The Galileo Education Network’s Discipline-based Inquiry Rubric
To aid those unfamiliar with the Galileo Educational Network's approach to inquiry, in this video with Amy Park explains how her 2010 Governor General Award winning grade 2 inquiry into the Inuit aligns with their eight principles of discipline-based inquiry.
While historical thinking provides a cognitively challenging and purposeful curricular orientation to engaging students in history, in what follows I want to explore how this approach could be further enhanced by the Galileo Educational Network’s Discipline-based Rubric for Inquiry Studies. These two modes of inquiry compliment one another because as Sharon Friesen (2012) –– one of the founders of the Galileo Educational Network –– notes, inquiry involves a spirit of investigation always linked to a particular topic or field of study. In this way Friesen argues that inquiry involves:
“a dynamic process of coming to know and understand the world in genuine and authentic ways that take their cue from how knowledge actually lives in the world. It encompasses the processes of posing questions, problems or issues, gathering information, thinking creatively about possibilities, learning the ways of challenging, building upon, and improving knowledge of the topic or field of study” (2012, p. 1).
Within this formulation, inquiry moves away from a purely teacher or student centered approach, to a mode of learning that takes its cue from what the topic or field of study requires of those coming to know it. Following the philosophy for inquiry outlined in chapter 2 of this resource, teachers are thus afforded opportunities to pose guiding questions, problems, or tasks that professionals in the field would recognize as important and relevant.
In order to facilitate this process, the Galileo Educational Network has created a disciplined-based inquiry rubric comprised of eight core principles that can be interwoven into the planning process. Although not exhaustive, this conceptual framework includes the following characteristics:
• Authenticity: The inquiry study originates with a question, problem, issue, or exploration that is significant to the discipline and provides opportunities to create or produce something that contributes to the world’s knowledge.
• Academic rigor: Students have opportunities to build deep understanding and create or produce high quality products and performances that mirror the disciplines.
• Assessment: Ongoing assessment is woven into the design of the study and guides students’ learning and teachers’ instructional planning.
• Elaborated communication: Students have opportunities to choose forms of expression appropriate to the task, and communicate what they are learning with a variety of audiences.
• Beyond the school: Students are encouraged to explore issues or problems with a focus on competencies expected in high performance work organizations, such as teamwork, organization, problem solving, communication, decision-making, and project management.
• Connecting with expertise: Students are given opportunities to observe and interact with exemplars as well as adults with relevant expertise and experience in a variety of situations.
• Active exploration: Students are engaged in real (authentic) investigations using a variety of media, methods, and sources.
• Appropriate use of technology: Technology is used in a purposeful manner that demonstrates an appreciation of new ways of thinking and doing. (Galileo Educational Network, 2013)
For a more extended articulation of each of these eight principles, please see the Discipline-based Rubric for Inquiry Studies. To further aid those unfamiliar with this conceptual framework, I have created a video with Amy Park explaining how her Governor General Award winning grade 2 inquiry into the Inuit aligns with these eight principles.
The argument that educators need to move away from an emphasis on memorization and the application of isolated procedures towards a vision of education where young people engage in meaningful projects that are connected to the world and reflect work in particular disciplines, is well supported by research. For example, a study conducted by Newman and his colleagues (2001) examined 2,128 students in twenty-three schools in Chicago. In this study they found that instruction in mathematics and writing organized around more “authentic work” that demanded the “construction of knowledge, through the use of disciplined inquiry, to produce discourse, products, or performances that have value beyond school” (pp. 14-15), led students to produce more intellectually complex work and make higher than normal gains on standardized tests.
Additionally, a study by Friesen (2010) designed and implemented in 26 elementary and secondary schools with 12,800 students in Alberta found that engaging students in disciplinary-based inquiry had a significant impact on student achievement on standardized provincial examinations. Specifically, the aggregate achievement scores of students in schools designated as “high inquiry schools,” significantly exceeded provincial norms on Provincial Achievement examinations. These findings make a strong argument that not only is disciplinary-based inquiry possible in contemporary spaces of education; engaging students in this kind of work, additionally increases achievement on traditional forms of standardized assessment.
References:
Friesen, S. (2010). Uncomfortable bedfellows disciplined-based inquiry and standardized examinations. Teacher Librarian, 38(5), 1-7.
Friesen, S. (2012). Inquiry-based learning. Unpublished paper, University of Calgary.
Galileo Educational Network Association (2008). Home. Retrieved from http://galileo.org/
Galileo Educational Network Association (2008). Discipline-based rubric for inquiry studies. Retrieved from http://www.galileo.org/research/publications/rubric.pdf
Galileo Educational Network Association. (2013). Discipline-based rubric for inquiry studies poster. [Image]. Unpublished, Author.
