Ashley McKenzie

McKenzie 1

Professor Jan Rieman

UWRT 1103
October 22, 2014
Inquiry at Work WTE
This article is an excellent example of inquiry because of its different strands of questions
to answer a topic. The college begins with the question of what affects students and their
accomplishments in school. Going further into that topic, they begin investigation into the
different aspects of different students backgrounds and home-lives that can affect their progress
in school. The University of Texas made a point of comparing how if one looks at the two
different ways to assess a students possible success or failure in school, by academics versus
family background, the results of these tests can tell you two completely opposite answers about
the same person. After the multiple experiments they conducted to decide which method was
more reliable, they found the background information to be more accurate a greater percentage
of the time.
Reading more into this article I found what Laude was trying to do was a very
commendable act. In a way he was continuing the inquiry process by testing out theories to see
the effects of his carried out thought process, but it was also apparent that he was making a huge
impact on these students lives and how they would continue to succeed for the future once they
got over the hump of a total culture shock that college really is. This is also more evidence to go
into inquiry of the subject. After they decided family history and origin had more of an influence
on these students, they took action into further explaining and supporting their claim.

McKenzie 2
I feel it is a very accurate statement, as the article explains later, that the most common
negative thoughts of individuals is the need for belonging and having ability, or being capable.
As Im sure most all of us in this class have experienced, upon starting college ones sense of
belonging and capability is instantly shaken and questioned. The smaller classrooms that Laude
put together was partly with the purpose to rebuild these feelings and give students a greater selfesteem that was damaged just from entering into a different atmosphere.
The more comforting environment provided these students, experiencing more difficult
challenges than other students, the support they needed to achieve what was always possible for
them; they just needed a more personalized setting to stimulate their growth. The path of inquiry
that the University of Texas followed helped to produce this result and change these young
peoples studying habits, school success rate and future lives.
Self-Assessment:
This WTE was a great example of inquiry and the path we can follow to develop our own
inquiry. I appreciate this demonstration to show how to carry out an inquiry and also the results
from an inquiry.