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To thrive, schoolwide inquiry learning programs need support from librarians. 

 

The particulars of inquiry learning may vary from school to school, but the underlying principle is the same: Students choose a topic of interest to them, study it at depth, and share what they’ve learned. While teachers offer guidance and support, students “form their own questions through experiences, reflection, conversation, and writing [and] gain a sense of ownership and accomplishment in the work they are producing that gradually leads to competence, independence, and expertise” (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, & Caspari, 2015, p. 5). The process is iterative, engaging them in “posing questions, finding answers, and developing critical-thinking and communication skills through information exploration” (American Association of School Librarians, 2018, p. 54). In short, inquiry helps students develop self-directed lifelong learning skills that will contribute to their readiness for, and success in, college, career, and life.  

Today, inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning are well-integrated into curriculum standards in science, social studies, math, and language arts. However, many teachers find those approaches challenging to implement, especially when it comes to supporting students as they conduct their own research. In this part of the inquiry process, school librarians often prove to be indispensable partners, helping students learn how to find rich and credible resources and information about their topics. After all, as the American Association of School Librarians (AASL, 2018 ) puts it, inquiry is “at the core of the school library” (p. 54).  

Moreover, when teachers do assign student-led inquiry projects, the work of librarians becomes particularly valuable for students. In 2018, for example, the Library Research Service of the Colorado State Library surveyed the state’s certified school librarians about how often they work with students on a variety of activities that are central to inquiry learning, including: applying critical-thinking skills (problem solving, analysis, logic, cause/effect) when doing research; evaluating the credibility of print and online resources; using technology (e.g., Google Apps, blogs, YouTube) to organize and share information; being a good digital citizen (i.e., making responsible and ethical decisions in online environments); and using a variety of sources when gathering information about a topic. (Of the state’s school librarians, 53.5% responded to all of these items, which is quite high for survey research.) To what extent, the researchers asked, do librarians treat students’ inquiry projects as an opportunity to help them strengthen their information literacy? More specifically, are school librarians who facilitate student-led inquiry at least weekly more likely than those who facilitate it less often (2-3 times per month, once per month, or never) to teach specific information literacy skills at least weekly? The answer to that question is a resounding yes (see Figure 1). 

School librarians who promoted student-led inquiry at least weekly — when compared to those who promoted it less often or never — were: 

  • Twice (67% vs. 34%) as likely to teach students to evaluate the credibility of information sources, especially online ones.
  • Almost twice (87% vs. 47%) as likely to teach students to work collaboratively on learning activities.
  • About two-thirds again as likely to teach students to apply critical-thinking skills (84% vs. 51%) and to be good digital citizens (81% vs. 51%).
  • About half again as likely to teach students
    to use a variety of sources on a topic (77% vs. 52%). 
  • Almost half again (91% vs. 64%) as likely to teach students how to use technology to organize and share information.

Advocates for school librarianship usually operate from the assumption that, where a certified school librarian is present, all of these information literacy skills will be taught. The Colorado data challenge this assumption, suggesting that where librarians provide fewer opportunities for students to conduct their own inquiries, librarians are also significantly less likely to teach information literacy skills.  

If school librarians facilitate student-led inquiry at least weekly, that dramatically improves the odds that students have been taught the full range of essential information literacy skills. 

It’s reassuring to know that most school librarians (whether or not they support student inquiry) teach at least some forms of information literacy. That lends some support to the school library establishment’s assumption that having librarians on staff tends to be a good “insurance policy,” ensuring that students will receive instruction in essential information literacy skills, even if it doesn’t come from their classroom teachers.  

Still, the evidence suggests that such instruction becomes much more likely when students have opportunities to engage in inquiry learning. Of librarians who said that they facilitated student-led inquiry at least weekly, only 4.3% reported never teaching one or more information literacy skills. But of those who said they facilitated inquiry less than weekly, 13.6% (more than three times as many) reported that they’ve never taught one or more of those skills. In short, if school librarians facilitate student-led inquiry at least weekly, that dramatically improves the odds that students have been taught the full range of essential information literacy skills. 

Voices from the field 

What do the responding school librarians have to say about the role of inquiry in their teaching and their perceptions of its outcomes? To find out, we asked the 69 librarians who reported facilitating inquiry-based learning at least weekly how they learned about inquiry, what they and their colleagues had to do to implement it, where students did and didn’t need guidance in inquiry activities, what positive outcomes they were seeing, and how the inquiry process could be improved. Following are the most notable comments from those who responded. 

Librarians who reported helping students with inquiry-based projects at least once a week said that their school and district leaders valued deeper learning, student questioning, critical thinking, global readiness, student engagement, application of learned content knowledge, and independent learning. When leaders explicitly support inquiry learning and give teachers and librarians autonomy to implement it, they set a tone that motivates librarians to do so effectively. For example, Damon Larson of Douglas County Schools said, “I am allowed to promote and facilitate reading and research. Heaven.”  

Holding high expectations for librarians and teachers to assign inquiry-based projects, and trusting in their professional judgment as they proceed, enables them to strive to set a higher standard for students. Most respondents agreed that through inquiry, students learn at a higher level. Multiple librarians reported that inquiry practices helped students to engage in critical thinking and deeper learning. This included learning to be “more critical of their sources and more willing to wonder and investigate the why,” Emily Marion of Eagle County Schools explained.  