Newman, F., Bryk, A., & Nagaoka, J. (2001). Authentic intellectual work and standardized tests: Conflict or coexistence. Chicago, IL: Consortium on Chicago School Research.
Scott, D. & Park, A. (2014). An introduction to discipline-based inquiry learning. [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVhKTMFCgq0
“a dynamic process of coming to know and understand the world in genuine and authentic ways that take their cue from how knowledge actually lives in the world. It encompasses the processes of posing questions, problems or issues, gathering information, thinking creatively about possibilities, learning the ways of challenging, building upon, and improving knowledge of the topic or field of study” (2012, p. 1).
Within this formulation, inquiry moves away from a purely teacher or student centered approach, to a mode of learning that takes its cue from what the topic or field of study requires of those coming to know it. Following the philosophy for inquiry outlined in chapter 2 of this resource, teachers are thus afforded opportunities to pose guiding questions, problems, or tasks that professionals in the field would recognize as important and relevant.
In order to facilitate this process, the Galileo Educational Network has created a disciplined-based inquiry rubric comprised of eight core principles that can be interwoven into the planning process. Although not exhaustive, this conceptual framework includes the following characteristics:
• Authenticity: The inquiry study originates with a question, problem, issue, or exploration that is significant to the discipline and provides opportunities to create or produce something that contributes to the world’s knowledge.
• Academic rigor: Students have opportunities to build deep understanding and create or produce high quality products and performances that mirror the disciplines.
• Assessment: Ongoing assessment is woven into the design of the study and guides students’ learning and teachers’ instructional planning.
• Elaborated communication: Students have opportunities to choose forms of expression appropriate to the task, and communicate what they are learning with a variety of audiences.
• Beyond the school: Students are encouraged to explore issues or problems with a focus on competencies expected in high performance work organizations, such as teamwork, organization, problem solving, communication, decision-making, and project management.
• Connecting with expertise: Students are given opportunities to observe and interact with exemplars as well as adults with relevant expertise and experience in a variety of situations.
• Active exploration: Students are engaged in real (authentic) investigations using a variety of media, methods, and sources.
• Appropriate use of technology: Technology is used in a purposeful manner that demonstrates an appreciation of new ways of thinking and doing. (Galileo Educational Network, 2013)
For a more extended articulation of each of these eight principles, please see the Discipline-based Rubric for Inquiry Studies. To further aid those unfamiliar with this conceptual framework, I have created a video with Amy Park explaining how her Governor General Award winning grade 2 inquiry into the Inuit aligns with these eight principles.
The argument that educators need to move away from an emphasis on memorization and the application of isolated procedures towards a vision of education where young people engage in meaningful projects that are connected to the world and reflect work in particular disciplines, is well supported by research. For example, a study conducted by Newman and his colleagues (2001) examined 2,128 students in twenty-three schools in Chicago. In this study they found that instruction in mathematics and writing organized around more “authentic work” that demanded the “construction of knowledge, through the use of disciplined inquiry, to produce discourse, products, or performances that have value beyond school” (pp. 14-15), led students to produce more intellectually complex work and make higher than normal gains on standardized tests.
Additionally, a study by Friesen (2010) designed and implemented in 26 elementary and secondary schools with 12,800 students in Alberta found that engaging students in disciplinary-based inquiry had a significant impact on student achievement on standardized provincial examinations. Specifically, the aggregate achievement scores of students in schools designated as “high inquiry schools,” significantly exceeded provincial norms on Provincial Achievement examinations. These findings make a strong argument that not only is disciplinary-based inquiry possible in contemporary spaces of education; engaging students in this kind of work, additionally increases achievement on traditional forms of standardized assessment.
References:
Friesen, S. (2010). Uncomfortable bedfellows disciplined-based inquiry and standardized examinations. Teacher Librarian, 38(5), 1-7.
Friesen, S. (2012). Inquiry-based learning. Unpublished paper, University of Calgary.
Galileo Educational Network Association (2008). Home. Retrieved from http://galileo.org/
Galileo Educational Network Association (2008). Discipline-based rubric for inquiry studies. Retrieved from http://www.galileo.org/research/publications/rubric.pdf
Galileo Educational Network Association. (2013). Discipline-based rubric for inquiry studies poster. [Image]. Unpublished, Author.
Newman, F., Bryk, A., & Nagaoka, J. (2001). Authentic intellectual work and standardized tests: Conflict or coexistence. Chicago, IL: Consortium on Chicago School Research.
Scott, D. & Park, A. (2014). An introduction to discipline-based inquiry learning. [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVhKTMFCgq0