Decide on an Inquiry Question

Step 1: Review Your Inquiry Journal

• Look over your notes

• Look for questions and ideas

• Look for similarities and differences

Step 2: Reflect

• What do you care about? Highlight these

• What is interesting to you? Highlight these

• What do you want to learn more about? Highlight these

• Organize ideas into topic groups (Use the graphic organizer in your Inquiry Journal to help.)

• Write a question that represents each group concept

• Narrow down to three interesting questions (Use the graphic organizer in your Inquiry Journal to help.)

• Share with your inquiry circle

Step 3: Identify an Inquiry Question

• Before deciding consider (Use the graphic organizer in your Inquiry Journal to help.)

  • How much time do you have?

  • How much information is available?

  • What are my learning goals?

  • Am I interested in this?

• Select a clearly articulated question

How much information is available?

You will now be searching specifically for answers to your inquiry question, quickly check the resources you have previously used in the Immerse and Explore phases to see if information is available.

Quickly check the following sites. (You will come back to these during the Gather Phase.) Be sure to use the advanced search options to help refine your search results. It is also helpful to write down key words or phrases that link to your inquiry question. Be sure to use quotation marks around phrases of words you want to stick together.