A key concept associated with the success of Inquiry Based Investigation which is often underestimated is the focus upon a real-life problem. For example, in 2004, a Year Eight Geography investigation was designed to involve students in researching the issues associated with a real-life proposal at that time to build a Woolworths at Maleny in the Queensland hinterland. The research task asked them to evaluate the proposal in terms of the best result for the region in terms of environmental and economic sustainability as part of a Geography investigation.  This investigation was the year 8 students first experience with the use of criteria for evaluation and a long-term geography research culminating in a formal report. The investigation included a field work excursion to the site, where students undertook to test creek water quality and survey residents and business owners about the proposal, as well as map the existing businesses. Additionally, a representative from an Environmental group opposing the construction was invited to speak to the students. We were surprised when a representative from Woolworths requested equal time to speak to the students to present their argument for the proposal. This was duly organised. The success of the project, both in terms of student engagement and quality of research was ample evidence to the value of inquiry-based learning (IBL).

All inquiry process should involve students in analysing issues, framing and focusing research questions, identifying possible sources of evidence and then selected critically from these, collecting and organising evidence, analysing and evaluating the evidence, sythesising and communicating conclusions, possibly taking action, and reflecting on all of these stages in an ongoing manner.  Inquiry based learning is a learner centred, problem-based approach “where a case problem is presented to students who are asked to apply reasoning, questioning, researching, and critical thinking to find a solution to the problem. It is ‘focused, experiential learning (minds-on, hands-on) organized around the investigation and resolution of messy, real-world problems’ (Torp and Sage, 2002, p. 15). The emphasis of problem-based learning is not on the outcome but on the process, with a focus on students learning to become self-reliant and eventually independent.” (Cerezo, 2004).  Because of this emphasis on developing students’ capacity to think in an independent and strategic manner, an inquiry approach to learning is entirely consistent with research in effective middle years practice.

Barratt (1998: 30) argues that adolescents need learning challenges in an environment characterised by high expectations and constructive, honest feedback.  An inquiry approach is based upon an intellectual challenge based on real world issues with a focus on process rather than solely upon product.  An inquiry involves students conferencing at regular intervals with peers and with teachers to gain feedback and plan future progress.  Inquiry learning is fundamental to the study of History and Science. It emphasises process as well as product, moving away from goals based upon the acquisition of facts to the development of understandings about concepts and generalisations. Inquiry learning develops students’ investigative and thinking skills and contributes to their ability to participate effectively in society. It can also contribute to enhancing self-esteem by encouraging students to take responsibility for their own learning.” (Gordon, 1999).  A true inquiry approach to learning achieves many of the goals associated with effective pedagogy in the middle years (Erikson, 1995): it integrates information in a meaningful way and at an abstract level, thereby stimulating higher order thinking in a real world or realistic context.  Well designed inquiries enhance student self efficacy and capacity to operate as lifelong learners due to their emphasis on student agency.  In an effective inquiry, the emphasis should be on the student as investigator. 

Students begin by identifying what they know about the inquiry question in a constructivist manner, frame questions which they will use to gather data and reflect upon this process in a critical manner as the investigation progresses.  If higher order thinking and self regulatory behaviours are to be developed in learners, there must be a move away from a traditional, conservative transmission philosophy of teaching, learning and assessment.  Inquiry proved an appropriate educational direction to focus this transformation.  The types of ‘inquiry’ that are called for in the Years 1 to 10 Australian Curriculum are aligned with a socially critical pedagogy (Nayler, 1999).

In exploring the intersections between research into effective Gifted education and Middle Years education, Carol Ann Tomlinson (1992) identified 12 key shared beliefs.  Effective Gifted education and Middle Years education must be interdisciplinary, foster student self-direction and interdependence, promote self understanding, incorporate basic skills, relevant to the learner and thus based on the study of significant problems, student centered, promote student discovery, value group interaction, built on student interest, encourage critical and creative exploration of ideas and promote student self-evaluation. The development of inquiry units based on the aspects and processes of inquiry outlined in the new syllabus documents allow teachers to engage middle years students as never before in the construction of understandings, as apposed to the rote recall of another’s perspective.   Its emphasis on reflection at all stages of the process ensures a focus on developing metacognitive skills which was lacking in previous models of middle years teaching.  

