Dive into Inquiry: Amplify Learning and Empower Student Voice

by Trevor MacKenzie

What do you truly love to do? That single question put educator Trevor MacKenzie and a struggling student on an unintended and life-changing journey of inquiry, discovery, and meaningful learning. It was a journey that completely reshaped the way MacKenzie leads his classroom.

With the belief that all students deserve a chance to dig into their passions, and curiosities, MacKenzie has created a scaffolded approach to personalized learning by identifying the Types of Student Inquiry: Structured, Controlled, Guided, and Free Inquiry. Each type requires students to take progressively more control over their own learning, this inquiry-based learning model equips students to become lifelong learners.

In Dive into Inquiry, MacKenzie explains the Types of Student Inquiry and how you can use them in your own classroom. You’ll learn how to…
* Offer learning opportunities that support everyone in your room
* Foster student agency
* Build community
* Create authentic connections between education and the real world

Most importantly, you’ll learn how to provide learners with the necessary skills, knowledge, and understanding to be successful in their inquiry.

Are you ready to dive in?

Genres: Education, Professional Development, Nonfiction, Teaching, School

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2016

Reviews

[Kris Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bonus star for section on collaborating with School Librarians.

[Penny Waring · Rating 3 out of 5]

This practical book by Trevor MacKenzie gives tips and suggestions for how to turn your traditional classroom into an inquiry classroom. It is a short read geared towards implementing inquiry right now. As such, it is a good building block for teachers wanting concrete examples of student-centred pedagogies. I would have like more theoretical discussion (but I note that the book is nevertheless underpinned by general inquiry principles). Readers who need to demonstrate evidence for their practice may want to delve a little deeper into the research before they 'dive in' to this approach in their classroom, library or school.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like some of the ideas in this, but I think this style of teaching would be best in High School. I don’t think it would work as well in the elementary setting.

[Kris]

Very good book for an overview of an inquiry-based classroom. Not super helpful for inquiry as a basis for curriculum as a whole.

[Kristy Vargo]

If I'd had a better attitude, this would've been a great book study (alas, I was forced to read it and answer repetitive, vague prompts for my gifted hours). There are some really great ideas in here that would probably be better suited for older high school students, so I will probably hold onto the book.

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

My reading of Dive Into Inquiry devolved into skimming. While I believe the premise is excellent and appreciated the reminders of the pedagogy surrounding inquiry, I personally didn't find anything new or innovative in Mackenzie's text. I recognize that this was at least in part due to the high school (and maybe middle school) flavour of the book. As an elementary school teacher-librarian I can find some application, but overall it wasn't a meaningful text to me.

Of course, I did appreciate his inclusion of the school library and collaboration with teacher-librarians! Overall, I recommend Dive Into Inquiry to educators working with older students who want an introductory to or a next step with incorporating inquiry into their classrooms.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some helpful case studies illustrate how students can formulate their own inquiry projects that have authentic learning.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

The upside of Professional Development, is that I inch closer to my lofty reading goal.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite quote from the book: "In order to see results you have never seen, you will need to do things you've never done."
Trevor MacKenzie beautifully articulates the continuum of project-based/inquiry-based learning we have been promoting in Wisconsin for years. His approach is rooted in Understanding by Design. By defining "Types of Student Inquiry" MacKenzie demystifies the process and provides scaffolding for educators to introduce inquiry into their practice without giving up required content. However, the time spent on structured inquiry, controlled inquiry, and guided inquiry is limited. This read is a "dive into [free] inquiry" with more than half of the book unpacking this concept. MacKenzie's "Four Pillars of Inquiry" provide structure for students to challenge themselves and he provides countless ideas for developing greater student agency by outlining processes such as co-developing assessment. Teachers experienced with inquiry in the classroom will gain useful tips, tricks, student examples, and new ideas to strengthen their practice. I look forward to seeing what his other book "Inquiry Mindset" adds to the conversation.

[Naryn Searcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Dive Into Inquiry and found it useful, straightforward, and certainly relevant in light of current philosophical shifts towards a more student-centered classroom. I appreciated the four stages of inquiry that were clearly articulated (structured inquiry, controlled inquiry, guided inquiry, and free inquiry), and I also found the 4 pillars of inquiry to be a helpful framework. I found myself highlighting a lot of passages throughout the book. I was intrigued by the concept of co-developing course syllabuses with the students, and I also thought that in regards to helping staff with inquiry in their own classrooms that Chapter 8 on developing essential questions was particularly important. It was also reassuring to see the emphasis on the importance of collaboration with the teacher librarian. Finally, I found the QR code links to various videos to be a great way allow me to access some visual examples of the concepts being described in the text. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in exploring inquiry with their students.

[Hannah Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great read for educators or future educators. My desire to be a teacher has been up in the air lately, but I really connected with this book the more that I read it. The author provides several classroom examples of what his students completed on their "dive into inquiry," which makes it an easier process for me - someone who has zero real-world teaching experience - to visualize. He explains things in a very abstract way that gives you lots of freedom to do your own thing, but with just enough concrete instruction to give you an idea of how to go about doing it. To paraphrase his words, you don't have to jump in with both feet; start making small changes to your classroom so that it's not so difficult on you and your students. It's a learning process for the both of you. It was a great, short read, but very enlightening and encouraging.

