Dr. Carol C. Kuhlthau & Dr. Ross J. Todd

Guided Inquiry is carefully planned, closely supervised targeted intervention of an instructional team of school librarians and teachers to guide students through curriculum based inquiry units that gradually lead towards independent learning. Students actively engage with diverse and often conflicting sources of information and ideas to discover new ones, to build new understandings, and to develop personal viewpoints and perspectives.

Implementing Guided Inquiry through the school library

Guided Inquiry as an approach to learning does not conflict with standards-based education. Standards define what is to be learned in each subject, and inquiry defines how learning might be enabled. Through inquiry learning, students are able to transform a myriad of information inputs made available through information sources to personal knowledge.

Based on the six characteristics, Guided Inquiry is an approach that focuses on the process of thinking that builds understandings by engaging students in stimulating encounters with information – encounters which capture their interest and attention, and which motivate and direct their ongoing inquiry. Students learn by constructing their own understandings of these experiences by building on what they already know to form a personal perspective of the world. Underpinning the inquiry process is a thinking process that requires extensive interrogation and exploration of ideas and formulation of thoughts before moving on to collecting, organizing and presenting ideas in ways which demonstrate personal understanding and ownership.

The school library plays an active and integral role in developing meaningful inquiry in curriculum by enabling students to address these essential questions through resource-based learning tasks.

The key principles of implementing Guided Inquiry through the school library

1. Effective inquiry through the school library is guided and structured
2. Guided Inquiry revolves around mediation and intervention.
3. The Information Search Process provides a useful framework for understanding students’ journey of information seeking and use, and a basis for guiding and intervening to ensure learning is meaningful
4. Effective inquiry through the school library is shared.
5. Specific interventions are determined by the stage of the search process, the affective, cognitive and behavioral needs of the learners, and the curriculum standards and goals to be achieved
6. Guided Inquiry is an opportunity for the school to provide some comprehensive evidence of how the teaching and learning focus of the school library improves student learning outcomes

1. Effective inquiry through the school library is directed and structured. (Callison, 2003, Donham et al, 2001). Students are guided through inquiry that begins by engaging them in questions about the subject being studied:

• What do I already know?
• What questions do I have?
• How do I find out?
• What did I learn?

Guided Inquiry takes students out of the predigested format of the textbook and rote memorization into the process of learning from a variety of sources to construct their own understandings. They learn to think through subject content apart from prescribed responses or preset solutions. Students move away from traditional library research approaches and approaches to learning that emphasize finding the right answer, memorizing specific facts, and repackaging information. They are guided through a process of intellectual construction to help them to build on what they already know and to come to a deeper understanding of the concepts and problems underlying the subject. Inquiry-based learning calls for thinking and reflecting in the process of information seeking that other approaches rarely accommodate. Models that emphasize structuring instruction to transmit specific facts and skills are not inquiry models.

2. Guided Inquiry revolves around mediation and intervention. The pedagogical focus of Guided Inquiry is to build a community of learners, and mediation and intervention are key mechanisms in this process. Mediation is defined as the “human intervention to assist information seeking and learning from information access and use. … A mediator, however, implies a person who assists, guides, enables, and otherwise intervenes in another person’s information search process” (Kuhlthau, 2004, p 107).

A mediator is different to an intermediary, the latter being something that “intercedes between the information and the user, but this interchange may not involve any human interaction” (p. 107). Intervention centers on the way in which “mediators become involved in the constructive process of another person … in information seeking and use” (Kuhlthau, 204, p. 127).

Kuhlthau’s research shows that most library interventions tend to be based on sources, that is, matching a student’s query with the organized collection, and often with little attention given to the holistic experience of students in the process of constructing new understandings and meanings. Guided Inquiry calls for guiding students through the information seeking and using process, guiding them in the process of building new understandings.

Borrowing from Vygotsky's concept of a zone of proximal development, guidance can be developed around a "zone of intervention," in which a student can do with advice and assistance what he or she cannot do alone or can do only with great difficulty (Kuhlthau, 1993).

3. The Information Search Process provides a useful framework for understanding students’ journey of information seeking and use, and a basis for guiding and intervening to ensure learning is meaningful

The research of Kuhlthau (1985, 1986, 1987a,b, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2004), extending over two decades, provides an empirical framework for implementing Guided Inquiry through the school. This framework, called the Information Search Process, describes the thoughts, actions and feelings commonly experienced by students in each stage of the inquiry process as they search for and engage with information to build personal knowledge and understanding.

