Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century
Carol C. Kuhlthau, Leslie K. Maniotes, and Ann K. Caspari
Libraries Unlimited, 2007

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Chapter One

Introduction to Guided Inquiry – what is it, what’s new, why now?

“Inquiry helps kids to think creatively.  When you capture their imagination they begin to think creatively and creativity solves problems for life.”  Middle school librarian

How do we educate our students to meet the demands for the high levels of literacy of the technological workplace?  How do we prepare our students for this global information environment?  How do we enable our students to draw on the knowledge and wisdom of the past while using the technology of the present for advancing new discoveries for the future?  How do we prepare our students to think for themselves, make good decisions, develop expertise and learn through life?  These are fundamental questions for school reform in the 21st century, and they confront teachers in schools around the world.  Basic to meeting these challenges is developing student competence for learning in information-laden environments and for finding meaning from a variety of sources of information.  Many teachers are turning to inquiry learning in subjects across the curriculum to meet the challenge of educating their students for life long learning. 

Guided Inquiry offers an integrated unit of inquiry planned and guided by an instructional team of a school librarian and teachers, together allowing students to gain deeper understandings of subject area curriculum content and information literacy concepts.  It combines often overlooked outside resources with materials in the school library.  The team guides students toward developing skills and abilities necessary for the workplace and daily living in the rapidly changing information environment of the 21st century.  But how is it different from what teachers and librarians have been doing all along?

PREPARING STUDENTS FOR A CHANGING WORLD

Worldwide access to information technology has turned attention to serious questions about education in countries across the globe (Friedman, 2006).  Educational leaders and policy makers are worried about the next generation of innovators and creators.  Schools are faced with the overwhelming challenge of preparing students to be successful, productive citizens in a changing world.  Vast quantities of information fuel this global society and the ability to locate, evaluate and use appropriate information for creation and innovation is essential.  Thoughtful educators seek ways to build student competencies for living and working with new technologies.  Educators in countries around the world are heatedly debating how to prepare students for living and working in the 21st century. 

Many countries sense that they are falling behind.  The U.S. in particular is concerned with the general level of literacy among low achieving students and the loss of human talent through the attrition of disadvantaged students in urban schools.  Kozol (2005) distressingly describes how schools for neediest and poorest populations return again and again to industrial age model of training students. 

The challenge for the 21st century school is to educate children for living and working in an information-rich technological environment.  Three basic charges of education in a free society are to prepare students for the workplace, citizenship and daily living.  Schools need to be reconfigured for the 21st century to ensure that all children are fully prepared.  To prepare students for the workplace, we must seriously consider how information technology changes the nature of work and raises new questions about how we contribute to and innovate productively in the global economy.  To prepare students for citizenship, consideration must be given to the ways that information technology changes our sense of community and raises pressing questions about how we participate as an informed electorate in a democratic society.  To prepare students for daily living, consideration must be given to the ways that information technology increases the complexity of everyday life and raises troubling questions about how we gain a sense of self in relation to others and experience creativity and joy in our personal lives.

INQUIRY LEARNING

Inquiry is an approach to learning whereby students find and use a variety of sources of information and ideas to increase their understanding of a problem, topic or issue.  It requires more of them than simply answering questions or getting a right answer.  It espouses investigation, exploration, search, quest, research, pursuit, and study.  Inquiry does not stand alone, it engages, interests and challenges students to connect their world with the curriculum.  Although it is often thought of as an individual pursuit, it is enhanced by involvement with a community of learners each learning from the other in social interaction.  However, without some guidance it can be daunting. 

GUIDING STUDENTS’ INQUIRY

Students gain competence by being guided through an inquiry process by teachers and librarians at each grade level.  Guided Inquiry, as we shall see, is grounded in sound research findings and built on solid professional practice.  Through Guided Inquiry students gain the ability to use the tools and resources for learning in and beyond the information age as they are learning the content of the curriculum and meeting subject area curriculum standards.  Guided Inquiry instructional teams help students develop research competency and subject knowledge as well as foster motivation, reading comprehension, language development, writing ability, cooperative learning and social skills.  All of which have been identified as essential for successful lifelong learning.

Guided Inquiry means careful planning, close supervision, ongoing assessment and targeted intervention by an instructional team of school librarians and teachers through the inquiry process that gradually leads students toward independent learning.  An integrated unit of inquiry is planned and guided by an instructional team of a school librarian and teachers.  Its ultimate goal is to develop independent learners who know how to expand their knowledge and expertise through skilled use of a variety of information sources employed both inside and outside of the school.  Resources inside the school, such as library materials, databases and other selected sources are supplemented and expanded by public libraries, local community resources, museums, and the Internet.    

WHAT’S NEW ABOUT GUIDED INQUIRY?

