A steep hill to climb: lessons from professional development on inquiry creation
Social Studies Research and Practice
ISSN: 1933-5415
Article publication date: 4 September 2023
Issue publication date: 28 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
In the Fall of 2020, three teacher educators in Ohio collaborated on a three-month long online professional development series on how to write Focused Inquiries, a la the Inquiry Design Model (IDM).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors detail the contents of the six group professional development (PD) sessions and share the lessons that the authors learned as a result of leading this training.
Findings
Given this study’s mixed results, the authors often came back to the questions of “maybe it was us? Maybe it was the pandemic? Maybe there wasn’t enough training? Or maybe IDM creation isn’t a skill that all teachers possess and maybe that’s ok?” The authors share the struggles with these questions and situate all of this within the current culture wars raging around schools today.
Originality/value
Finally, the authors offer the current approach to inquiry training for teachers that situates inquiry creation later in the process after significant structured introductory work.
Keywords
Citation
Kaka, S.J., Colley, L.M. and Suskey, R. (2023), "A steep hill to climb: lessons from professional development on inquiry creation", Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 110-120. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-01-2023-0003
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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