The framework gives particular attention to feelings. The feelings of students while they are engaged in an inquiry project reveal much about the learning process they are experiencing and the interventions they need.

The Information Search Process forms the basis for developing a program of inquiry-based learning, and for guiding students in their inquiry. It provides a mechanism for teachers and school librarians to recognize those critical moments when intervention and instruction is essential, and then to tailor interventions to enable students to achieve successful outcomes in their inquiry.

Model of the Information Search Process

The Information Search Process has been found to occur in seven stages: Initiation, Selection, Exploration, Formulation, Collection, Presentation, and Assessment as shown in the model in the ISP model). These stages are named for the primary task to be accomplished at each point in the process.

Initiation: the teacher announces an invitation to research an engaging question. The comprehensive engaging question is developed by the teacher and school librarian from the instructional goals and standards of the curriculum, and is one that is designed to motivate students to undertake the inquiry process. The task of students in this stage is to contemplate the question and the accompanying assignment in preparation for the investigation ahead.

Selection: students choose what to pursue in response to the initiating question by considering what they already know and what they want and need to find out. In the early stages, initiating and selecting are facilitated by making connections with what they already know and forming questions about what they don't know.

Exploration: students explore the initiating question and develop questions of their own that arise as they begin to learn about the subject. They build their background knowledge further, and often encounter information that is inconsistent and incompatible with what they already know and what they expect to find. In all three of the beginning stages of the Information Search Process students often experience confusion, uncertainty, and apprehension, and often need guidance and instruction in working with sources to help them undertake the complex information processes involved.

Formulation: students become aware of the various dimensions, issues, ramifications of the initiating question and begin to form their own focused perspective of the subject under study.

Collection: students gather pertinent information that defines, extends and supports the focus that they have formed. During Collection their interest and confidence commonly increases as they gain a sense of ownership and expertise in the subject. Students typically need guidance and instruction in structuring their ideas in meaningful ways to represent their new understandings, such as information analysis, synthesis, developing arguments, incorporating evidence, working with information in ethical and responsible ways.

Presentation: students are involved in the task of preparing to share what they have learned with the others in their learning community. They typically need guidance and instruction in communicating their ideas clearly and effectively.

Assessment: students reflect on what they have learned to discover what went well and what might be improved, providing vital feedback to enable school librarians and classroom teachers to document the learning outcomes, and inform the instructional process.

When the Information Search Process is used as a framework for developing and guiding inquiry, students move away from simply collecting information and putting it together to please the teacher; rather, right from task initiation, they are engaged and guided in a thinking process that requires extensive exploration of ideas and formulation of thoughts before moving on to the later stages of collecting and preparing to present. They avoid missing the critical stages of learning by allowing time for reflecting and formulating while they are exploring and collecting information.

4. Effective inquiry through the school library is shared (Donham, et al, 2001, Harada, 1999, Haycock, 2003)
Inquiry learning is enhanced by partnerships between teachers, librarians, and all of the school community. This is not something done solely by the school librarian. It is a whole school approach, with many people working to bring the best learning opportunities for students. In particular, school librarians and classroom teachers work closely together as partner-leaders. In this partnership, school librarian brings into the learning equation their information-learning expertise of knowing how students engage in seeking and using information, guided by the Information Search Process. This is carefully integrated with the disciplinary knowledge and skills of classroom teachers to create meaningful research tasks, learning experiences and instructional interventions that actively involve students in discovering and constructing their mew understandings to meet curriculum objectives and content standards.

The Student Learning through Ohio School Libraries research (Todd & Kuhlthau, 2004) also sought to capture the perceptions of 879 faculty from the 39 participating schools (Todd & Kuhlthau, 2005). Faculty were given opportunity to identify how they know that the school library has helped students with their learning. Responses were received from 621 faculty: 522 teachers, 45 school librarians, 17 principals, 17 assistant principals, and 20 technology leaders. The faculty in these schools identified four key enablers of learning outcomes through the school library:

• Resources: diversity of resources that provide diversity of ideas, and resources targeted to reader ability and interest;
• Instructional intervention: knowing a research process linked to learning task; use of print sources and online databases; technical and evaluative skills, particularly the determination of information quality; identifying pertinent ideas; identifying ideas in conflict; recording and structuring ideas; developing arguments; developing organizational structures for ideas;
• Guided Inquiry approach to learning through the school library: learning the stages of the research process; provision of staged feedback during the search process; learning the tools to construct knowledge and create information products; opportunities to practice new skills; opportunity to ask questions and engage in open dialogue about research task and process;
• Shared instruction targeted to curriculum standards: Library as extension of classroom; planning and teaching lessons with teachers; planning resources together; planning assessment tasks together; open scheduling of the school library

