Inquiry Findings

The infographic below was developed using Abilock and Williams (2014) framework to visually present a summary of findings into the question of how teachers can support students to meaningfully engage with the inquiry process. To peruse this line of inquiry it was necessary to first consider what skills were required of students and what level of guidance can be offered without undermining the value of inquiry learning. Further consideration was given to the processes that can frame an inquiry process and the forms of scaffolding that can support each step. A range of scholarly and professional sources led to the conclusion that these supports needed to be both overarching, in terms of providing a broad framework or model of inquiry to follow, and targeted, with specific intervention options available to support students through each step. As the latter questions became the focus of my inquiry, the most logical way organise the significant volume of information located seemed to be a loosely interpreted table made up of circles which aligns some options for structuring the overarching model. This allows for the comparison of various models and can act as a starting point for educators to select or modify their preferred model. A list of support strategies aligned to the broadly defined stages of inquiry follows, with emphasis on selecting a range of core and unique strategies from across the literature. An ocean theme unifies the visualisations of the infographic and supports the metaphor of a ‘sea’ of inquiry. This metaphor reflects the open nature of inquiry and avoids offering a specific path or map that must be followed. Nautical symbols focussing on navigational tools are used sparingly, and a contrasting blue, white and yellow theme further supports the metaphor.