Making Inquiry a Habit of Mind: Learning to use inquiry to understand and improve practice

Abstract

This study examines how student teachers in a 2-year graduate program used inquiry to examine the day-to-day issues that arose in their student teaching placements. Through systematic questioning, collection of data and controlled experimenting with solutions, student teachers learned to apply the technical and theoretical knowledge they were learning in education classes to their individual student teaching situations. Essential to the success of this process was collaboration with colleagues for clarifying their questions and for understanding and analyzing the data they collected. Analysis of the data shows that student teachers learned to help one another so that their teaching was focused and successful in many different ways. Confirmation of this success was noted in the supervisor evaluations and observation notes for each student teacher. Student teachers did learn to make inquiry a habit of mind, thereby initiating a long-term commitment to professional self-study.