Program Components > Inquiry Teams > Inquiry Process
THE INQUIRY PROCESS
Click here to view a graphic representation
of the seven steps of the Inquiry Process. * * *
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The Inquiry Process
The Inquiry Process is used to examine teaching and learning, emphasizing
teacher reflection and research within the classroom. It involves the
teacher in posing important questions, gathering relevant data, and analyzing
the data to answer those questions. The Inquiry Process may also be called
Action Research.
Teacher research is initiated and carried out by teachers in their
classrooms and schools. Teacher-researchers use their inquiries to study
everything from the best way to teach reading and the most useful methods
for organizing group activities, to the different ways girls and boys
respond to a science curriculum.
Teachers may naturally see research as something that can be considered
only after the pressing needs of the classroom have been met. In this
scheme, teacher research will never reach a high enough spot on the roster
of duties in any classroom to be developed and supported. But there
are ways to develop inquiry skills that are readily used by any teacher
in any classroom. AIM's Faculty Inquiry Team workshop introduces these
skills and encourages the use of inquiry in teacher's lives.
Teachers who conduct classroom-based research are continually identifying
questions to research by observing and reflecting upon their students'
learning and analyzing the impact of their curriculum, instruction and
assessment on learning.
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