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Inquiry Mindset: Nurturing the Dreams, Wonderings, and Curiosities of Our Youngest Learners
From their youngest years, our children are innately curious. They explore the world around them through play, imagination, and discovery. They build meaning, they create understanding, and they unabashedly share their learning. It s in this process that they find joy in life and relevance in the world around them. Why, then, do some of our students become disconnected from their learning in school? Where does this natural curiosity go? And how, as educators, can we ensure all of our students experience a meaningful and wonder-filled journey through their education? It s these questions that Trevor MacKenzie, author of the critically acclaimed book Dive into Inquiry, answers in Inquiry Mindset. Co-written with kindergarten teacher Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt, Inquiry Mindset offers a highly accessible journey through inquiry in the younger years. You ll learn how to . . . Empower your learners, increase engagement, and accelerate achievement. Harness the wonderings and curiosities of your students and leverage them into powerful learning opportunities. Cultivate an inquiry mindset both as a teacher and in your students! Adopt an inquiry approach that results in the most authentic and inspiring learning you ve ever experienced!
200 pages, Paperback
Published March 21, 2018
98 people are currently reading
372 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 6, 2018
I won't rehash in detail since you can read it yourself, but I was excited to read this one after seeing the description. Mindset is "hot" in education and I appreciate how inquiry is defined, presented, and explored. There are examples of classroom practices, mostly elementary, but honestly many current high school classrooms are filled with students who have never been taught in this way.
This book would be useful for PLC leaders or curriculum designers working with faculty, as there is a scale to rate one's comfortability and the pacing is easy to get through.
My issues came from the fact that there are no in-text citations of studies to back up their claims, nor are there many sources listed at the end that seem to do so. Claims such as what inquiry produces and how it affects cognition really need to be backed up. Unfortunately, the authors dedicate the most references to a previous publication of their own! Moreover, it's pretty offensive that they would mention the concept of mindset and never directly mention or cite Dweck. Sorry, but people in Master's of Education programs often do not generate as much respect as people in other programs (like a content area) because of the lack of standards/ease of obtaining their degree, and these two current M.A. students' writing is a testament to the apparent lack of researching skill. Maybe try again when you learn how to cite sources and back up claims?
This book would be useful for PLC leaders or curriculum designers working with faculty, as there is a scale to rate one's comfortability and the pacing is easy to get through.
My issues came from the fact that there are no in-text citations of studies to back up their claims, nor are there many sources listed at the end that seem to do so. Claims such as what inquiry produces and how it affects cognition really need to be backed up. Unfortunately, the authors dedicate the most references to a previous publication of their own! Moreover, it's pretty offensive that they would mention the concept of mindset and never directly mention or cite Dweck. Sorry, but people in Master's of Education programs often do not generate as much respect as people in other programs (like a content area) because of the lack of standards/ease of obtaining their degree, and these two current M.A. students' writing is a testament to the apparent lack of researching skill. Maybe try again when you learn how to cite sources and back up claims?
December 30, 2024
If you are an experienced inquiry teacher, you’ll probably be able to skim-read this book, because it is basic. My rating is probably below 4 stars really, but above 3.
The authors are enthusiastic and full of ideas, and even though I am an experienced inquiry teacher the book did remind me of a few things and did inspire some thoughts. There were also new ideas here for me or ideas that hit me in new or different ways, because of the presentation.
For example, I’ve seen the graphic on p. 37 that shows the types of student inquiry and illustrates it with a swimming pool, but I did not realize the author began the year with structured inquiry and built up to free inquiry by the end.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I refer to at least 3 of the chapters again: Ch. 5 Free Inquiry, Ch. 6 The Four Pillars of Inquiry and Ch. 7 The Role of Questions in Inquiry.
The book inspired me enough that I plan to skim-read Inquiry Mindset: Questions Edition: Cultivating Curiosity and Creating Question Competence too.
The authors are enthusiastic and full of ideas, and even though I am an experienced inquiry teacher the book did remind me of a few things and did inspire some thoughts. There were also new ideas here for me or ideas that hit me in new or different ways, because of the presentation.
For example, I’ve seen the graphic on p. 37 that shows the types of student inquiry and illustrates it with a swimming pool, but I did not realize the author began the year with structured inquiry and built up to free inquiry by the end.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I refer to at least 3 of the chapters again: Ch. 5 Free Inquiry, Ch. 6 The Four Pillars of Inquiry and Ch. 7 The Role of Questions in Inquiry.
The book inspired me enough that I plan to skim-read Inquiry Mindset: Questions Edition: Cultivating Curiosity and Creating Question Competence too.
December 4, 2021
This book is ok. As a suggestion, I think readers that feel they need to learn more about what inquiry is and how it works would benefit most from this book. Inquiry is a big term and this book, for the most part, does a good job of providing a rudimentary exploration of what inquiry is.
Many of the decent ideas in this book can realistically implemented without a total revamp of one's curriculum or school mission. However, there are many moments when organization interrupts the reader.
This book needs a revamp on organization; there are many times when the authors will write "we will discuss this idea in chapter 8" or "we read about this idea in chapter 3 and lets restate it here in chapter 8." An edit focused only on organization would have alleviated much disunity.
