Conceptualizing Inquiry Outcomes for Secondary Students: Characterizing the Work of Teacher Inquirers

• In Event: Teacher Inquiry and Collaboration to Support Pedagogical Innovations

Abstract

This study examines eight years of teacher work samples produced during a professional development program to clarify the inquiry outcomes identified by participants. The paper uses a schema derived from research (Levy, Thomas, Drago & Rex, 2013; Saunders-Stewart, Gyles, and Shore, 2012) to identify three primary categories of inquiry outcomes as engagement, as means to develop content and skills, and as an end in itself (Authors, 2014). In conjunction also with frameworks that characterize student inquiry (Bonnstetter, 1998; McDonald & Songer, 2008), the analysis categorizes inquiry outcomes with a particular analysis of those identified as inquiry as ends. Results articulate descriptors to clarify inquiry outcomes in order to improve professional learning and research to evaluate such efforts.

Authors

• Christine D. Clayton, Pace University

• James F. Kilbane, Cleveland State University