SHARED INQUIRY

"It is usually more important to ask the right question than to get the right answer to the wrong question."  Alvin Toffler

 "Asking good questions about which there may be many answers is the foundation upon which shared inquiry and our reading about group leadership is built. " Dick Heimovics
Typically teachers ask questions and you answer them. This is what usually happens in school, right? However, consider research which suggests that the learning can be enhanced by learning to ask good questions and working with others to search for and perhaps, but not necessarily find all the answers. Some of the best questions may have no "technically right answer, rather the question(s) lead to other often more perplexing questions.

In short, knowing how to ask good questions enhances your comprehension by focusing on main ideas and making connections among ideas, and encouraging the thoughtful pursuit of new insights. Some students never learn to ask thought-provoking or higher-level questions about what they are learning  because many teachers have  always done that for them.  

Here is what the Great Books Foundation says about shared inquiry:

Shared Inquiry is a distinctive method of learning in which participants search for answers to fundamental questions raised by a text. This search is inherently active; it involves taking what the author has given us and trying to grasp its full meaning, to interpret or reach an understanding of the text in light of our experience and using sound reasoning.

The success of Shared Inquiry depends on a special relationship between the leader and the group. As a Shared Inquiry leader, you do not impart information or present your own opinions, but guide participants in reaching their own interpretations. You do this by posing thought-provoking questions and by following up purposefully on what participants say. In doing so, you help them develop both the flexibility of mind to consider problems from many angles, and the discipline to analyze ideas critically.

In Shared Inquiry, participants learn to give full consideration to the ideas of others, to weigh the merits of opposing arguments, and to modify their initial opinions as the evidence demands. They gain experience in communicating complex ideas and in supporting, testing, and expanding their own thoughts. In this way, the Shared Inquiry method promotes thoughtful dialogue and open debate.


We will spend a portion of some classes in shared inquiry about assigned readings.  An assigned subgroup or, in some cases the instructor, will be responsible for leading the discussion. We will conduct these sessions in "seminar" format (everybody contributes while one group, or in some instances, the instructor, leads).

Members of the class will submit at least one (more if you wish) shared "interpretative" inquiry question about the assignment by a specified date, posting it on the class webpage. When the instructor is responsible for shared inquiry, you do not submit questions on line. The subgroup responsible for leading the inquiry will sort through the submissions and pick the five best questions with which we will begin our inquiry. Those responsible will lead our discussion about these questions. It is not necessary for the group leading the discussion to "answer" the question. Everyone will have had access to all the questions and will review and think about the questions before class.

The success of our shared inquiry discussions depends not only on the quality of the questions and the care you take in your reading and  but also upon the methods of our discussion.

A shared inquiry discussion begins with basic interpretive questions-genuine questions about the meaning of the assigned reading that continues to be puzzling even after careful re-reading and much discussion. These are questions usually "higher up" the Bloom pyramid. As participants offer different possible answers to a question, those responsible for the shared inquiry follow-up on the ideas that are voiced, asking questions about how responses relate to the original question or to new ideas, and probing with the group what specifically in the text may have prompted the response.

In shared inquiry discussion, readers think for themselves about the selection. Discussion remains focused  on the text.  Evidence for opinions is found in the text. Because the best interpretive questions have no single" correct answer," participants are encouraged to entertain a range of ideas. The exchange of ideas is hopefully open and spontaneous, a common search for understanding that leads to closer, more illuminating reading and understanding.

Shared inquiry fosters a habit of critical questioning and thinking. It encourages patience in the face of complexity, and a respect for the opinions of others. As participants explore the work in depth, they try out ideas, reconsider simple answers, and synthesize interpretations. Over time and hopefully, shared inquiry engenders an experience of intellectual intimacy as our class searches together for meaning in the readings.

APPLICATION FROM OUR INSIGHTS ABOUT SHARED INQUIRY TO OUR ACTUAL TEAM EXPERIENCES

Once the discussion leaders are satisfied that the seminar has exhausted its inquiry about the interpretative question will the class leaders direct the discussions to application of our shared inquiry to our own work experiences or to an actual group context. This constraint will assure we have directed our discussion about our reading and inquiry questions before we launch into discussion about, for example, how this idea might work in our own work teams.  We begin with conceptual clarity before we turn to application or "practice."  It is the responsibility of the discussion leader(s) to hold us to this format.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT.

Shared inquiry is all about how to bring a group together for a hard hitting discussion and analysis of a difficult problem to answer. Learning how to do this is in many respects is the essence of leading teams.