[AndreaLectora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Para mí no es. He leído la mayoría en diagonal.
Sobre todo es que los comentarios de este libro llevan a malinterpretar lo que te vas a encontrar: dicen que es súper práctico, pero para nada.
Te cuenta un rollo de como hacer tu clase más centrada en el alumnado, pero enfocado más en lo personal, en conocerlos, no en los contenidos. Me parece genial, no estoy en contra para nada, pero lo veo quizás útil para las clases de lenguas (ahí puede surgir cualquier tema, lo importante es que hablen y se expresen). Pero no en otras materias. No he visto que me sirviera para organizar un gran cambio en mis clases, ni extrapolable a mi contenido.

Pensé que iba a ser un paso a paso de como cambiar hacia la clase basada en la indagación, pero no he sacado casi nada de en limpio.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking. Not aimed at Primary School learners overall, but can be applied.
Loved the links within the Kindle edition that directed me to examples of student inquiry learning projects and classrooms.
Also intrigued to note and think about the differences between the IBL process outlined in this book and the PYP Inquiry Cycle. Simpler and more true to the way I myself wonder and learn new things. An energizing read.

[Sonia Nasmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the first time, I feel like I understand the Inquiry method and the benefits that come with it. This book is more geared towards senior high school students but everything was outlined and described so well that I feel like it could easily be adapted for intermediate elementary students. Like he says at the end, you don’t have to take it on all at once, you can make small changes as a start. I hope to do exactly that!

[Stephen Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is mixed. The first half seems like MacKenzie is congratulating himself and celebrating his genius. As someone who has already bought into the idea of inquiry-based learning, this was annoying and slowed me down. But the second half got into the framework to apply it, which I found quite helpful. I will try to apply it in my classrooms. If you try the book, the second half is worth the slowness of the first.

[Vance J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve great respect for books on better meeting our students’ educational development written by real current teachers. No disrespect to Ed research, but much of this comes from ppl not responsible for real students in real classrooms. As such, I think these tend to be very idealized.

I thought this a great short book on getting into inquiry / deeper learning to support out students. A lot of good stuff her 👍

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great roadmap to launching inquiry in our classrooms! It makes me want to run out and do it in my own classroom. I have to be honest - after the first few chapters, I thought I might not finish the book, worse yet like it. However, once I got into the sections about the Types of Inquiry, I was hooked. Mackenzie maps out the model so well that you’ll finish feeling that you have the knowledge required to implement it right away.

[Steven Sutantro · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to bring your students' engagement to the next level, Dive into Inquiry is the book you all need. This book is a complete guide for teachers who want to transform their structured & rigid classroom into a free inquiry classroom where students have freedom to explore, research, & create authentic learning experiences that will surprise you. #DiveintoInquiry

[Tammy Westrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book not only addresses the big ideas around inquiry, it ALSO tells you how to implement them. Trevor's voice is informal and conversational which makes this short book even easier to read. I can see this as 'must read' for middle school and high school teachers who are wanting to dip their toe into inquiry and personalizing learning for their students.

[Erin Mendoza · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I have to take one quote away from this book, it would be- "find comfort in the mess of uncertainty."
Dive Into Inquiry has a lot of very specific advice, examples, and tools to use. Since I haven't started my inquiry planning yet, it is completely overwhelming 😬
I marked pages to go back and look at again later throughout my school year.

[jeffery Heil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a perfect read for those who would like to see what inquiry learning can look like in a classroom. Trevor's experiences are well-documented and he gives the reader a nice roadmap to follow to implement inquiry learning in any classroom.

[Patrick Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trevor's "Types of Inquiry" model is an answer to teacher fears that inquiry is too messy and too out of control. The model provides a nice scaffolding so that students and teachers can build towards free inquiry.

[Laurie Guyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers a solid foundation on the how and why Inquiry works and is important for us as educators to use in our classroom. Through stories and links to videos you learn how to implement more student voice into your classroom. An awesome book for any educator.

[Kate Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for the Indiana Department of Education book club and enjoyed it a lot. It made me think of inquiry within my classroom and think of ways I want to change the way learning takes place within the classroom.

[Miina Lindberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I had read this book when I had just started teaching in an IB school/Inquiry classroom. It covers the basics and is written in a straightforward and I might say friendly style. Easy to follow tricks and tips and many pullet point lists

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep breath & here I go... inquiry is coming to my classroom this semester & Mackenzie's book will be by my side. He has already saved me from starting with free inquiry, so I can only imagine that working through this semester will involve lots of referring to this book.

[Adrianna Clearman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super quick read but great for anyone who teaches looking to integrate inquiry and critical thinking more genuinely within your classroom. This book focuses mostly on middle and high school but a lot of the methods could be easily adapted.

[Amy Hannon-Korynta · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book lost me when he shared the story of letting the student skip English class so he could stay home and work on his project at home. Cool idea? Yes. Realistic? No.

Really only written for high school English teachers which a lot of leeway allowed at their site.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great resource for teachers beginning to teach using an inquiry methodology.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great idea and set up to show how much work and time it takes.