Every learner needs a clear understanding of what is to be learned and how that learning will progress.  Without this understanding, “the learner loses interest, motivation, and comes to see learning as a process devised by others that is trivial, irrelevant, and a waste of time” (Van Tassel-Basks,1992). In the same way, students need also to understand the connectedness between what they will investigate and their own world- either as individuals or as participants in an interdependent world.  Inquiry based investigations can help students achieve such connectedness when the research focus is based upon significant questions which have real life implications or which they themselves devise.  Inquiry investigations require a critical approach to deconstruction and construction of understandings.  “Critical classrooms are characterized by more democratic relations between teachers and students, by high levels of collaboration, and by learning that involves ideological critique.” (Kemmis, Cole and Suggett, 1983).  If middle years initiatives are to be effective, curriculum redesign must address, especially, the needs of those students most disengaged by the learning process during adolescence.

The only truly effective way to do this is to increase the capacity of every teacher to identify student needs and appropriately differentiate curriculum in response to these needs.  This is as true for gifted students as it is for those students with learning difficulties.  Independent student inquiries allow teachers to provide appropriate differentiation by providing opportunities for student choice in inquiry question, depth of response or genre of presentation, and allow students to develop skills of independence and initiative.  Guided class inquiries, on the other hand, allow students to work collaboratively to share findings and create joint constructions of understandings.  Both types of inquiry are essential in the middle years.

William Glasser identified five basic needs which provide govern our choices: belonging and love; power; Freedom; enjoyment, appreciation, fun; and safety and survival. The primary need which drives adolescents is freedom which provides choice.  Inquiry based research can satisfy an adolescent’s need for choice over his or her learning.  Dr Ronald Dahl, University of Pittsburgh, points out that “Adolescents are actively looking for experiences to create intense feelings.”  Other researchers, such as Lawrence Steinberg, agree.  “The parts of the brain responsible for things like sensation seeking are getting turned on in big ways around puberty” but cautions that, at the same time, “the parts [of the brain] for exercising judgment are still maturing throughout the course of adolescence”  (“What Makes Teens Tick?”, 2004: 51).  A structured student inquiry, whether guided or independent, allows both student choice and the opportunities for teachers to provide an appropriate structure to develop student “capacity and confidence to function as autonomous learners in a new knowledge age” (Hill et al, 2002: 101).  It is vital that adolescents are taught strategies to make effective choices without overemphasizing the importance of emotional influences. In addressing the apparent contradictions in planning inquiries that satisfy both what adolescents believe will motivate them and what teachers believe will satisfy their learning needs, we need to clarify if we, as teachers, want to “teach for the society we live in, or … teach for the one we want to see” (Bigelow, Harvey, Karp & Miller, 2001).  The fact that a learning experience pushes students beyond their comfort zone can be a positive aspect of middle years pedagogy.

BY SUE BURVILL-SHAW

REFERENCES

Abbott-Chapman, Joan & Hughes, Phillip, (October 1991) “What Makes a good Teacher?”  Paper Presented to the 21^st ATEA National Conference, Melbourne.

Australian Curriculum Studies Association (2003) “Middle Schooling Principals”

http://www.acsa.edu.au/projects/middle/index.hm accessed February 24 2005)

Australian Secondary Principals’ Association (1994?) “Middle School Policy” http://www.aspa.asn.au/polmdsch.htm#top accessed November 22, 2003

Barrat, R (1998) Shaping Middle Schooling in Australia: Report of the National Middle Schooling Project ACSA: Canberra

 

Beane, J (October 1991) “The Middle School: The Natural Home of Integrated Curriculum” Educational Leadership 49 (2) 

 

Braggett, Eddie (1997) The Middle Years of Schooling Kawker Brownlow: Cheltenham, Vict

 

Bigelow, B, Harvey, B, Karp, S & Millar L (2002) Rethinking our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice Rethinking Schools: Milwaukee, WI

 

Catholic Education Office (2004) “Pathways for Middle Schooling: Walking the Talk” http://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/pub/reandcurriculum/middle_schooling/middleschoolingpositionpaper.pdf  accessed April 5^th, 2005

 

Caine, R., and G. Caine. (1994). Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain. Menlo Park, Calif.: Addison-Wesley.

