Inquiry-based

Learning
(This section is condensed and adapted from Alberta Learning, Focus on Inquiry: A Teachers Guide to
Implementing Inquiry-based Learning [Edmonton, AB: Alberta Learning, 2004]).

Benefits of
Inquiry-based
Learning

Research suggests that using inquiry-based learning with

students can help them become more creative, more positive
and more independent.1 Inquiry-based learning provides
opportunities for students to:
develop skills they will need all their lives
learn to cope with problems that may not have clear
solutions
deal with changes and challenges to understandings
shape their search for solutions, now and in the future.

The Inquiry Model

Using an inquiry model helps students to internalize a process

for inquiry that is transferable to everyday life situations. The
model presented here uses a puzzle metaphor to help students
relate inquiry-based learning to their lives outside school.
Planning

Evaluating

Identify a topic area for inquiry

Identify possible information sources
Identify audience and presentation format
Establish evaluation criteria
Outline a plan for inquiry

Retrieving

Evaluate the product

Evaluate the inquiry
process and inquiry plan
Review and revise personal
inquiry model
Transfer learning to new
situations/beyond school

Develop an information
retrieval plan
Locate and collect resources
Select relevant information
Evaluate information
Review and revise the plan for
inquiry

Sharing
Communicate with the audience
Present new understandings
Demonstrate appropriate
audience behaviour

Processing

Establish a focus for inquiry

Choose pertinent information
Creating
Record information
Make connections and
Organize information
inferences
Create a product
Review and
Think about the audience
revise the
Revise and edit
plan for
Review and revise the plan for inquiry
inquiry

1. Khne (1995).

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Phases of the
Inquiry Model

Reflecting on the Process

Reflecting on the process is integral to all phases in the Inquiry
ModelPlanning, Retrieving, Processing, Creating, Sharing and
Evaluating. Reflection should address both the affective and
cognitive elements associated with metacognition.
Planning
Planning is the most important phase of the whole process.
Students should understand that the underlying purpose of
inquiry-based learning projects is to develop their learning to
learn skills. Inquiry-based learning begins with the inquirers
interest in or curiosity about a topicthe puzzle that needs to be
solved. At this phase of the inquiry process students often
experience a sense of optimism about the tasks ahead.
Retrieving
In this phase, students think about the information they have
and the information they want. They may need to spend
considerable time exploring and thinking about the information
they find before they come to a focus for their inquiry. This
pre-focus phase is at first enjoyable for students, as they
actively search for information related to their topic. But as the
number of resources they find increases, students may have
difficulty finding data specific to their inquiry or handling the
irrelevant data they find. Since many students are set in what
they want to find out, they may tune out, stop searching or
become frustrated at this point in the process.
Teachers can help students through this phase by emphasizing
that feelings of frustration are normal, and by teaching them
skills and strategies for selecting relevant information and for
adjusting and modifying inquiries.
Processing
This phase begins when the student has found a focus for the
inquiryan aspect of the topic area that the student decides to
investigate. Coming to a focus can be very difficult for students,
as it involves more than just narrowing the topic; it involves
coming to an authentic question, a personal perspective or a
compelling thesis statement.
Students usually experience a sense of relief and elation when
they have established a focus for their inquiry. Even so,
choosing pertinent information from resources is often a difficult
task: there may be too little information or too much information,
or the information may be too superficial or too in-depth for the
students. Often students will find information that is confusing or
contradictory, and may feel overwhelmed.

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Creating
The creating phase involves organizing the information, putting
it into ones own words and creating a presentation format.
Students often feel more confident at this phase and may want
to include all of their new learning in their product, resulting in
too much information. Teachers should help students to stay
focused in their presentation.
Sharing
If students have been given enough support throughout the
inquiry process, they are usually proud of their product and
eager to share it, regardless of the format or audience. They
may feel a bit nervous about presenting something in which they
take such ownership, and they may feel anxious that others may
not understand or appreciate their efforts. Nevertheless, they
generally feel that they have done well on this assignment.
Evaluating
When a research project is complete, students generally feel
relieved, happy and excited about their new skills and
understandings. In order to make sense of the inquiry process,
they need to evaluate their inquiry process and product,
understand and question the assessment criteria their teacher
has used, reflect on teacher feedback, and share their feelings
about the process.
Students should be able to articulate the importance of this kind
of work for developing their learning to learn skills, and to see
the connections between their inquiry work done in school and
work or activities done outside of school. They should also be
able to reflect on how their experience has influenced their
personal inquiry model and on what they have learned about
themselves as inquirers.

Inquiry Across the

Curriculum

Alberta programs of study present a variety of inquiry models.