Term papers and research reports have been standard school assignments seemingly forever.  In some cases they are important culminating activities for a course of study.  But far too often they are merely extraneous assignments added on after the “real” teaching of the curriculum has been accomplished.  If they somehow improved students’ ability and skills for academic work, particularly for success in college, that was sufficient. 

Alas, many students suspected as much, viewing these assignments as academic exercises without much internal value or real life application.  This attitude became abundantly clear in the course of the lead author’s information seeking studies: students regularly informed her that the purpose of a research assignment was to learn how to do a bibliography or the format of a paper for college (Kuhlthau, 1988).  Still, as one student reflected, “Now that I think about it, I guess it was a missed opportunity.  I thought it was just one more needless school exercise.  If I knew I’d find out something of my own that was interesting I could have given more time.  I did it all the last night.”  In the past decade, we have seen research transformed from a traditional academic exercise into an important part of every day living.  In a different series of studies, a securities analyst attributed his success to viewing his work as “writing research papers for a living.”  His work involves investigating background information on an industry and a particular company within that industry, tracking current information and reporting with what he calls “an angle that provides value for his clients.”  The lawyers in that study saw extensive research seeking as an essential for constructing a strategy in a particularly complex trial.

Yet for many students, school seems disconnected from their lives.  Project based learning has been employed in some schools to motivate students.  This approach seeks to get students involved in an extended project that requires gathering information in order to build something.  Project based learning is a good step in the right direction, at times successful in engaging students in deeper learning.  However, project based learning falls short in two respects.  One, it over emphasizes product and under emphasizes the learning process.  Second, students are frequently left to their own devices; and when parents step in, many end up doing the actual research.

Educators who use the KWL framework (Ogle, 1986), like those using project based learning, are well on their way to teaching thorough Guided Inquiry.  They ask their students, What do I know? (K); What do I want to learn? (W); and What did I learn? (L).  These questions are the seeds of a constructivist approach.  Guided Inquiry simply extends this model by insisting students think about the facts and ideas they are encountering.  The Guided Inquiry instructional team pushes the KWL framework further to incorporate, how do I find out? How do I share what I learned? What will I do next time?  Through focusing on learning new information, finding new information and connecting it to what students already know, the Guided Inquiry team leads each student through the joint processes of constructing new knowledge and sharing it with others.  Asking, “What will I do next time?” fosters reflection that enables transference to other situations of inquiry and promotes the metacognition of higher order thinking.  This reflection incorporates thinking about both content, (what did I learn?), and process, (how did I learn?) that students gain a deeper appreciation of information seeking and use.

Extending KWL Questions for Guided Inquiry

Inquiry learning in general emphasizes those questions and ideas that motivate students to want to learn more and create ways to share what they have learned.  Guided Inquiry raises the bar even further to move students to a higher level of thinking and learning by focusing instructive interventions at each stage of the inquiry process.  In Guided Inquiry the instructional team concentrates on what students are thinking, feeling and doing as they are learning throughout the inquiry process.  The end product becomes a natural way of sharing their learning with the rest of the students in their learning community.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GUIDED INQUIRY AND OTHER TYPES OF INSTRUCTION?

Guided Inquiry is a preparation for life long learning not just preparation for a test.  While it is important that students are able to show what they know, many test oriented approaches are counterproductive, in that they do not foster the lasting connections essential for a person educated a rapidly changing information environment.  Inquiry learning is effective for preparing students to think deeply about a subject so that they are bound to succeed in tests authentic to the learning situation.  Guided Inquiry targets assessments to the learner and the situation as it is integrated into the process.  The result is lasting learning that has meaning and application in students’ lives.

Guided Inquiry is integrated into the content of the curriculum; it is not an additional subject in and of itself.  While inquiry is a way of learning the content of the curriculum, Guided Inquiry has the instructional team of teachers, librarians and other specialists to enhance subject content through their respective expertise, making it more interesting, relevant and thought provoking.  Students are actively engaged in the subject content, motivating them to pursue important questions and attain a deeper understanding of the content under study.

Guided Inquiry connects the content of the curriculum to the student’s world through thoughtful planning and adaptability. The instructional team works as one to plan and implement guidance for students with each member contributing his or her special expertise.  The team works in concert to provide the full range of learning for students rather than each member tackling a particular piece in isolation of the others.  Each team member collaborates on all aspects of learning from the initial planning of the unit through all stages of implementation adapting as students progress.

Guided Inquiry incorporates transferable information literacy concepts into the course of an inquiry process.  It does not teach isolated information skills that are difficult for students to recall and apply.  Too much of the mechanics on searching and resources at the beginning of research discourages students and detract them from the interesting ideas and questions that motivate them to learn through the inquiry process (Kuhlthau, 1985).  Rather than attempting to teach all there is to know about information seeking prior to the assignment, Guided Inquiry incorporates information location, evaluation and use concepts throughout the research process.  Lasting information literacy is developed in practice when both information concepts and search skills in the inquiry process can be recalled and applied as needed. 

