Experience Inquiry
5 Powerful Strategies, 50 Practical Experiences
Foreword by Kath Murdoch, Author of The Power of Inquiry
Corwin Teaching Essentials
"Strategic and deliberate approaches to inquiry have been shown to be extremely helpful to educators who seek to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their students. In this important new book, Kimberly Mitchell provides practical insights and methods for how to incorporate inquiry into their practice. For educators who seek to enhance their effectiveness and make a difference for all of the students they serve, this book will be an invaluable resource and guide."
Pedro A. Noguera, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Education
UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies,
Los Angeles, CA
"Kimberly has translated the latest terminology—pedagogical jargon—into lively language and useful advice that will strike a chord for classroom teachers! She 'gets it.'"
Deborah Meier, Educator & Author
Coalition of Essential Schools
Plenty of resources speak to the benefits of inquiry, the research behind it, and even subject-specific processes to follow. But that’s not enough. Implementing inquiry is the tricky part, and involves changing beliefs about the teacher and student roles in the classroom. Most critically, we as teachers must engage in inquiry ourselves to successfully implement it in the classroom.
One part practical guide, one part interactive journal, this book provides the opportunity to do inquiry as you read about it. You’ll learn what inquiry-based instruction looks like in practice through five key strategies, all of which can be immediately implemented in any learning environment. This resource offers
- Practical examples of what inquiry looks like in the classroom, and how to do it
- Opportunities for reflection throughout the book, including self-surveys, templates, and tools
- A user-friendly handbook format for quick reference and logical progression through your inquiry journey
- Fifty practical inquiry experiences that can be used individually, with students, or in small groups of teachers
These strategies and experiences will improve your relationships with students and colleagues, reduce your workload by asking more of students, and breathe joyful curiosity back into your classroom. Let’s get out of our comfort zones and do inquiry-based teaching in a more practical and powerful way! Are you ready?
Free resources
Inquiry Self-Survey
Use this self-survey from Experience Inquiry by Kimberly Mitchell to determine whether you are already teaching in an inquiry-based way.
Peer Observation Planning Worksheet
Try out these inquiry peer observation methods from Experience Inquiry with your students to further develop their question-asking and question-seeking.
"Strategic and deliberate approaches to inquiry have been shown to be extremely helpful to educators who seek to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their students. In this important new book, Kimberly Mitchell provides practical insights and methods for how to incorporate inquiry into their practice. For educators who seek to enhance their effectiveness and make a difference for all of the students they serve, this book will be an invaluable resource and guide."
"Kimberly has translated the latest terminology—pedagogical jargon—into lively language and useful advice that will strike a chord for classroom teachers! She 'gets it.'"
“This is a book that will help you become the inquiry teacher you need to be.”
"Experience Inquiry is an excellent book for demystifying how to promote inquiry in the classroom. It's also a clarion call for building strong personal bonds between teacher and student. Chapter after chapter emphasizes the extraordinary opportunity teachers have and the practical tools they can use to create an environment in which students' ideas, feelings and questions are valued."
“Kimberly has given us a 'field guide' to uncover, unpack and enjoy the nobility that is teaching. Her gift is a joyful discomfort that challenges all of us to better actualize the gifts we pledge to the students we serve… best enjoyed in the company of your colleagues.”
"More than a good, engaging read, Experience Inquiry is an experiential challenge for educators and educational leaders committed to creating schools where students 'do most of the question-asking and answer-seeking.' Kimberly Mitchell has provided a fun, accessible way for all of us to reflect on our own capacity for inquiry and in the process become better listeners and learners—which ultimately makes for better teachers."
"Are you ready to experience authentic inquiry? Experience Inquiry takes you on a reflective, inquiry-based learning journey to bring clarity to what educators have wrestled with since John Dewey’s time: the nebulousness of 'inquiry.' Kimberly masterfully engages you in what effective inquiry-based teaching and learning looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Finally there is a book that actually differentiates for all levels of teaching experience to provide the foundation our newest teachers need while pushing our most experienced inquiry-based teachers to the next level. This is a must read for all teachers, PLCs, schools, and districts who are working to improve inquiry-based teaching and learning."
"While there is much talk about inquiry-based teaching, Kimberly Mitchell walks the walk in this highly practical, easy-to-read manual for inquiry in 21st-century teaching and learning. Unlike most other books on the topic, Mitchell doesn't stop at how to engage in more inquiry-based teaching and learning; she takes the unique step of walking educators through their own inquiry-based self-reflections and evaluations. Some of the best (and most affordable) professional development I have had in a while can be found within these pages; this book will have a permanent place on my go-to education bookshelf."
"What a thoughtful and generous book! Experience Inquiry is an amazing resource for teachers who are curious about bringing inquiry immediately into their classrooms – whether implementing w/their “beginner mind” or improving their daily practice."
“Experience Inquiry is a ‘must have’ workbook for new teachers and teachers who want to come to the work anew. It’s refreshing to find a book that asks us to pause, think, and reflect for ourselves.”