While terms and processes may vary, the basic concepts of
inquiry-based learning emphasized in this document are
included in all programs of study. This document emphasizes
common aspects or elements in order to support an integrated,
cross-disciplinary approach to inquiry; however, teachers need
to use the latest version of curriculum documents to ensure that
they have the fullest and most current information in relation to
the inquiry-based outcomes for each program of studies.

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Facilitating
Inquiry-based
Learning

Teachers and administrators may have a variety of questions as

they consider how to implement inquiry-based learning. For
example:
When is inquiry-based learning worth doing?
Will inquiry-based learning help me meet curriculum
standards?
Will inquiry-based learning increase my students ability to
read, write and reason?
Will inquiry-based learning improve my students test
scores?
If I provide time for students to spend on inquiry-based
learning, what do I remove from my program? How do I
make time?
How do I manage an inquiry-based learning activity by
myself?
Which strategies are the most effective in teaching
inquiry-based learning?
What are some obstacles I may need to overcome to
implement inquiry-based learning?
Consider the following sample strategies for facilitating effective
inquiry-based learning. Note that some of these tasks may also
be performed by a teacherlibrarian.
Focus on real-life problems in the context of the curriculum
or community. For teacher-directed projects, provide
students with a choice of topics that are likely to be of
personal interest. For student-directed projects, provide
curriculum-related themes and allow students to generate
their own topic questions.
Approach inquiry with enthusiasm and excitement.
Admit that inquiry involves the unexpected for you and for
students.
Establish a collaborative relationship with students and
teacherlibrarian. Interact with students frequently and
actively.
Model the behaviours and language of the inquiry process in
your instruction.
Post the Inquiry Model in your classroom and the school
library.
Set a specific time for inquiry-based learning.
Provide students with time during class to plan and reflect
on the steps required to complete their inquiries.
Individualize teaching. Students with special needs and
students who lack inquiry-related skills may need extra
assistance or adaptations at various stages of the process.
Provide information and background to motivate students.

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Designing Inquiry
Activities

Facilitate the process by discussing, clarifying, supporting

and monitoring as students gather and present information.
Motivate students to locate, analyze and use information;
and assist students to clarify thinking through questioning,
paraphrasing and talking through tasks.
Facilitate and model questioning behaviours (e.g., providing
opportunities for students to develop and ask questions).
Use technology to advance inquiry by doing what would
otherwise be impossible.
Help students understand that the information they find,
whether in a library book, in a newspaper or on an Internet
site, was created by people with particular beliefs and
purposes and that information is not just objective facts.
Teach students how to compare, contrast and synthesize
data, as well as skills and strategies for focusing their
project.
Teach students audience appreciation skills and strategies.
Reflect on and modify the process as necessary to make it
really count.
Assess students progress in content and process areas.
Seek students input in developing assessment criteria for
the research product and process.

Students learn inquiry skills, strategies and processes more

readily when inquiry-based learning activities are:
integrated with curriculum
taught with a focus on developing lifelong learners and
critical thinkers
viewed by students as relevant to their needs
related to students past experiences
shared through cooperative learning.
Well-designed inquiry-based learning projects are a means by
which many curricular outcomes can be accomplished by
students each year. Planning is the key to success for teachers
who develop the lesson plans for the inquiry activity, as well as
for students who are involved in the inquiry. Planning successful
inquiry-based learning activities requires taking time to think
through the process.
Inquiry-based learning requires many skills and strategies and a
wide range of resources from beyond the school library and
classroom. It is important that teachers select a curriculum
theme that is worthy of the time and effort involved and that will
be interesting to students for more than a short-term period.
Early selection of a theme and inquiry activity will give teachers
the time to build the students background knowledge, to
develop the inquiry skills and strategies that students will need,
and to acquire or add to the required resources. Consider the
following process for developing inquiry-based learning
activities.

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Step 1: Begin planning

If there is a school-wide plan for integrating inquiry-based
learning activities, consult this plan first. School plans vary the
content areas from year to year, and ensure that students are
learning, practising and improving their inquiry skills as they
progress through the grades. If your school has not yet
developed a school-wide plan, begin with the programs of study,
which all have inquiry-based outcomes, and select an area that
will interest both you and your students.
Step 2: Work with others
The ideal situation for developing an inquiry unit occurs when
team teaching or cooperative planning occurs between a
teacherlibrarian and teacher or between two or more teachers
(Alberta Education, 1990, pp. 2829).
The following are some possibilities for teams:
Work with another teacher or all teachers in a particular
grade to develop and team teach the inquiry unit. In this
team-planning approach, each teacher brings special talents
that can be used. The team approach also divides the
labour and lightens the workload. After the unit planning is
complete, each teacher adapts the unit to the needs of his
or her students.
Work with a teacherlibrarian to plan inquiry-based learning
units together. The teacherlibrarian brings to the activity
expertise in inquiry-based learning, resource selection, Web
site selection and evaluation, and, most importantly,
strategies for integrating information literacy skills into the
inquiry.
If no teacherpartners are available, discuss your inquiry
with the library technician or assistant and ask for support to
locate a variety of print and nonprint resources.
Step 3: Engage students
Decide which unit provides the best opportunities for
inquiry-based learning.
Begin with the program of studies and your yearly plan.
Look for entry points, as well as topics that will engage
students interests and involve a problem or issue.
Choose a curriculum-based theme for which students bring
a strong background of experience or knowledge, or for
which background knowledge will be developed prior to the
inquiry.
Consider if the theme presents opportunities to engage all
students in your class, including male and female students,
the highly motivated and those who require a lot of
encouragement.
Consider that a complex topic may require additional
guidance for students so that they realize the importance of
the issue.
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Think about resources in your school and community. Keep