Guided Inquiry involves students in every stage of the learning process from selecting what to investigate, to formulating a focused perspective and presenting their learning in the final product.  There is rarely a correct answer to a prescribed question imposed by the teacher or text.  Instead, Guided Inquiry incorporates reflection throughout the process with the end product as evidence of knowledge construction and deeper understanding.

Guided Inquiry students, teachers, and librarians collaborate and work together on ideas as they move through the inquiry process.  Students work as a community of learners helping and learning from each other rather than as individuals working exclusively on private tasks.  The teachers and librarians do the same.  It can be difficult to script how the inquiry process will progress, but we will help.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS?

There can be no question that Guided Inquiry requires much time, attention and commitment. Why make the investment?
Guided Inquiry creates an environment that motivates students to learn by providing opportunities for them to construct their own meaning and develop deep understanding.  This approach engages all students not just those who have already shown that they are academically inclined. In the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL) study of student learning through inquiry projects conducted by Todd and Kuhlthau (2005), a wide range of students participated including those classified with learning disabilities, students at risk for dropping out of school, as well as ESL (English as a second language) students.  Every one of these students were shown to benefit from learning through inquiry.  They gained a sense of their own learning process by successfully pursuing a project from start to finish.  But more important, they learned strategies and skills transferable to other inquiry projects and other situations where information would be needed.  Independence in research and learning, development a variety of skills, social as well as language and reading skills are embedded in the Guided Inquiry approach.

Teachers and librarians can also benefit from Guided Inquiry in a number of important ways.  As they share responsibility in an instructional team, they also share in expertise of their team members, as well as in the satisfaction of accomplishment and the success of even their most difficult students.  There is no limit to the size of the team.  Basic pairing of school librarian and subject area teachers can be expanded to include other staff such as the technology teacher, literacy and reading specialist, study skills teacher, special subject specialists.  Outside experts can also be called upon: such as public librarians, children and young adult librarians, museum educators, and community experts.  Teachers benefit by the enhancement of content areas of the curriculum. Librarians increase their professional contribution in the school by being involved in meaningful learning with students.  The library is an active learning environment where information literacy and curriculum standards are met simultaneously.  Guided Inquiry allows for brainstorming and planning with more creativity and hence more satisfaction for the expert as well as the students. 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR ADMINISTRATORS AND PARENTS?

Administrators including superintendents, principals, supervisors, and curriculum coordinators set the tone of the learning environment and provide the climate for the education of students.  They provide the funding and support for promoting programs of education and encouraging methods of teaching and ways of learning that match their outlook and meet their goals.  Guided Inquiry provides opportunities for administrators who are seeking ways to change a school to make it more in touch with the needs of 21st century living and working.

Parents often feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of assisting their children and teenagers with research assignments.  In many traditional research assignments students are left on their own through much of the learning process.  Concerned parents fill in as best they can.  Guided Inquiry puts the responsibility back with the educators where it belongs.  Parents are aware that this is fairer to all students.  It takes the burden of teaching from parents and places it squarely in the hands of the instructional team and the student.  Guided Inquiry makes students more interested in school and learning; and parents are well rewarded when they see their children becoming responsible learners.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR ME?

1. It raises the standard of my research assignments

Motivation and interest are key elements in inquiry learning.  Students use a wide range of sources of information to explore ideas rather than being confined to one textbook of predigested facts.  They form their own understandings through conversation and writing throughout the inquiry process.  They work with other students to formulate their ideas but are encouraged to create deep understanding for themselves.  They gain a sense of ownership and accomplishment in the work they are producing that gradually leads to competence and expertise.

2. It increases the depth and breadth of what I can offer

Guided Inquiry allows students to gain a greater understanding of subject area curriculum content and information literacy concepts.  At the same time students are developing competency in reading, writing and speaking, and in turn gaining social skills through interacting, cooperation and collaborating with other students.  In addition they are learning how to learn in an information rich environment.  Students are engaged in five kinds of learning: curriculum content, information literacy, learning processes, literacy competencies, and social abilities.  Any subject area content can be applied to Guided Inquiry as long as the subject involves an inquiry that is deeper than mere fact finding.

3. The Role of Assessment in Guided Inquiry

Assessment is the means by which the instructional team knows how to guide students through the inquiry process.  It is folded into the learning process providing  evidence of problems and indication of when intervention is needed.  In particular, longitudinal assessment, determining what students know and can do over an extended period of time, offers extensive information about students’ progress, incorporating content area learning, information literacy, learning approaches, literacy skills, and social abilities.  Assessment also supports the continuity of Guided Inquiry from primary grades through secondary school.

RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT OF SCHOOL LIBRARIES ON STUDENT LEARNING

There is substantial evidence that student benefit from learning through school libraries. A review of some of the major research on the impact of school libraries on student learning indicates the values of engaging students in Guided Inquiry.

During the last half of the 20th century a growing body of research demonstrated the impact of school libraries on academic achievement.  In the 1960s Mary Gaver (1963) of Rutgers University compared the test scores of students in schools with centralized school libraries with the scores of students in schools without libraries.  The study conducted in 271 schools in 13 states found that the test scores of students in schools with centralized libraries managed by qualified librarians were higher than students in schools without libraries or qualified librarians. However, the volume of data generated by this study was difficult to calculate with the technology of the day.  By the 1980s computers had made massive calculation possible as demonstrated by SchoolMatch a national commercial database of school statistics.  In a National Public Radio interview, SchoolMatch executive William Bainbridge reported that the single factor with the greatest influence on students’ school performance was spending on school libraries.

Inspired by the SchoolMatch result, Keith Curry Lance and his colleagues (2001) at the Colorado State Library conducted extensive large scale statewide studies throughout the 1990s based on the study design developed by Gaver using schools rather than students as the unit of analysis.  By 2005, the Colorado study model had been replicated and elaborated upon in more than a dozen states.  Collectively they have studied the impact of libraries in approximately 8,700 schools with enrollments totaling more than 2.6 million students.  The studies elaborated upon the original Colorado study model by identifying specific activities of school staff that constituted playing an instructional role. 

The Lance teams studied the impact of libraries on standardized test scores in approximately 8,700 schools with enrollments totaling more than 2.6 million students. They found that “across states and grade levels, test scores correlated positively and statistically significantly with library staff and collection size; library staff activities related to learning and teaching, information access and delivery, and program administration; and the availability of networked computers, both in the library and elsewhere in the school, that provide access to library catalogs, databases, and the World Wide Web.”  The cause- and-effect claim associated with these correlations was strengthened by the reliability of the relationships between key library variables (i.e. staffing, collection size, spending) and test scores when other school and community conditions were taken into account.”  These studies revealed that the “two most consistent predictors of test scores, when all potential predictors were considered, were the prevalence of students from poor households and the level of development of the school library.” (ALA interview with Keith Curry Lance by Danny Callison editor of SLMR 2005 www.ala.org/ala/ala.pubsandjournals) It is clear from these studies that learning in high quality school libraries is of considerable benefit to students. 

At the First International Research Symposium sponsored by The Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries at Rutgers University (CISSL) in April 2005, Lance gave a keynote address entitled, “Enough Already.” He stressed the need to move beyond studies of correlation with standardized test scores and to research that reveals ways to assess, intervene and improve student learning in school libraries. CISSL has taken up just such an agenda of research on the impact of school libraries on student learning and the development programs of Guided Inquiry (Todd, Kuhlthau & Heinstrom, 2005).   In a series of studies, the CISSL team has developed an assessment tool called Student Learning through Inquiry Measure (SLIM).  SLIM is applied in Guided Inquiry to assess progress of students’ learning and to indicate when and what intervention is needed.  Chapter 8 presents a full discussion of SLIM as an important assessment tool for Guided Inquiry.  

LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY BEHIND

Much has been written about rethinking and redefining schools to accomplish the mission of educating the next generation for living and working in an information-laden democratic society.  To address this critical need, a number of school reform advocates have called for organizing around an inquiry approach to learning.  However, few educators have recognized the power of the school library as an integral element in designing the information age school. Recent studies have shown a significant impact of school libraries on student learning (Lance, 2001; Todd and Kuhlthau, 2005). This program of Guided Inquiry describes how the school library and the school librarian are employed to implement an instructional team approach for meeting curriculum objectives in a variety of subject areas while developing the research competence essential for an educated person in the 21st century.  The school librarian brings the resource and research expertise to the instructional team. Other members of the instructional team bring specializations that combine to provide a powerful learning environment for students. An instructional team approach to Guided Inquiry incorporates multiple ways of knowing and provides students with essential competencies for a changing information society.  However, without the school librarian the team is missing the key person for reforming schools for the information age and beyond.  The school librarian has the expertise for providing a wide range of high quality resources and the knowledge for guiding students in locating, evaluating and using these resources for constructing deep learning.

The configuration of the 21st century school is quite different from its 20th century industrial age counterpart.  The old model where one teacher and one class of students was the norm is surely past its prime.  The information age and beyond calls for a team approach, each member bringing his or her expertise to create a collaborative learning environment.   It requires research competency and subject knowledge in the context of fostering cooperative learning, reading comprehension, language development and social skills.

Through Guided Inquiry students see school learning and real life meshed in integral ways.  They develop higher order thinking and strategies for seeking meaning and competences for creating and innovating.  21st century schools are challenged to develop that human talent coupling the rich resources of the school library with those of the surrounding community and the wider world.