

___Strategy complete

3. LOCATION & ACCESS

___includes general topic notes from class discussions

4. USE OF INFORMATION

___includes general topic notes from class discussions

___Source Note completed for each resource

___Source notes are in proper format

___Source Note summaries are in student’s words

Interview:

___Interview arranged appropriately

___Interviewer selected appropriate interviewee

___Interview questions appropriate and valuable

___Interview summary comprehensive and insightful

Survey:

___Survey arranged appropriately

___Selected survey format appropriate

___Survey questions appropriate and valuable

___Survey summary comprehensive and insightful

5. SYNTHESIS

___Dissemination form complete

___Dissemination tool selected appropriate to

audience & topic

___Story board complete and detailed

___Peer Conference complete

___Peer Evaluation complete and insightful

___Peer Evaluation guidelines followed

6. EVALUATION

___Daily Reflection completed for each inquiry day

___Daily Reflections include student’s thoughts

___includes general topic notes from class discussions

___Self Evaluation complete

___Self Evaluation includes constructive criticism

___Self Evaluation includes honest personal

assessment

___Peer Evaluation 2 complete

___Peer Evaluation 2 insightful and friendly

Bibliography

___turned in on time

___bibliography complete

___bibliography annotations include

personal reflections

___follows bibliographic format

CISIP* Inquiry Development Model

Evaluation

Assessment

Engagement

Explanatory

Extension Exploration

Academic Learning

Development

*Communication in Science Inquiry Project

Thank you!