in mind that some themes popular with students in
Knowledge and Employability courses may not have
resources available at the appropriate reading level.

Step 4: Determine the scope

Decide on the scope and end product of the inquiry activity.
If teaching inquiry-based learning for the first time, limit the
scope of the project in terms of time, topic selection and end
product. Focus on ensuring student success.
Consider how many product formats you are willing to teach
or accept.
Plan for students to share information in a way that is simple
or familiar to them.
Step 5: Identify resources
Select appropriate resources and plan for their use. The
inquiry activity may have to be redefined at this point to take
into account available resources.
Choose resources in different formats (e.g., print, nonprint,
digital, multimedia) and at different reading and literacy
levels.
Use a station approach in the classroom or library if
resources are very limited.
Arrange or confirm access to resources.
Schedule time for students to browse through resources in
the school library or classroom before the inquiry begins so
that they become comfortable with resources other than
textbooks.
Step 6: Create a timeline
Determine the order in which the unit and inquiry activity will
be taught.
Plan the inquiry project for the mid-point to the end of a unit,
once students have learned background knowledge on the
theme and had a chance to think about questions of
particular interest to them.
Let students know in advance when they will start an inquiry
activitythis allows students to think about topics, talk to
friends and family about the topic, and gather resources in
advance. It may also help with choosing and narrowing the
topic, and in identifying any controversial issues (Alberta
Learning, 2004, pp. 8283).
Step 7: Select inquiry and ICT skills
Determine which inquiry and ICT skills (if appropriate) will be
stressed throughout the inquiry and which will be taught
prior to the inquiry activity.
Assess students competencies in a variety of inquiry skills.
Students can help identify what skills they know and what
skills require instruction.
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Analyze what inquiry skills will be required by a project and

what to teach in advance.
Limit the number of skills taught within an inquiry activity.

Step 8: Plan monitoring and assessment

Plan in advance for the monitoring and assessment of the
inquiry process and the final product. Planning for
assessment provides the foundation for thinking about what
students already know, what they need to know, what
instructional emphases will be given and what students will
be expected to learn through the inquiry activity.
Determine how you will monitor and assess student
progress in both content and process on an ongoing basis.
Determine how you will make students aware of the
monitoring and assessment (both formative and summative)
requirements.
Plan for student self-evaluation.
Plan for reflecting on the process.
Plan for evaluating and revising the assignment at the end
of the process.
Determine how you will know if the process has been
successful.
Step 9: Begin the inquiry
Introduce the inquiry activity to the class as an integral part
of classroom studies.
Keep a list of questions, issues and problems that arise
during the unit for further investigation.
Spread the inquiry activity throughout the unit so that
students have time to think about a topic of interest, talk to
parents and other family members, and find a focus.
Step 10: Determine what worked
During and after the inquiry activity, record those strategies that
were most and least effective.

Assessing Inquiry

Teachers need to plan for diagnostic, formative and summative

assessment when designing inquiry activities.

Diagnostic assessment is used to find out which inquiry

skills and strategies students know and can use, and then to
build on these strengths during the inquiry. Areas of difficulty
can be targeted for planned instruction during the inquiry
activity. Diagnostic assessment also helps teachers
recognize how to differentiate instruction for individual
students in a class.

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Formative assessment is critical in inquiry activities.

Ongoing, formative assessment helps teachers to identify
and monitor students development of skills and strategies
for planning, retrieving, processing, creating and reflecting
during the inquiry activity. This ongoing assessment allows
teachers to modify instruction, adapt the inquiry activity and
support students with special instructional needs.

Summative assessment is carried out at the end of the

inquiry activity to provide information to students and
parents about progress and achievement on the inquiry
activity. Summative assessment assesses both the content
and the process of the inquiry, and helps the teacher and
the students plan for further inquiries.

Planning for assessment requires that teachers consider the

purposes for assessment in the inquiry activity, and then choose
appropriate strategies for each of the three types of
assessment. See Assessment for possible strategies.