For school librarians and classroom teachers, some important questions to ask in the planning process of Guided Inquiry are:

• How do I guide students in their inquiry?
• When do I intervene?
• What is the nature of the intervention in terms of intellectual and affective scaffolds for enabling inquiry?
• How do I enable students to stay focused and not be detracted from the learning task at hand?
• How do I motivate and engage students who may perceive task of searching as primarily one of gathering information to a task of forming a focused perspective from the information encountered?
• How do I know what learning has taken place?
• How do I foster ongoing learning?

5. Specific interventions are determined by the stage of the search process, the affective, cognitive and behavioral needs of the learners, and the curriculum standards and goals to be achieved

Instructional intervention focuses on the cognitions, behaviors and feelings related to understanding of what good research is about, how you undertake good research, the stages of inquiry, and knowing the desired outcomes of doing good research.

The Information Literacy Standards (AASL/AECT, 1998) provide a framework for determining appropriate instructional interventions in the context of curriculum standards and learning goals to be achieved. A considerable body of research exists in relation to information literacy development. This research shows that contextualized and integrated information literacy instruction:

• enables students to effectively engage in the inquiry process, and results in improved performance in terms of personal mastery of curriculum content
• results in more positive attitudes to learning; increased active engagement in the learning environment; and more positive perceptions of students themselves as active, constructive learners

This research also makes clear that successful information literacy interventions are ones that:

• are aligned with curriculum goals and content standards
• target specific learning dilemmas and needs
• set clear expectations and manageable objectives
• establish realistic timelines
• gather meaningful and systematic feedback from students and teachers on the learning impacts

Research: Doyle, Bruce 1997; Candy & Bruce, 2000; Loertscher & Woolls, 2004; Haycock, 2003; Todd & Kuhlthau, 2004; Todd, 1995; Moore, 2000, 2002).

INFORMATION LITERACY STANDARDS

Standard 1 - The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively.

Indicator 1. Recognizes the need for information
Indicator 2. Recognizes that accurate and comprehensive information is the basis for intelligent decision making
Indicator 3. Formulates questions based on information needs
Indicator 4. Identifies a variety of potential sources of information
Indicator 5. Develops and uses successful strategies for locating Information

Standard 2 - The student who is information literate evaluates information critically and competently.

Indicator 1. Determines accuracy, relevance, and comprehensiveness Indicator 2. Distinguishes among fact, point of view, and opinion
Indicator 3. Identifies inaccurate and misleading information
Indicator 4. Selects information appropriate to the problem or question at hand

Standard 3 - The student who is information literate uses information accurately and creatively.

Indicator 1. Organizes information for practical application
Indicator 2. Integrates new information into one’s own knowledge
Indicator 3. Applies information in critical thinking and problem solving
Indicator 4. Produces and communicates information and ideas in appropriate formats

Standard 4 - The student who is an independent learner is information literate and pursues information related to personal interests.

Indicator 1. Seeks information related to various dimensions of personal well-being, such as career interests, community involvement, health matters, and recreational pursuits
Indicator 2. Designs, develops, and evaluates information products and solutions related to personal interests

Standard 5 - The student who is an independent learner is information literate and appreciates literature and other creative expressions of information.

Indicator 1. Is a competent and self-motivated reader
Indicator 2. Derives meaning from information presented creatively in a variety of formats
Indicator 3. Develops creative products in a variety of formats

Standard 6 - The student who is an independent learner is information literate and strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.

Indicator 1. Assesses the quality of the process and products of personal information seeking
Indicator 2. Devises strategies for revising, improving, and updating self-generated knowledge

Standard 7 - The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society.

Indicator 1. Seeks information from diverse sources, contexts, disciplines, and cultures
Indicator 2. Respects the principle of equitable access to information

Standard 8 - The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and practices ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology.

Indicator 1. Respects the principles of intellectual freedom
Indicator 2. Respects intellectual property rights
Indicator 3. Uses information technology responsibly

Standard 9 - The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.

