The focus of my graduate studies (with the support of the AMAZING Dr. Valerie Irvine) was to identify and help remove barriers to implementing inquiry-based learning.

One of the barriers that the research has identified is the confusion and misconceptions surrounding inquiry. Picture this: two educators l, who are both “inquiry practitioners”, are talking over dinner about “inquiry” and have two completely different definitions and understandings of inquiry.

As you can imagine, this is highly problematic for a number of reasons one of which is that those most negatively impacted by this lack of consistency are students. Students feel overwhelmed, anxious and unable to succeed in inquiry when this type of confusion at the teacher and school level exists.

Inquiry shouldn’t cause anxiety, lack of self-belief or feelings of being overwhelmed. It should help students find meaning in their learning and increase confidence and relevance in their educational experience. It, at its essence, should nurture curiosity and strengthen the learner understanding themselves as learners.

Here is one resource created with Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt to help bring this conversation to teachers: a series of inquiry myths and misconceptions. Scan through and share an image to your social media. Share the entire slide deck to your feed. Send these images to your staff. Download the entire slide deck resource here. Let’s collectively continue to clarify inquiry to help positively support our students.