Inquiry Cycle

Teachers tune in to students’ thinking and activate their prior knowledge; they design tasks that make the students’ thinking visible.

• Establish purpose and relevance

• Provoke curiosity and wonder

• Access and document prior knowledge, existing theories and ideas

• Formulate questions

• Consider ways to find out

Learning communities (we consider both teachers and students to be learners) think as researchers and gather information from a variety of sources. Students are extended to go beyond the known and are challenged to use their skills to acquire new knowledge.

• Use a range of resources & methods to gather information (read, view, interview, survey, experiment, observe…)

• Aim to connect with people, places & objects to broaden understanding

• Critically assess the value of the information gathered

• Document information gathered in a range of ways

Learners analyze, sort, and categorize information, identifying patterns and creating meaning.

• Make sense of the information gathered

• Analyse, organise, compare, contrast, sift and sort

• Reflect, respond and express new thinking

• Revisit questions, refine and add new ones

Learners are encouraged to further their inquiry by investigating areas of personal or shared interest.

• Use new questions as the basis for extended inquiry

• Establish personal pathways of interest

• Share new learnings with others

Learners are provided with time and space to draw conclusions and make connections between ideas and contexts.

• Consider ways to apply/use/share learning

• Make connections back to big ideas

• Evaluate the process

• Consider unanswered questions

• What next? What now?

Learners reflect on their new learning and the implications for personal or shared action. Teachers encourage and empower students to apply their learning to new contexts, share with others, and connect with real-life situations.