Next, this book tries to accomplish too much. A lick of irony exists here because the book clearly advocates for depth of learning, a huge part of inquiry, yet it presents surface level ideas in an attempt to define "Inquiry Mindset" which, in my mind, is a very powerful topic! Had this book chosen to avoid bush whacking, and instead stayed true to its mission and gone deeper with educational studies on inquiry, it could be a 5 star read. It tries to accomplish too much which results in a surface level book about a very deep and complicated subject (inquiry).
Although surface level, this book was useful for me. Even though I am marching into the double digits of "years taught," this book was helpful for me to get a general understanding of what an inquiry mindset is and what inquiry is. Some of the images in the book about inquiry are also helpful, but a skeptical reader (me) notes that these images are not scientifically cited, but rather from two educators' experiences and opinions.
There are many dangers that can surface from a book when one makes claims about inclusivity and pulling students out of the classroom without scientific support. For example, the final two pages of the book which are attempting to tackle the topic of inclusivity, read as follows:
"if students are pulled OUTSIDE of class by a specialist or resource teacher, they are excluded from the relationship with their peers and the inquiry teacher and the powerful impact of agency is stripped away. Too often we have witnessed these learners, under the best intentions of professionals involved, being ostracized and labeled because they are pulled out of class. Their sense of self is scarred."
There are many assumptions being made by the authors that wrote the sentences above. Moreover, not only are there assumptions, but it is also dangerous to make statements like this without any scientific support. Here are the areas where I take massive issue with the statements above:
1) It assumes that only the classroom teacher is capable of inquiry-- there is a chapter dedicated to librarians being an inquiry superhero. Why can't support teachers also be superheroes? The logic that the child is ripped away from inquiry just because they are pulled out of class is faulty on itself because it is saying that a specialist teacher does not have the ability to be "inquiry based."
2) Secondly, the argument above is based totally on personal experience. There is no scientific support. Although it is stated that the authors are basing their point from experience, it is still dangerous because they are using their experience to make an argument against pulling students outside of class for support. This happens all the time in books and readers should consider being cautious when suggestions like this are made (based on experience).
3) It assumes also that the student gets bullied or made fun of because they are pulled from class. How? Where is the data or correlation to support this? How do you know that Charlie was specifically picked on because he was pulled out for ELL support? No explanation of the personal experience is given to support this statement.
4) It makes a bold statement about children being "scarred" from being pulled out, which sheds a negative light on the process of pulling students out for support, and also paints support teachers negatively as well.
I work internationally and with ESL students and witness pull outs all the time. Saying that a student gets scarred from being pulled out is not a fact, it is an opinion. I can sit on this post and make an argument that pulling out kids is the best thing on earth because it benefits them linguistically and I have seen, through my experience, mammoth growth in student reading and writing levels due to ESL pull out. See how this statement is dangerous? I have not cited any claims and just made a bold statement with no evidence.
Another big issue I had with this book is that while it is off bush whacking, it becomes rather repetitive and frustrating navigating all the excess verbiage to finally get down to the author's points. I feel like many parts of this book could have been charted like the following:
inquiry teaching strategy (left column) Explanation of strategy (middle column). Further reading (right column). Instead, strategies go on and on and on and on and on and on and then the reader gets sunk in some verbiage that really doesn't need to be there. Give us a chart and cut down the pages by about 50 ish.
Overall, this book is alright. It lacks depth because it does not have scientific studies as support and it veers way off its course in an attempt to do to much. However, it does provide a good overview of what inquiry is. I feel like I now better understand the term inquiry after reading this book. Sadly, the book does such a poor job of adding depth to the concept of inquiry, and instead veers off into teaching strategy land, technology, inclusion (and makes baseless claims about scarring kids), that it really loses its power potential.
An ok read, but a book I will swiftly return to the library.
Many of the decent ideas in this book can realistically implemented without a total revamp of one's curriculum or school mission. However, there are many moments when organization interrupts the reader.
This book needs a revamp on organization; there are many times when the authors will write "we will discuss this idea in chapter 8" or "we read about this idea in chapter 3 and lets restate it here in chapter 8." An edit focused only on organization would have alleviated much disunity.
Next, this book tries to accomplish too much. A lick of irony exists here because the book clearly advocates for depth of learning, a huge part of inquiry, yet it presents surface level ideas in an attempt to define "Inquiry Mindset" which, in my mind, is a very powerful topic! Had this book chosen to avoid bush whacking, and instead stayed true to its mission and gone deeper with educational studies on inquiry, it could be a 5 star read. It tries to accomplish too much which results in a surface level book about a very deep and complicated subject (inquiry).
Although surface level, this book was useful for me. Even though I am marching into the double digits of "years taught," this book was helpful for me to get a general understanding of what an inquiry mindset is and what inquiry is. Some of the images in the book about inquiry are also helpful, but a skeptical reader (me) notes that these images are not scientifically cited, but rather from two educators' experiences and opinions.