 

Carnegie Corporation of New York (??) “Great Transitions: Preparing Adolescents for a New Century” http://www.carnegie.org/sub/pubs/reports/great_transitions/gr_chpt4.html  accessed April 2 2005)

 

Cassie, Fiona (2004) “On Task or Off the Planet?” Education Review April 14-20

 

Cerezo, Nancy (2004) “Problem-Based Learning In The Middle School: A Research Case Study Of The Perceptions Of At-Risk Females” National Middle Schools Association at http://www.nmsa.org/ accessed April 5 2005)

 

Cumming, J (ed) (1998) Extending Reform in the Middle Years of Schooling ACSC: Canberra

Education Queensland (2000) “Queensland State Education 2010” http://education.qld.gov.au/corporate/qse2010/ Queensland Government: Brisbane accessed March 11, 2005

 

Education Queensland (2004) Middle Phases of Learning State School Action Plan

 

Erikson, H L (1995) Stirring the Head, Heart and Soul: Redefining Curriculum and Instruction Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, CA

 

Gordon, K (1999) Inquiry Approaches in Primary Studies of SOSE KLA http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/yrs1to10/kla/sose/docs/rp_pri00.doc  Queensland School Curriculum Council: Brisbane accessed June 22, 2005

 

Hardingham, R (2000) “Reform in the Middle Year” Middle Schooling: An Information Paper prepared for Education Queensland Queensland University of Technology: Brisbane

 

Hargreaves, A (1994) Changing Teachers, Changing Times: Teachers’ Work and Culture in the Postmodern Age  Cassell: London

Hoepper, B and Land, R (1996) ‘Planning investigations” in R. Gilbert (Ed.), Studying Society and Environment: A Handbook for Teachers. Macmillan: Melbourne,

 

Holden, Steve (2004) “Making Schools Better” Professional Educator 3 (4) October

 

Kamener, Larry (2005) “Creating and Sustaining a performance and Development Culture” EQ Australia Curriculum Corporation: Carlton, Victoria.

 

Kemmis, S,  Cole, P and Suggett, D (1983) Orientations to Curriculum and Transition to the Socially Critical School, Victorian Institute of Secondary Education: Melbourne.

 

McIntyre, Donal (1991) “The Oxford University Model of Teacher Education” South Pacific Journal of Teacher Education 19 (2)

 

Murdoch, K & Hornsby, D (1997) Planning Curriculum Connections: Whole-School Planning for Integrated Curriculum Elanor Curtin: Armadale, Victoria

 

Nayler, J (1999) Inquiry Approaches to Secondary SOSE KLA http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/yrs1to10/kla/sose/docs/rp_sec00.doc Queensland School Curriculum Council: Brisbane accessed June 22, 2005

 

Pinar, William F (Summer, 1992) “Dreamt into existence by others: Curriculum Theory and Reform” Theory into Practice 31 (3)

 

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA), (2015) Year 7 -10 History Australian Curriculum in Queensland, Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority: Brisbane

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA), (2017) Senior Ancient History Syllabus, Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority: Brisbane.

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA), (2017) Senior modern History Syllabus, Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority: Brisbane

Queensland School Curriculum Council (2000) Studies of Society and Environment Years 1 to 10 Syllabus Queensland School Curriculum Council: Brisbane

 

Reis, Sally et al, (1992)  Curriculum Compacting Hawker Brownlow: Melbourne

 

Romanish, Bruce (1991) Empowering Teachers: Restructuring Schools for the Twentieth Century University Press of America: Lantham

 
Ross, E Wayne, Cornett, Jeffery W & McCutcheon, Gail (1992) Teacher Personal Theorising: Connecting Curriculum Practice, Theory and Research  SUNY: New York

 
Seaton, Andrew (2001) “New Wine Demands New Bottles” EQ Australia Spring

 
Smith, Robert (1993) “Potentials for Empowerment in critical Education Research” Australian Educational Researcher 20 (2)

 

Smyth, John (Summer 1992) “Teachers’ Work and the Politics of Reflection” American Educational Research Journal 29 (2)

 

Stenhouse, Lawrence (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research  and Development Heinemann: London

 

Tomlinson, Carol Ann (1999) The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners  ASCD: Virginia

 

Tomlinson, Carol Ann (1992) “Gifted Education and the Middle School Movement: Two voices on teaching the Academically Talented” Journal for the Education of the Gifted 15 (3) pp 206-238

 

Van Tassel-Basks, Joyce (1992) “Developing Learner Outcomes for Gifted Students” ERIC Digest #E514 Council for Exceptional Children: Reston, Va.

 

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

 

Waring, Felicity & Pat Kiddey (2001) Success For All  Curriculum Corporation: Carlton 

 

Wertsch, J. V. (1991) Voices of the mind: A Sociocultural Approach to Mediated Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

 

“What Makes Teens Tick?” (2004) Time May 10

 

Zahorik, John A (Summer 1992) “Good Teaching and Supervision” Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 7 (2)