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Differentiating Instruction for Inquiry-based Learning Activities

Sources

Working
with Others

Topic

The developmental level and individual abilities of the students will have an impact on the
nature of an inquiry-based learning activity, the end product and how it is shared. Consider the
following strategies for students with limited, moderate and advanced experience with
inquiry-based learning. For all students, appropriate positive feedback and support is necessary.
For students with limited
inquiry experience

For students with more

inquiry experience

For students who are

advanced inquirers

Provide concrete,
pre-selected topics for
students to choose from; or
allow students to select
specific topics, with guidance,
within a general curriculum
theme selected by the
teacher.

Allow students to select, with

guidance, issues-based
topics (and perspectives on
the topics) within a general
curriculum theme selected by
the teacher.

Allow students to select

specific topics (e.g., issuesbased, cultural, historical,
comparative, informative,
biographical) within
parameters set by the
teacher. Have students
support a position for thesisbased inquiry.

Provide background
knowledge for students to
work from, or encourage
students to work their own
experiences, to build basic
understandings of the theme.

Provide opportunities for

students to build on their
general background
understandings of the theme.

Provide opportunities for

students to build on their
general background
understandings of their topic.

Allow students to talk to

others, using appropriate
protocol, to gather information
about their topic.

Allow students to work with

others to compare
understandings of and
sensitivities to the topic.

Allow students to work with

others to compare
understandings of and
sensitivities to the topic.

Provide carefully selected

resources, including Internet
sites, for students. Encourage
and support additional
student research.

Help students develop and

implement a plan for finding
and evaluating information.

Help students develop and

implement a plan for finding
and evaluating information
from a variety of sources.

Teach basic skills for locating

information through methods
such as online library
catalogues, subject
directories, keyword
searches, tables of contents
and indexes. Provide specific
strategies for using Internet
search engines.

Reinforce and expand skills

for locating information
through methods such as
online library catalogues,
subject directories, keyword
searches, tables of contents
and indexes. Provide guided
instruction for using Internet
for research.

Review skills for locating

information through methods
such as online library
catalogues, subject
directories, keyword
searches, tables of contents
and indexes, as necessary.
Provide guided instruction for
using Internet for research.

Teach interviewing skills that

consider the appropriate
protocol for each situation.

Reinforce and expand skills

for conducting interviews in
an appropriate and ethical
manner (e.g., consideration of
privacy and confidentiality).

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Information
Report
Evaluation
Monitoring

For students with limited

inquiry experience

For students with more

inquiry experience

For students who are

advanced inquirers

Teach skills for reading

simple informational texts.

Teach specific skills for

reading more complex
informational texts.

Teach specific skills for

reading and evaluating
complex informational texts,
as needed.

Teach note-taking skills and

provide a graphic organizer
for recording information.

Teach note-taking skills,

including highlighting
techniques, and provide a
choice of graphic organizers
or other formats for students
to record information.

Help students to select the

most appropriate note-taking
strategies for recording
information in particular
situations.

Provide specific guidelines for

students to create a basic
report or presentation.

Provide specific guidelines for

students to create a basic
report or presentation, but
encourage students to be
creative in their product.

Students create a report or

presentation based on
guidelines developed in the
planning phase and in
response to the needs and
interests of the intended
audience.

Encourage students to begin

using technology to locate,
organize and create
presentations.

Encourage students to use

technology appropriately to
enhance their presentations
and reports.

Encourage students to use

technology appropriately and
creatively to enhance their
presentations and reports.

Have students share their

final report/project with small
groups within the classroom
and/or with family.

Have students share their

final report/project with small
groups, other classes and/or
family.

Have students share their

final report/project with larger
groups, other classes, family
and/or the community.

Identify and share evaluation

criteria for the process and
the product, and ensure that
students understand this
criteria.

Identify and share evaluation

criteria for the process and
the product, and ensure that
students understand this
criteria.

Identify and share evaluation

criteria for the process and
the product, and ensure that
students understand this
criteria.

Involve students in setting

evaluation criteria for the
process and the product.

Involve students in setting

evaluation criteria for the
process and the product.

Involve students in setting

evaluation criteria for the
process and the product.

Teach and provide

opportunities to practise
appropriate peer-evaluation
skills.

Teach and provide

opportunities to practise
appropriate self-evaluation
and peer-evaluation skills.

Provide opportunities to
practise self-evaluation and
peer-evaluation of the final
product and the inquiry
process.

Monitor progress at the end

of each class.

Monitor progress at the end

of each class.

Monitor progress at the end

of each class.

Create time for students to

talk about their feelings and
progress each class.

Teach specific strategies to

help students monitor and
adapt their own inquiry skills
and strategies during the
process.

Teach specific strategies to

help students monitor and
adapt their own inquiry skills
and strategies during the
process.

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