Indicator 1. Shares knowledge and information with others
Indicator 2. Respects others’ ideas and backgrounds and acknowledges their contributions
Indicator 3. Collaborates with others, both in person and through technologies, to identify information problems and to seek their solutions
Indicator 4. Collaborates with others, both in person and through technologies, to design, develop, and evaluate information products and solutions

6. Guided Inquiry is an opportunity for the school to provide some comprehensive evidence of how the teaching and learning focus of the school library improves student learning outcomes (Todd, 2001a,b; Todd, 2003; Loertscher with Ross Todd, 2003)

Evidence-based practice is an evolving concept in many professions, including education. Its focus is day-to-day professional work that is directed towards demonstrating the tangible impacts and outcomes of sound decision making and implementation of organizational goals and objectives. Guided Inquiry provides school librarians and classroom teachers with a range of strategies that will enable them to chart and document learning outcomes of their teaching-learning activities. It enables them to be able to build a portfolio of local school evidence that shows the importance and value of the school library to their school communities, and the learning that is enabled through it.

An example of evidence-based practice
During 2003-2005, the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL) at Rutgers University (New Jersey), with funding from the Institute for Museums and Library Services at) undertook a research and development project “The Impact of School Libraries on Student Learning” to provide sustained empirical evidence of the impact of school libraries on student learning, and in doing so, provide an easy-to-use and reliable measurement toolkit to enable school librarian and teacher teams to show the growth of student learning through Guided Inquiry. For more detailed information about the project, including findings, please see the project Web page at http://cissl.scils.rutgers.edu/imls

The CISSL-IMLS project involved 574 students from 10 diverse public schools in New Jersey undertaking Guided Inquiry projects. The students were from grades 6 to 12, and were learning a range of curriculum topics, such as Middle Ages, Westward expansion and chemical compounds .The study involved 10 teacher-school librarian teams, consisting of 10 school librarians working on 17 different curriculum projects with 17 classroom teachers.

The research sought to measure student learning in multidimensional ways including growth of knowledge of their curriculum topic, interest, feelings, and experiences during the inquiry process, and their reflections on their learning. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to examine and measure the students’ learning. The data were collected at three stages of the students’ inquiry process – at the initiation of the research task, midway during the task, and at the completion of the task. Data were collected through three short survey instruments which captured responses to open-ended questions as well as categorical responses. At the completion of their research task, the students were asked the same questions as in the previous questionnaires, and additionally asked to reflect on what they had learnt through their projects.

The SLIM toolkit was further developed and refined from this process, including feedback from participating school teams, critical feedback from the school library research community and further verification from school librarian-teacher teams not involved in the initial research. This testing and refining has shown that this toolkit is workable in a school setting and capable of documenting learning outcomes of Guided Inquiry units lead by school librarian-teacher teams. The SLIM toolkit can be used in various settings, involving a diversity of curriculum topics and grades.

Through using the toolkit in the New Jersey schools, the school librarian-teacher teams were able to show several key learning outcomes that could be documented through applying the SLIM toolkit:

• they learned topical content in deep ways, which went well beyond describing the topic, to showing understanding of complex concepts and explanatory and predictive relationships of topical content;
• they became more skillful and confident as information seekers;
• they became increasingly engaged, interested and reflective during their learning process, and saw information seeking as a constructive process of building both deep knowledge and deep understanding
• they became more critically aware of the broad variety of sources and their different purposes;
• they gained practical skills in independent information seeking;
• they underwent a significant conceptual change regarding information. They showed increasing awareness of the varied quality of information, as well as information as a problematic and often contradictory, construct that needed to be scrutinized in the process of building new understandings. This altered their conception of information seeking as fact-finding into a broader reflective notion.

Through applying the SLIM toolkit and using it to measure learning, the school librarian-teacher teams were able to provide substantial evidence that their students had grown more information literate through their inquiry-based research tasks. They valued the instructional interventions that helped them learn through complex information resources, and were able to demonstrate their learning in substantial ways.

Summary of principles of implementing Guided Inquiry through the school library
1. Effective inquiry through the school library is guided and structured
2. Guided Inquiry revolves around mediation and intervention.
3. The Information Search Process provides a useful framework for understanding students’ journey of information seeking and use, and a basis for guiding and intervening to ensure learning is meaningful
4. Effective inquiry through the school library is shared.
5. Specific interventions are determined by the stage of the search process, the affective, cognitive and behavioral needs of the learners, and the curriculum standards and goals to be achieved
6. Guided Inquiry is an opportunity for the school to provide some comprehensive evidence of how the teaching and learning focus of the school library improves student learning outcomes

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Guided Inquiry © is copyrighted by Dr. Carol C. Kuhlthau and Dr. Ross Todd.