Implications and Consequences. Rigorous thinkers are trained to ask themselves: "And then what?" You can use the following questions to help students thrust their thinking forward in time or through a series of events to hypothesize about the results and analyze the wisdom of their ideas.

Example: If we could just get rid of taxes, we wouldn't have so many poor people. That would be good for our city because we have too many poor and homeless people.

• Tell us more about how that would work.
• When you say ___________, are you implying ___________?
• But if that happened, what else would happen as a result? Why?
• What effect would that have?
• Would that necessarily happen or only probably happen?
• What is an alternative?

Move Number 3: Insert Information at Key Points

Sometimes eager teachers ask: "If I do inquiry teaching, when do I get to share all the wonderful things I've learned through my own research? Is there a place for telling in an inquiry approach to learning, or do I just ask questions all the time?" Inquiry isn't just a matter of uncovering what your students already know. That's certainly an essential activity because excavating prior knowledge lays a foundation on which to build new ideas. But there comes a point in every discussion where kids need new information to get to the next level. That's where your expert knowledge comes in.

For example, if you're talking about ancient civilizations, your kids may deduce the need for laws, but they could talk all day and never think up the Code of Hammurabi. So you insert critical pieces of information about Hammurabi, including a few intriguing facts. According to Hammurabi's laws, "If fire breaks out in a house, and someone who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire." That should get their attention! Then point them in the direction of the primary source documents on ancient laws. Start their investigation with a two-pronged question that makes them search and think, such as: What types of laws did Hammurabi write and how are they like our laws? That way you focus their research and indicate the starting point for your next discussion.

So great inquiry teachers ask open-ended questions to launch a discussion and probe student thinking. Building on that discussion, they teach, using stories, anecdotes, documents, charts, graphs, photographs, paintings, diaries, and so forth. In this interval, students get more in-depth information that primes them for more questions and thinking.

Another skill of the inquiry teacher is helping students keep track of what we know so far. I like to sketch on the board as students talk. These scribbles aren't masterpieces or even intelligible to an outsider, but I've found that even cartoonish images surrounded by words help visual learners stay focused and track the discussion. You can also use lists, phrases, diagrams, or graphs to illustrate the points students make. Then pause periodically to summarize what's been said and identify the parts of the question that are still unresolved. Using this process, you model how good thinkers tackle a question and stick with it until they're satisfied. Your students learn to combine their ideas with remarks from other students, add in the information you provided and their own research "discoveries" to construct a solid body of knowledge and create new ideas. All the while, they're honing their thinking skills.

The Impact of Inquiry on Learning

You may be thinking that inquiry was a great idea in ancient Athens where people like Socrates had time on their hands and servants to tidy up after them. Whereas you're alone on the front lines of the education battle with jumbo-sized helpings of responsibility and little support. Probing questions and long answers require time that you don't have. They take patience, which may also be in short supply. Plus, teachers using the inquiry method must attend to every word students utter, and evaluate both the articulation and the thinking behind it. That's a hell of a lot more work than asking "Who was the fourth president of the United States?"

So why do great teachers use the inquiry method?

The Brain Gym

Did you know that the average teacher speaks 140 words per minute? But the average kid can hear 1,000 words per minute, and youthful brains can process up to 4,000 words per minute! Four thousand! So when you're standing in front of your class in a declarative mode, you're a slow-motion phenomenon in a high-speed world. Even if you're broadcasting at a tongue-twisting rate, a kid's brain has lots of time on its hands. And if you've chosen a topic that holds exactly no interest for your students, you're a silent movie playing for a captive audience. The urge to yell "fire" must be overwhelming.

What's going on behind kids' foreheads during didactic bouts? If you say to your students, "What's the capital of Minnesota?" some of them will acknowledge your intrusion long enough to think "St. Paul," and then stop thinking about you. Their brains return to a topic of their choice, not remotely related to Minnesota. A bunch of other students will hear "What's the capital of Minnesota?" and decide after a nanosecond, "I don't know." But their brains keep on thinking and most of their thoughts are negative: What if he calls on me? I'll look stupid. I should have studied more. Why can't I ever remember anything? Who cares about Minnesota, anyway? I wonder if I can get a hall pass? Either way, it's not a great use of the real estate between their ears.