Getting Scholarly...

I just completed a lengthy post on the above topic only for it to disappear - urgh! Take Two on 'Getting Scholarly...'

After beginning my searching using more basic search terms within Google and Google Wonderwheel, it was time to tackle a more academic approach – with Google Scholar.

I begin this searching with the Boolean terms "guided inquiry" and "research."Unfortunately these search terms proved to be too broad and delivered many results on science inquiry. I then refined this searching with the terms "guided inquiry" and "primary." These terms proved to be much more successful.

Many of the results were either written by Kuhlthau or had links to Kuhlthau's work, however the journals and online books referenced in my results have provided me with an extended understanding of Kuhlthau's perspective. The results also provided me with a wonderful range of information I can draw upon as a comparison to my own ILA. 

Below is a link to one of the resources saved and used as a component of my Part A Draft. This resource is a complete book written by Kuhlthau -

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=z4RmUhkg7lAC&oi=fnd&pg=PR13&dq=%22guided+inquiry%22+and+%22primary%22&ots=llFi_NzXWa&sig=IShZ8GR1crxWrXtiHbGyAbnWU0A#v=onepage&q=%22guided%20inquiry%22%20and%20%22primary%22&f=false

One useful tool I located was an extension to the regularly used ‘KWL’ This is something I use with my own students effectively, however I really like the extension to this common practice and I aim to embed this into my own pedagogy, it really provides students with the opportunity to extend their thinking.

I then refined my Boolean search terms even further, by using “guided inquiry” and “information seeking.” Through these terms, I located a great article by Limberg, which discussed at length the important things to consider when designing guided inquiry units and tasks. The article focused on shaping learning tasks, creating complex and real life tasks, ensuring there is opportunity for varying experiences, ensuring information seeking goes beyond fact finding into analysis, scrutiny and the understanding of complex issues, as well as relating information seeking to the learning outcomes.

The Limberg Reading hyperlinked below -

http://informationr.net/ir/12-4/colis28.html

The link below is another associated with Kuhlthau’s work which explores the question – ‘ISP – Is the model still useful? This reading was valuable in assessing the relevance and efficiency of Kuhlthau’s ISP in our current learning settings and provides a great tool for comparison.

http://informationr.net/ir/13-4/paper355.html

Finally, I located a PDF entitled – Grade 4 Student’s Development of Research Skills through Inquiry Based Learning Projects.