Guided Inquiry

I started off my professional reading this summer with this book:

"Inquiry helps kids to think creatively. When you capture their imagination they begin to think creatively and creativity solves problems for life." - middle school librarian (p.1)

This is exactly what I would like to students to be able to do: solve problems that are important to them and choose topics of interest that they would like to further investigate. Over the years, I have noticed that many students have difficulty when faced with tasks that involve choice.

Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century is based on the premise that "learning is a process of construction based on the educational theory of John Dewey"(p. 15).

This table breaks down the Dewey's phases of reflective thinking nicely.

As I learn more about how to effectively guide students through inquiry projects, I will be experiencing the same phases that they will experience. I am relieved to find out that the feelings of uncertainty I have right now about my own personal professional development are normal as they fall under the first phase: "doubt due to incomplete situation".

At this point in my project, I am looking for answers to the following questions:

1. How do we support inquiry based learning for students learning in a second language? Much of our instructional time is taken up introducing and teaching new vocabulary. How will this work if students are working on individual projects?
2. How do we give choice to students when we are studying a certain area of the curriculum? Is it true choice when we limit the choice to a number of subjects?