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Digital Inquiry Megan Burton Home Learn More Standards Inspiration About the Author

How to Guide Student Inquiry

Different frameworks are available to support teachers in guiding students' inquiry. I have chosen to use the Guided Inquiry Design model (Kuhlthau, Carol C., Leslie K. Maniotes and Ann K. Caspari. 2012) because it based on what students actually experience during their research, not merely what they should experience during their research.

I realize that sometimes it's very difficult to apply a model to our teaching until we understand the whole model. Unfortunately, teachers don't always have time available to sufficiently research or to get trained in using a model. The article, Teaching the Process of Learning, explains the Inquiry Process and helps teachers begin to support student inquiry quickly.

This is a simplified version of the Inquiry Process. Click image to go to the article.

My Infographic shows how I have integrated the GID model into the design of each of my students' projects.

Instructional Materials for Media Literacy

There are so many resources available for teaching media literacy and research skills that it can easily become overwhelming to sort through them. There are many places for teachers to begin, including the information from their school district, content areas, and educational platforms such as Common Sense Education and PBS Learning Media.

Ultimately, teachers need to include media literacy as part of their instruction in order to help students proficiently navigate the internet - and therefore need to make decisions about how to best teach their students what is most needed. Below is my Digital Literacy Mind Map that is intended to help teachers see what is available (with links to the sources included) in an organized way, supporting them in making decisions based on the needs of their students.

Click on the image to go to the mind map.

Additional Resources for Teaching Media Literacy and Research Skills:

Turn Students into Fact-Finding Web Detectives: There are many solid resources here for teachers to use in teaching media literacy and research skills, including topics such as “How to Use Google Reverse Image Search to Fact-Check Images" and articles such as "Why Students Can't Google Their Way to the Truth."

Students need the ability to analyze messages they see through media - especially if they're looking up their own resources. Here are some questions from Project Look Sharp to help students know what to focus on when coming upon new information. Teachers do need to pull out the questions that matter the most in each round of student inquiry so that students don't get overwhelmed. Therefore, the questions below are for teachers' resources.

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