Rocks in the River:

The challenge of piloting the inquiry process in today’s learning

environment

Barbara Letteri-Walker Kiln Creek Elementary School

Patrice Lambusta Passage Middle School

Sandy Graham Menchville High School

• 29,700 students

• 24 elementary schools, 7 middle Schools, 5 high schools

• One full time school librarian at each site and two full time librarians at sites with 1000+ students

• 24 library assistants

Program Objective

By the end of this session you will gain an

understanding for creating inquiry units that

bridge different content areas and

incorporate various trans-literacy skills

Research supports:

• Learning is promoted when learners are

engaged in solving real-world problems

• Learning is promoted when existing

knowledge is activated as a foundation for

new knowledge

• Learning is promoted when new

knowledge is applied by the learner

(Merrill 2007)

Inquiry engages students by:

• connecting learning to prior knowledge

• applying new learning to solving a real-

world problem

Elementary

Middle

High School

• McKenzie’s The Research Cycle • Eisenberg and Berkowitz’s Big 6 • Macrorie’s I-Search • Kuhlthau’s ISP (Information Search

Process) • Pappas and Tepe’s Pathways to Knowledge • Flip-It (Alice Yucht) • Pitts/Stripling Model of Information

Literacy • Brock’s Information Intermediary Process

Model

Question

Plan

Collect and Credit

Synthesize

Communicate

Synthesize

Reflect, Revise,

Evaluate

NNPS Inquiry Process

In 2010 - 2011: Inquiry Academy

for Middle & High School Librarians and Teachers

• Doug Johnson

• Alison Zmuda

• Leslie Maniotes

In 2011-12 - Invited Leslie Maniotes bacl to work with elementary librarian and teacher teams and one middle school team observing and giving feedback.

In 2012-13 - Book Study with Leslie Maniotes using Guided Inquiry Design for high & middle school librarians, in addition to small group “Train the Trainer” seminars with elementary school librarians

Comparing NNPS model 2011 to Guided Inquiry

Information Search Process Guided Inquiry Design

NNPS Inquiry Process

• Start with what you know

• Question

• Plan

• Collect and Credit

• Organize

• Synthesize

• Communicate

• Reflect, Revise, Evaluate

Open Immerse Explore

Identify

Gather

Create

Share

Evaluate

Kuhlthau, Maniotes, Caspari Guided Inquiry Design©

Share

Create

Gather

Identify

Explore

Immerse

Open

Sample rubric was here

Kiln Creek Elementary Inquiry Process Barbara Letteri-Walker

Explore

Gain background knowledge

Browse sources

Name

Name Character Traits Accomplishments Why Sources

Pictures of students working with sources here.

Picture of students voting here

Picture of students voting here

Picture of students voting here

Question

Develop questions or hypothesis

Identify focus

Name

Interesting Facts Picture

Family History

Greatest Accomplishments

Admire

Collect and Credit

Gather information

Take notes

Credit sources

Pictures of students notetaking

Source Citations

Book Example: Parson, Alexander. Amazing Spiders. New York: Knopf, 1990.

Author’s Name Last: First:

Book Title

Place of Publication

Publisher

Publication Date

Encyclopedia

Example: "Spiders." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998.

“Article Title” Encyclopedia/Book

Title Publication Date

Web Page Example: Guide Dogs of America: An International Guiding Eyes Program.

http://www.guidedogsofamerica.org

Web Page Title

URL

Understand

Explain, summarize, interpret,

analyze, organize, synthesize

Picture of students organizing information

Pictures of kids working on costumes

Communicate

Share what has been learned

Create product

Thomas Jefferson

Pictures of kids presenting their information

Reflect

What did you like?

What would you change?

Passage Middle School Inquiry Process

Patrice Lambusta

Forensic Science Unit

• Opportunity to attend a CiSSL (Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries) workshop at Rutgers University in July 2012

• Team included Reading Specialist, Science Lead, Librarian and Principal

• Learning Goal: Students will understand how their knowledge contributes to solving a team problem

Forensics Unit

• Overarching Unit Goal: Students will understand how their knowledge contributes to solving a team problem

• Student objectives: - You will explore a variety of careers in forensic

science.

- You will apply your knowledge of scientific investigation.

- You will demonstrate how your individual knowledge contributes to the team.

Explore

• Forensics Day

• Credit due to: VEMA – Fall Conference 2009

Roanoke

Heather Balsley

William Byrd Middle School

Vinton, Va

• Students in action

Guided Inquiry Five Kinds of Learning

Areas of learning in Forensics Unit

Specific focus of learning

Content Science DNA, forensic roles

Math Ratio of the body

English Evidence based problem solving

Foreign Language Fingerprint analysis

Literacy Descriptive Writing Oral communication

Describe role

Learning how to learn

Inquiry Process Reflect and choose area of interest

Social Collaboration

Information Literacy

Citing sources

Begin the actual research component

• Based on previous day’s exit slips, students were placed in specialty teams

• Become experts in their field by collecting information about their role at a crime scene

• Jigsaw into crime teams and solve a crime focusing on their expertise

• Produce a poster displaying hypothesis, description of each member’s role, and citations.

