Guided Inquiry is an instructional framework designed to support students while engaging in inquiry learning tasks. The new Australian Curriculum requires students to develop skills and understandings as critical inquirers of their world across a number of learning areas. In other words, inquiry underpins disciplinary thinking.

One of the key elements of inquiry is partnerships. Studies examining the impact of school libraries on student achievement have shown when teacher librarians collaboratively plan, teach and evaluate with classroom teachers, students learn more, get better grades, and score higher on standardised test scores than those students without access to the resourcing and instructional expertise of a teacher librarian (Kahn & Valence, 2012; Montiel-Overall, 2008; School Libraries Worldwide, 2008; Todd, 2008a, 2008b; Lance, Rodney & Russell, 2007; Haycock, 2007; Lance, Rodney & Hamilton-Pennell, 2005; Lindsay, 2005). Classroom teachers benefit from this collaboration because team teaching reduces the teacher/student ratio in a class, and allows greater opportunity to provide individualised instruction for each student each lesson. This instructional partnership also provides greater support for at-risk students (Gavigan & Kurtts, 2010). Furthermore, recent studies have identified the important role the teacher librarian can plays in supporting the development of teachers’ and students’ digital literacy skills (Lance & Schwarz, 2012; Todd, Gordon & Lu, 2011; Duke & Ward, 2009; Asselin, & Dorion, 2008). With ICT as one of the Australian Curriculum’s seven general capabilities, we are seeing the design of inquiry units that involve the integration of digital technologies within different phases of the Guided Inquiry process. Teachers and students need support in testing and trialing new digital tools and apps. Often it is the school’s TL who provides this support.

Lyn Hay contributed to the book Guided Inquiry Design: A Framework for Inquiry in Your School. By Carol C. Kuhlthau, Leslie K. Maniotes and Ann K. Caspari, 2012.

For details, go to http://www.sybaacademy.com.au/books/guided-inquiry/guided-inquiry-design-a-framework-for-inquiry-in-your-school

Mary Snyder Broussard, Rachel Hickoff-Cresko, and Jessica Urick Oberlin.  (2014). Snapshots of Reality: A Practical Guide to Formative Assessment in Library Instruction. Chicago: American Library Association.

Through ten practical chapters, Snapshots of Reality works from the assumption that classroom-based assessment does not have to take away from invaluable instruction time, nor does it have to be an overwhelmingly complicated task. The book outlines the concept of formative assessment, “bite-sized” assessments that help the librarian get a snapshot of the students’ level of understanding in relation to the learning target(s). These mini-assessments are usually learning tools themselves and can be assessed quickly enough that can be adjusted on the spot to meet the immediate needs of learners. Snapshots of Reality explores the adaptation of formative assessment theory into something that works for the library one-shot and more advanced instructor-librarian collaborations. It also includes three sections detailing 48 FAST (Formative Assessment Snapshot Technique) ideas for use before, during and after instruction sessions as well as a guided planning template to help librarians seamlessly bring formative assessment into the library classroom. This book is appropriate for all types of academic libraries, school libraries with strong information literacy programs, and library and information school collections.