Research project reboot: Using Guided Inquiry Design

Are you interested in trying a new instructional framework for your research projects? Have you wanted to collaborate with your librarian but weren't sure how? If you answer yes to either of these questions this post is for you.

Before Thanksgiving, English teacher Mike Kelley invited me into the planning process for his 10th grade research project about migrant farm workers. We talked about his wish to make the project engaging and supportive during hybrid learning. I proposed trying Guided Inquiry Design, a framework I learned about a couple of years ago at a workshop sponsored by the Massachusetts Library System. The workshop was led by Dr. Leslie Maniotes, one of the authors of the framework, so I had a solid idea of how it worked and the research behind it. 

Mike bravely said yes to Guided Inquiry Design and we worked together to figure out how to put the 8 step (!!) inquiry framework into practice and adapt it to his timeframe and learning goals. This was hours of grappling with new ideas and processes. But it was exciting because we came away with fresh understanding of the inquiry process, how students move through it and how teachers support them. We learned to value the inquiry process perhaps even more than the product. 

Guided Inquiry Design

• Defines 8 steps of the inquiry process (Please see the illustration at the top of the post for a graphic of the 8 steps. The steps are arranged to reflect social emotional states of the inquiry process as identified by GID researchers.  "Explore" is the lowest. When students start any kind of research project they encounter frustration and disappointment. Student satisfaction rises once they start to build knowledge on a focused topic)
• Identifies, based on research, how teachers scaffold student work
• Values student ideas
• Emphasizes teacher feedback
• Expands and contracts to fit different unit lengths
• Adapts to K-12 classrooms
• Can be used across the curriculum

Often, research projects focus on the product, requirements for numbers of sources and notecards and really "start" for students when they identify their inquiry question.  GID led us away from that mindset by guiding students through three steps before they identified their inquiry questions. The first step was Open, where the project was introduced, and the second was Immerse, where all students read a shared text.

In the third step, Explore, students freely explored, in a low stakes way, resources connected in some way to the shared text. This helped them build a collection of resources to use after they identified their inquiry questions.  It also gave them a sense of what sources were "out there" so when they identified their inquiry questions they wouldn't be disappointed by a lack of resources.  During the entire 8 step process students kept notes in an online Inquiry Journal that Mike and I checked and gave feedback as often as possible.   

If you have questions about GID, please ask me or Mike. We are eager to share what we learned with you. I'm also excited to work with more teachers to incorporate Guided Inquiry Design into your next research project. If you would like to have a low stakes conversation about that,  please reach out.

Related Sources

Hanson, Alida, and Mike Kelley. "Under the Feet of Jesus Inquiry Project." Weston High School Library, Weston High School, 27 Nov. 2020, libguides.weston.org/kelleyinquiry. Accessed 12 Jan. 2021. 

Kuhlthau, Carol Collier, et al. Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Westport, Libraries Unlimited, 2007.  

Kuhlthau, Carol Collier, et al. Guided Inquiry Design: A Framework for Inquiry in Your School. Santa Barbara, Libraries Unlimited, 2012.  

Maniotes, Leslie K. Guided Inquiry Design in Action: High School. Santa Barbara, Libraries Unlimited, 2017. 

Maniotes, Leslie K., et al. Guided Inquiry Design in Action: Middle School. Santa Barbara, Libraries Unlimited, 2016.