Classroom Strategies
Inquiry Charts
An Inquiry Chart (I-Chart) is a tool that enables students to generate meaningful
questions about a topic and organize their ideas. Students integrate prior knowledge
or thoughts about the topic with additional information found in several sources.
What is an inquiry chart?
Inquiry charts — also called I-charts — are graphical “thinking maps.” They
are powerful tools in helping students to organize information gathered during
research or investigation activities. Students read or listen to several sources
on the topic and record answers to the posed questions within the I-chart, and
generate a summary in the final row. Different answers from various
perspectives can be explored as a class.
Why use an inquiry chart?
It fosters critical thinking and strengthens reading skills.
It teaches younger students to generate meaningful questions about a topic
and learn to organize their writing.
Students build upon prior knowledge or thoughts about the topic by sharing
interesting facts.
It can be a low-stakes way to evaluate how much your students have learned
about a topic.
Key Information
Focus
Comprehension
Writing
When To Use This Strategy
During reading
Appropriate Group Size
Individually
With small groups
Whole class setting
How to use an inquiry chart
1. Planning phase
Provide each student with a blank I-chart and assist with topic selection (or
provide the pre-selected topic).
Have students work in pairs or small groups.
Have students begin forming questions about the topic. These questions are
placed at the top of each individual column.
Have students collect reading materials to learn more about the topic.
2. Interacting phase
Ask students to think about what they already know about the topic and to
record that in the first row of the I-chart.
Have students read and pull key ideas from several different sources of
information in order to fill in the other rows in the I-chart.
Encourage your students to share interesting facts with their partners or within
their small groups.
3. Integrating and evaluation phase
Have students use the last row in their I-charts to pull together their ideas into
a general summary.
Students will use their summarizing, comparative analysis, critical thinking,
and research and reporting skills as they resolve competing ideas found in
separate sources or develop new questions to explore based on any
conflicting or incomplete information.
You can invite partners or small groups present what they have learned to the
whole class.
Watch a lesson: inquiry-based learning
Wildwood IB World Magnet School uses the inquiry-based model to put
students in charge of their learning, with lessons that stem from student
questions and harness the power of curiosity. (Edutopia)
[Link]
Sample I-chart