Students also experience greater independence and what some educators call “voice and choice” in the learning process. Respondents noted that students are more self-directed, independent, and appear to have a greater sense of ownership of their learning when engaged in inquiry. When students do this kind of work, “there is a lack of discipline problems,” said Marion. “They are invested in (their learning) and excited to come (to the library) because they are part of the (learning) process.” One librarian, Kathleen Close of Denver Public Schools, even said that through inquiry learning “students move beyond my expectations.”  

When asked how inquiry learning could go better, respondents said they would like to see more collaboration among teachers and librarians, more equitable opportunities for students to do such projects, a more intentional approach to assigning and facilitating inquiry learning, and greater consistency in practice. By and large, the librarians we interviewed were well aware of the benefits of inquiry, but they reported that only some of the teachers in their schools teach using an inquiry approach, which raises concerns about equity.  

When leaders explicitly support inquiry learning and give teachers and librarians autonomy to implement it, they set a tone that motivates librarians to do so effectively.

Unlike teachers, school librarians work with every student in the school and thus are more likely than teachers to know whether these learning opportunities are being extended to all students or just to some of them. Close went beyond her school to question the state-level commitment to providing equal access to such instruction: “I worry about the other students throughout Colorado who are missing out on this valuable knowledge that could make their educational experience so much more successful.”  

While all respondents were supportive of inquiry learning and wanted to get more teachers on board, none of them said they been part of a whole-school effort to implement this approach or to adopt a specific model of inquiry-based teaching and learning. To us, this suggests a need for a more systematic approach to adopting and supporting such instruction, rather than implementing it here and there, in piecemeal fashion. No doubt many teachers and librarians would like to use an inquiry approach but don’t have the tools, knowledge, or initiative to do so on their own, as these librarians did. One can only wonder, if local leaders didn’t just encourage inquiry learning but also invested in professional development and supports for adopting particular inquiry models across a school or district, would more librarians and teachers use and be successful with this approach? 

What a successful inquiry program looks like 

If they search Google for an inquiry model to use in their school, education leaders can easily become overwhelmed with choices. For example, there are the 5 E’s from science (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate); National Geographic’s geo-inquiry process (ask, collect, visualize create, act); the Next Generation Science Standards cycle of scientific inquiry, and the National Council for Social Studies’ C3 arc of inquiry. Some models have four phases, and some have up to eight; others spiral around with loops and arrows; there are points of inquiry and cycles of inquiry. 

However, there are some useful guidelines to follow. Research from the information sciences finds that successful inquiry programs tend to share certain hallmarks. These include a constructivist view of learning, professional development in a research-based inquiry model (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, & Caspari, 2012); commitment to helping students develop information literacy (Kuhlthau, 2004), and a team approach to teaching and designing engaging inquiry assignments (since poorly designed assignments can undermine inquiry programs that are otherwise strong; Kuhlthau, Maniotes, & Caspari, 2015).  

Norman Public Schools in Oklahoma offers one example of the benefits of adopting a district-wide inquiry program, in this case Guided Inquiry Design, which Leslie Maniotes helped develop. Guided Inquiry Design has 30 years of research behind it, it includes an instructional design framework grounded in that research, and the team has developed a strong professional development component to support teachers collaborating with librarians to use the model across disciplines. The district adopted the model in 2015, just ahead of its one-to-one computer rollout, in hopes that the program would provide the pedagogical backing and framework that teachers needed to move beyond using this new technology merely to provide electronic worksheets (Lewis, Simmons, & Maniotes, 2018). Since that initial adoption, more than 500 preK-12 teachers in every content area, librarians, instructional coaches, gifted and talented and literacy specialists, technology coaches, and curriculum directors have received training in the program.  

Kathryn Roots Lewis, Norman’s director of library and instructional technology told us that “Teachers and librarians are reporting . . . improved learner outcomes from ALL learners” (emphasis in the original). Teacher surveys about Guided Inquiry Design implementation have corroborated this sentiment. Teachers noted that student work showed evidence of their use of higher-level critical-thinking skills and that students were going beyond their normal expectations in their use of multiple sources to learn more deeply. One teacher said, “I never would have believed that student-led questioning would lead to the deep, authentic learning I’ve seen in my class over the last two years.”  

From our interviews with Lewis and many other librarians, though, we also heard one strong note of caution: School and district leaders must take care to ensure teachers receive practical support as they prepare their students to conduct online research. Simply put, young people need guidance as they navigate a complicated media environment, and many teachers are themselves unsure how to help students locate credible information that will allow them to answer the questions they want to pursue. Their best option is to look to the school librarian for partnership and assistance.             

References  

American Association of School Librarians. (2018). National school library standards for learners, school librarians, and school libraries. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions.  

Kuhlthau, C. (2004) Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited/Greenwood Press. 

Kuhlthau, C., Maniotes, L., & Caspari, A. (2012). Guided Inquiry Design: A framework for inquiry in your school. Santa Barbara. CA: Libraries Unlimited. 

Kuhlthau C., Maniotes, L., & Caspari, A. (2015). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara. CA: Libraries Unlimited. 

Lewis, K.R., Simmons, S., & Maniotes, L. (2018, April). Building a culture for learner voice and choice through inquiry. Teacher Librarian, 24-27.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

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Keith Curry Lance

KEITH CURRY LANCE  consults with the RSL Research Group as well as independently. 

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Leslie K. Maniotes

LESLIE K. MANIOTES  is an education consultant with BLV Consulting. She is the author of Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century .