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Inquiry and Writing
Boyer Commission Report
“The idea embodied in this report would turn the prevailing culture of receivers into a culture of
inquirers, a culture in which faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates share an adventure of
discovery…The first year university experience needs to provide new stimulation for intellectual growth
and a firm grounding in inquiry-based learning.”
The Boyer Commission Report, 1998
Characteristics of Inquiry-based Assignments
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Are driven by questions, and teach what constitutes a good question.
Put students in charge of their own investigations.
Engage students’ curiosity.
Initially encourage uncertainty.
Emphasize exploration before judgment, and allow time in the process for open-ended
investigation.
Complicate prior beliefs about learning and knowledge.
Celebrate discovery and surprise.
Myth of the Boring Topic
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No such thing as boring topic, only bad questions
Suspend judgment and tolerate ambiguity
Extend the process of open inquiry
Questions are like knives
The more you look the more you see
Knowledge is created collaboratively
The Inquiry Question
What’s a good question?
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It raises more questions; there isn’t a simple answer.
It can sustain the process of inquiry over time.
The writer is interested in it.
Some readers have a stake in the answer.
It implies an approach to learning the answer—appropriate subject areas in which to begin
looking.
6. Something has been said about the question.
7. It’s the right size. Not too general and not too narrow.
Categories of Questions
Bruce Ballenger, Professor of English, Boise State University, April 2013
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Type
Questions
Genre
Question of Fact
or Definition
What is it? What is
known about it?
Beginning of
inquiry
Question of
Value
Which is
better/worse? Is it
good/bad
Review, Argument,
Research Essay
Hypothesis
Question
Might this be true?
Research Essay,
Personal Essay
Policy Question
What should be
done?
Argument, Proposal
Interpretation
question?
What does it
mean?
Literary Essay,
Personal Essay,
Ethnography,
Profile
Relationship
Question
Does ___ cause
___? Is __similar
or dissimilar to
___?
Research Essay,
Literary Essay,
Ethnography
Bruce Ballenger, Professor of English, Boise State University, April 2013
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An Inquiry Strategy
Question
• Making
Judgments
• Suspending
Judgements
Findings
Dialogic Thinking
Creative Thinking Critical Thinking
Sea
Fastwriting
Showing
Specifics
Collecting
Observations of
What happened
Then
Generating
Exploring
Seeing
Playing
Mountain
Composing
Telling
Generalities
Focusing
Ideas about
What happens
Now
Criticizing
Reflecting
Interpreting
Judging
The Impact of Prior Knowledge
What should be the focus of instruction, subject knowledge or reasoning strategies? There is some
evidence that once a learner develops some expertise in a subject her sophistication in applying
Bruce Ballenger, Professor of English, Boise State University, April 2013
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strategies (e.g. effective reading, question-asking, etc..) increases. Inquiry approaches in composition
often invite students to explore subjects about which they may have little prior knowledge.
Implications include:
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Low prior knowledge is stage of high motivation and lessened resistance to learning more.
Potential for frustration because of high cognitive load
Less skilled in reasoning strategies but with guidance more interested in applying them.
More likely to choose interdisciplinary approaches.
Cognitive Load
Resistance
Question-asking
Reading
Motivation
Low
Knowledge
Moderate Knowledge
High
Knowledge
The Danger of Cognitive Overload
The following excerpt is from an essay written by Bernice about her experience in a inquiry-based freshman
composition class that used The Curious Researcher.
We were skeptical. It all felt very contradictory, this research essay. It seemed like a mythical
beast made by taking bits and pieces of genres we knew and putting them together in ways we didn’t
know. It had the voice and heart of a personal essay, the backbone of a research paper, and a wild
exploratory spirit. I had no idea where to begin with such a paper. In class we talked briefly about
beginning by asking question, we drew a few spider graphs, free-wrote, asked question of each other’s
topic and then sallied forth into the library.
I chose fairy tales and folklore, wrote the first draft about my family folklore. The second draft
was a mangled overview of European fairytales, and the finished draft a long winded conversation about
Bruce Ballenger, Professor of English, Boise State University, April 2013
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the affects of fairytales on children. In every draft I diminished, my voice faded in an effort to balance
the beast. I got an A but the project left me frustrated and unsure of what makes good research essay.
To this day I wish I’d kept and reworked that first draft.
What You’re Inclined
to Believe
Strongly AgreeStrongly Disagree
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Question
1. There’s a big difference between facts and
opinions
2. Most of what you read it books is true.
3. Stories that don’t have an ending or clear
conclusion are very good stories.
4. Everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion
and you can’t say one opinion is better than
another.
5. Most problems have one best solution no matter
how difficult they are.
6. How much you get out of school depends on the
quality of the teachers.
7. Most words have one clear meaning.
8. When I study I look for specific facts.
9. People who challenge authority are over-confident
10. Scientists can ultimately get to the truth.
What You Suspect
Your Composition
Students Believe
Strongly AgreeStrongly Disagree
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Bruce Ballenger, Professor of English, Boise State University, April 2013
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