Forensic’s Day Exit Ticket

Name: ________________________ Core:_______

Choose three:

__ DNA Analyst

__Physical Anthropologist (Bone Detective)

__ Detective/ Crime Scene Investigator

__Handwriting Analyst

__Fingerprint Analyst

__Trace Analyst (Hair and Fibers)

__Forensic Pathologist (Morgue)

__Entomologist (Bugs)

__Toxicologist (Poisons)

__ Ballistics

Question

• Students explored all resources

• Pair Share Protocol-began to create questions

• Whole group creation of questions

Collect and Credit

Journaling about process

Specialists move to Crime Teams

Understand

• Given crime to solve (Disappearance of

Sparky)

• Each team had to create a hypothesis

solving the crime

• Each member had to explain what role

they played in solving the crime

Communicate

Menchville High School Inquiry

Challenges – Content

– Time

Solutions – Use the process as the

template for student assignments

– Identify skills needed for success each inquiry step and

– Target specific skills in mini-lessons

– Have students use the process template as a daily journal exit ticket

Sandy Graham

Explore

•Connect to Prior Knowledge/Gain background knowledge/Browse sources

•February 6 or 7

•Examine one of the social, politcal or cultural aspects of the Renaissance and create a paper plus a presentation to perform or present to your class that demonstrates your understanding of this topic. The first part of this project will be done independently; the second part will be done as a group. These are the instructions for the 1st part.

•You will explore your assigned topic. Asking questions about how this relates to the poem you have been assigned.

•Use the Inquiry Log to write down every source you visited as well as the information you have learned.

Question

•Develop question or hypothesis/ Identify focus

•February 8 or 11

•Complete the Project Proposal Form and turn it into your teacher along with your Think-Sheet. Create a list of keywords or queries that will help you locate information about your topic efficiently.

Collect and

Credit

•Gather information/ Take notes/ Credit Sources

•February 12 - 15

•Use your Inquiry Log to return to the sources you marked as helpful and read deeper.

•I also expect for you to have one source from an actual book or ebook.

•You should also keep records (however your prefer) and document your notes.

•During this phase, you will turn in an annotated bibliography of the books, websites, criticisms you are researching.

Understand

•Construct knowledge/ Analyze, organize, synthesize/ Explain, summarize, interpret\ Apply knowledge to problem/ Validate hypothesis, draw conclusions

•February 19 or 20

•You will need to create some form of organization for your paper. It can be an outline or a list – the format is up to what works best for you. This should be detailed. How will your paper flow best – what makes the most sense?

Communicate

•Share what has been learned/ Create product, e.g., write for audience, deliver oral presentation, make podcast

•February21 or 22

•- Have a paper copy and a flash/thumb drive with paper in class

•For this Project, your final product will be a paper. It should follow correct MLA documentation. This paper should be more than just a “copy, paste, and credit” paper. It should demonstrate REAL learning on your part. In other words, you need to UNDERSTAND what you have written.

•The paper should be free of grammatical errors.

•The paper should be written in a formal style. Sentences should flow together nicely.

Honors Renaissance Research Project – Inquiry Process Model

Early National Period Inquiry Objective: TSW synthesize research findings about the Early National Period by creating a storyboard, bibliography, and PIXTON comic strip.

Directions: Choose a topic from the list below. Only one student may choose each topic. Using the research materials available, research

WHO was involved with this event? (Consider political and social leaders, groups, and victims of history. Use at least two historical figures.)

WHAT events happened surrounding this topic? (Consider causes, actions, and effects. Be specific.)

WHEN did this topic emerge in history? (Consider sequence of events. What happened just before this event? What happened immediately after?)

WHERE did this topic have the most influence?)

WHY is this topic historically significant? (What happened as a result? How did this change history?)

Possible Topics

Acquisition of Louisiana Territory 1807 Embargo Act The Monroe Doctrine

Adams-Onis Treaty French Revolution 1828 Nullification crisis

Alien and Sedition Acts Hartford Convention The Panic of 1819

Battle of Tippecanoe Indian Removal Act Panic of 1837

Completion of the Erie Canal Invention of the Cotton Gin Pike Exploration

Chesapeake-Leopard affair Invention of the Steamboat Signing of the Jay Treaty

Creation of the National Bank Jackson’s Bank Veto Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

1804 Duel: Burr/Hamilton Lewis and Clark Expedition 1794 Whiskey Rebellion

The Election of 1800 Marbury v. Madison Worcester v. Georgia

The Election of 1824 McCulloch v. Maryland XYZ Affair

Developing Key Words for search Notetaking: Summarize, Paraphrase, Quote, fact-jot

Understanding Google search and advanced search Gathering supporting evidence and drawing conclusions

Understanding author/website credentials Organizing Information

Understanding Wikipedia Books as resources

Website/Source Evaluation Presentation skills – How not to Powerpoint

Understanding Website Anatomy Student self-reflection on projects

Citation – Finding what you need to cite a source Storyboarding for podcasting and video projects

Databases – why and where I-Movie-Garageband /Movie Maker-Photostory

Google scholar Blogs and Wikis

Asking meaningful questions Other:

Inquiry Target Lessons for this project

Journal Everyday

Break-Out with Elementary, and High School Librarians

Barbara Letteri-Walker Barbara.letteri-walker@nn.k12.va.us Kiln Creek Elementary School Patrice Lambusta Patrice.lambusta@nn.k12.va.us Passage Middle School Sandy Graham Sandy.graham@nn.k12.va.us Menchville High School

T H A N K Y O U