The article by Mandy Lupton discusses ‘Inquiry skills in the Australian Curriculum’ and focuses on the areas of science, history, and geography. When comparing the subject areas, it becomes apparent that the inquiry skills in each subject area do not align neatly across stages. Therefore, opening up the opportunity for a curriculum specialist such as the teacher librarian (TL) to have input in any school wide approach to information literacy.
It is interesting that more subject areas do not have aspects of inquiry learning written into their syllabus. In fact, the area of creative and performing arts is still waiting for inclusion in the Australian Curriculum with a new set of syllabi. This appears to be a lost opportunity to map inquiry learning across subjects and develop common information literacy skills across a stage of learning. Learning through inquiry can bring together many aspects of the curriculum, such as the general capabilities of literacy, information and communication technology (ICT) and creative and critical thinking (Lupton, 2012).
The table comparing inquiry models in science, shows two clear comparisons for undertaking scientific inquiry (Lupton, 2012). The guided inquiry model has the teacher and student working in partnership to conduct their learning, while the open inquiry model has students directing the learning. Having guidance during inquiry learning has its advantages. A teacher or TL acting as a guide throughout the process can keep students on track and intervene when students come to a dead end. Guided inquiry makes it possible for students to work towards creating a finished product. At the end of the day, teachers are still bound by learning outcomes and need to assess learning against outcomes to report to parents.
In history students focus on historical inquiry by analysing source material. There is more focus on the information aspect of inquiry, whereas science is more focused on developing understanding through the process of experimenting. Geographical inquiry is different again, because its focus is more about getting students to formulate questions that lead to action on an issue. Many Lupton (2012) has developed a table to compare approaches to inquiry as outlined in each of the three subject areas from the Australian Curriculum.
Unfortunately, information literacy is not specifically addressed in the Australian Curriculum and there is no consistency between subjects when it comes to inquiry learning. This presents an opportunity for the TL to bridge the gap in this area. Working collaboratively with teachers, a guided information literacy model could be embedded in to learning across the whole school. The unique position of the TL means they can help to implement guided inquiry in subjects across the whole school. This would strengthen the teaching of information literacy in schools and present new and exciting ways of learning for students.
Reference List
Lupton, M. (2012). Inquiry skills in the Australian Curriculum. Access (June), 12-18.
