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=Welcome to the Inquiry Questions Wiki! =

====**Goal**: To promote inquiry-based learning and research by generating and sharing examples of the types of questions that may encourage inquiry. (These questions are intended to be used as a bank of examples. We recognize that guiding students in their own question-building is an essential part of the inquiry model). ==== ====**Purpose of this Wiki**: To collaboratively generate inquiry-based research questions that are related to the [|learning outcomes of BC curricula, K-12]. ([|Searchable database of prescribed learning outcomes] ). ====

**Collaborators**: Teacher-librarians in the Langley School District

**Timeline**: Ongoing
=Inquiry Learning - A Working Definition =

//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. Students gain competence by being guided through an inquiry process by teachers and librarians at each grade level. //

(Carol Kuhlthau, Leslie Maniotes and Ann Caspari, //Guided Inquiry Learning in the Classroom//, 2007, p.1)

//Inquiry-based learning is a process where students formulate questions, investigate widely and then create new knowledge. That knowledge is new to the student and is used by the student to answer a question, to develop a solution or to support a position or point of view. The new knowledge is usually presented to others and may result in some sort of action...What is important to any inquiry is that students have choice so that they can develop the commitment to the question that will sustain them through the hard, messy work of retrieving, processing, and creating. //

(Jennifer Branch and Diane GallowaySolowan, //Inquiry-Based Learning: A Key to Student Success//, 2003, p. 6)

//Students' own curiosity and wonder should provide the seeds for meaningful learning. At the same time, students need assistance in shaping an essential or overarching question that drives their investigations and creating relevant and higher-order questions. //

(Violet Harada and Joan Yoshina//, Moving from Rote to Inquiry: Creating Learning That Counts, Library Media Connection,// October 2004, p. 22)

Alison Hewitt, Teacher-Librarian, R.E. Mountain Secondary, Langley, BC ahewitt@sd35.bc.ca

Logo source: BCTLA Points of Inquiry