The 10 Characteristics of the Inquiry Classroom

Tuning in: in this session Trevor shares the 10 Characteristics of the Inquiry Classroom which have surfaced in his observations of teachers, classrooms, and schools from around the world. These characteristics represent the elements of a robust inquiry offering. You will be called on to reflect on your own classroom and identify characteristics that are a part of your inquiry repertoire. Additionally, you will be asked to set a personalized characteristic goal that you will learn about and implement in the coming weeks and months.

Learning objectives include:

  • to create a deeper understanding of inquiry-based learning.

  • to create a common language of inquiry in your practice and with your colleagues.

  • to reflect on areas in which you can continue to grow in your inquiry practice.

Pause and reflect: after viewing, please consider

  • what are your inquiry strengths?

  • what is the evidence of each strength? Try and be as specific as possible.

  • what are your inquiry stretches?

  • who is someone that has identified your stretch as one of their own strengths? Please meet with them to hear about the evidence of this in their practice.

Share and make meaning together: let’s bring these reflections to life in a collaborative manner. Please share your strength reflections on a series of stickynotes by simply writing a large number on each stickynote. The more characteristics you have as strengths, the more stickynotes you will have. Turn and talk for 15 minutes with your team/faculty and share some of the evidence you have identified.

Once you are done, post your stickynotes on a wall in your space along with everyone on staff or on your team/faculty. Create columns of characteristics 1 through 10. As each teachers post their stickynotes to the wall and to their corresponding columns, a bar graph of strengths will begin to take shape. This could look like:

Once all the stickynotes are posted, take a moment to reflect on what the visible thinking tells you. What are your collective areas of strength? What are areas that are leaner than others? What areas need the most attention to bring more balance to the collective capacity for inquiry?

Consider using this data to guide your next steps when it comes to professional learning. For example, if column #8 Fortifying the Importance of Asking Good Questions is lean, please consider spending time developing your questioning practice.

Next, let’s make another visible thinking wall but instead of identifying strengths from your staff/team/faculty, you are asked to set one individual characteristic goal to focus on in the coming weeks and months. Write a single large number on a stickynote and post it to the wall. Similarly, take a moment to reflect on what the visible thinking tells you. What trends do you observe on the goals wall? What are areas that are leaner than others? What goals have been set and are their ways in which we can best support the exploration of these goals?

Consider spending 10 minutes for teachers to walk through the room and confer with one another. Teachers should find someone in the space that has their own goal as a strength. They should discuss the evidence of this strength and begin to plan next steps to better meet the goal.

Last, download the 10 Characteristics of the Inquiry Classroom resource below. Embedded in the sketchnote within each characteristic icon is a resource that outlines how teachers plan for and implement each characteristic. Whatever your goal, simply click your icon and explore how you can bring it to life in your practice.

Extend your learning: continue to collaboratively discuss the 10 Characteristics of the Inquiry Classroom sketchnote and resource across your school year. Set new goals as you successfully implement goals you achieve. Continue to revisit the resource as you continue to stretch your practice. Share and make meaning together with your team, faculty, and staff. Ideally all teachers have successfully implemented all characteristics to some degree by the end of the year. As time goes by the sophisticated depth of each one can increasingly be explored.

Remember the visible goal setting structure from Holy Trinity Primary shared in 2.2 and consider implementing something similar with the 10 Characteristics of the Inquiry Classroom.

Bonus offering:

Watch this short reflection as Trevor shares thoughts with Press Play on Inter-year Group Inquiry.