Reflecting on my attempts to navigate the seas of inquiry I was fascinated to note that, despite not being aware of the process at the outset, my experience closely matched that outlined in Kuhlthau’s (2015) Information Search Process (ISP). Kuhlthau’s research indicates that as the inquirer moves through the ISP their actions and thoughts become more purposeful and focussed. The concurrent emotional process sees them as progressing through uncertainty, optimism, confusion or frustration and into clarity, then a sense of direction or confidence, followed by a sense of satisfaction or disappointment and culminating in a sense of accomplishment.

 

Being a history teacher, inquiry is a core part of my classroom practice. In the initiation phase I erroneously assumed that ‘inquiry learning’ was a distinct approach which was unequivocally student led with minimal teacher input. I came to understand that I now understand that instructional guidance and scaffolding are central components of inquiry learning which do not undermine its authenticity or value but rather allow teachers to facilitate the expansion of students’ zones of proximal development (Lazonder & Harmsen, 2016). This revelation empowered me to more systematically interrogate inquiry in my school context, so I initially focussed on the potential benefits of inquiry learning to disadvantaged students.

 

The necessity of ‘immersing’ oneself in knowledge and making connections before formulating a question was demonstrated during the initial selection process (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, & Caspari, 2012, p. 61-6). My focus refined as my understanding of ‘disadvantage’ and ‘benefits’ shifted to accommodate my growing understanding of the nature of inquiry learning.  The insights gained during the initial search phase realigned my inquiry to focus instead on how inquiry learning can improve student engagement in the classroom and, as predicted in the ISP, led to a surge of optimism.

 

Deeper exploration of a variety of professional and scholarly sources led to a realisation that engagement will be best promoted by ensuring that the inquiry process is both challenging and supported. (Hmelo-Silver, Duncan and Silver, 2006, p. 100). This led to a focus on the balancing act of supporting an inquiry without dominating it and undermining the agency of students. This shift in understanding allowed a change in direction of the inquiry from whether it is suitable for disadvantaged students to how we can support them which was only possible due to a refined understanding of the varying levels of guidance and support that teachers can provide without undermining the authenticity or value of the inquiry process. As a result of this clarity, I was able to formulate a relevant and meaningful question and focus my inquiry on the supports that teachers can offer students throughout the inquiry process.

 

I found the most emotionally challenging phase to be collecting as I find it too easy to go both wide and deep in my search and lose direction despite time constraints. The emphasis on exploring the influence of algorithms on search functionality only broadened my search further. It was also the most rewarding phase. The imperative to make my thinking visible and be accountable for each stage on the inquiry has given me valuable insights into the processes involved and will significantly impact my teaching going forward. The process of concept mapping demonstrated by Gordon (2000), and the strategy of creating tables of synonyms for refining questions and search terms are simple but high impact tools I can authentically share with my students.

 

Despite the anticipated ‘sense of accomplishment’, I found the presenting the findings to be the most cognitively challenging phase. In order to align appropriate teacher support methods from multiple different models of inquiry I found it necessary to overlay several different models of inquiry graphically. Furthermore, despite enjoying the challenge of presenting my findings visually, I struggled to condense such a wealth of strategies into a less verbose format. This phase also caused me to consider the ‘linear’ or ‘cyclical’ model of inquiry, as the tendency to follow leads in footnotes and quickly check references to unknown inquiry models or scaffolding strategies make my process more of a corkscrew. Overall, my most significant sense of accomplishment stems from the growth of my understanding of inquiry and the rich potential to embed the skills I have developed and the resources I have located into my classroom, thus connecting my inquiry beyond its original scope.