There are many dangers that can surface from a book when one makes claims about inclusivity and pulling students out of the classroom without scientific support. For example, the final two pages of the book which are attempting to tackle the topic of inclusivity, read as follows:
"if students are pulled OUTSIDE of class by a specialist or resource teacher, they are excluded from the relationship with their peers and the inquiry teacher and the powerful impact of agency is stripped away. Too often we have witnessed these learners, under the best intentions of professionals involved, being ostracized and labeled because they are pulled out of class. Their sense of self is scarred."
There are many assumptions being made by the authors that wrote the sentences above. Moreover, not only are there assumptions, but it is also dangerous to make statements like this without any scientific support. Here are the areas where I take massive issue with the statements above:
1) It assumes that only the classroom teacher is capable of inquiry-- there is a chapter dedicated to librarians being an inquiry superhero. Why can't support teachers also be superheroes? The logic that the child is ripped away from inquiry just because they are pulled out of class is faulty on itself because it is saying that a specialist teacher does not have the ability to be "inquiry based."
2) Secondly, the argument above is based totally on personal experience. There is no scientific support. Although it is stated that the authors are basing their point from experience, it is still dangerous because they are using their experience to make an argument against pulling students outside of class for support. This happens all the time in books and readers should consider being cautious when suggestions like this are made (based on experience).
3) It assumes also that the student gets bullied or made fun of because they are pulled from class. How? Where is the data or correlation to support this? How do you know that Charlie was specifically picked on because he was pulled out for ELL support? No explanation of the personal experience is given to support this statement.
4) It makes a bold statement about children being "scarred" from being pulled out, which sheds a negative light on the process of pulling students out for support, and also paints support teachers negatively as well.
I work internationally and with ESL students and witness pull outs all the time. Saying that a student gets scarred from being pulled out is not a fact, it is an opinion. I can sit on this post and make an argument that pulling out kids is the best thing on earth because it benefits them linguistically and I have seen, through my experience, mammoth growth in student reading and writing levels due to ESL pull out. See how this statement is dangerous? I have not cited any claims and just made a bold statement with no evidence.
Another big issue I had with this book is that while it is off bush whacking, it becomes rather repetitive and frustrating navigating all the excess verbiage to finally get down to the author's points. I feel like many parts of this book could have been charted like the following:
inquiry teaching strategy (left column) Explanation of strategy (middle column). Further reading (right column). Instead, strategies go on and on and on and on and on and on and then the reader gets sunk in some verbiage that really doesn't need to be there. Give us a chart and cut down the pages by about 50 ish.
Overall, this book is alright. It lacks depth because it does not have scientific studies as support and it veers way off its course in an attempt to do to much. However, it does provide a good overview of what inquiry is. I feel like I now better understand the term inquiry after reading this book. Sadly, the book does such a poor job of adding depth to the concept of inquiry, and instead veers off into teaching strategy land, technology, inclusion (and makes baseless claims about scarring kids), that it really loses its power potential.
An ok read, but a book I will swiftly return to the library.
May 24, 2018
A resource for primary school teachers interested in inquiry based teaching. The reader will spend much of their time separating the buzzword-laden prose from helpful, direct descriptions.
July 13, 2025
It can be hard to find a STEM book that is truly elementary content but this book knocked it out of the park. So many applicable ideas that I will be using in my classroom this year! The authors had incredible examples and resources included as well. As a student led learning believer I recommend this book to all my fellow educators 📚💭
July 12, 2019
This book is a must read for every teacher who wants to reach every child in their classroom. The mindset and strategies to get yourself their are very well laid out. This book is challenging to the educator, but more so, it is inspiring. Reminds you why you want to teach, and gives hope you can do it even better.
August 17, 2018
One of the simplest guide book for teachers especially who teach primary schools to create inquiry learning environment. You will find concrete and practical ideas that will help you to transform your classroom into inspiring learning space. Kudos to Trevor & Rebecca!
October 11, 2021
I enjoyed this book’s practitioner’s emphasis; discourse on engagement and essential questions, and testimony to developing courses, syllabi and trajectories in conjunction w students. Not always the biggest fan of PL workbook type publishing
November 21, 2018
A great book for Elementary educators who are looking for inspiration and ideas.
December 24, 2018
3.5 stars, it was a great beginning to inquiry mindset along with solidifying what I already knew about inquiry
January 6, 2019
very similar to Odyssey of the Mind and does not give the program any credit. Odyssey of the Mind was out before this book and the exercises in OotM are better
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January 19, 201948/186
October 12, 2019
Although I am familiar with the Inquiry process, this book allowed me to refresh and extend my understanding.
April 30, 2020
Great resource for new teachers wanting to implement inquiry based learning in their classroom. Lots of good resources within.
August 18, 2020
Very useful and accessible.
February 18, 2022
I kept thinking. “Let’s build a cannon!” Because this text took some of my thoughts and turned them into more than dreams. I am ready to build an amazing learning adventure for my students.
March 24, 2022
Lots of great ideas about how to support students in an inquiry environment.
January 22, 2023
A great starting point for teachers to shift their thinking towards facilitating inquiry-focused learning for students. Easy to read chapters and clear examples.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews