It does change change my understanding of my role and what it should be. Or, I should say that it did change my understanding when I first came across FOSIL and various inspiring librarians a couple of years ago. Ever since then I have been scrambling to catch up. This brilliant diagram from Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy on Twitter) describes my journey (and perhaps any learning journey) brilliantly. I think I am currently crawling very slowly out of 'insecure canyon'!

I think cognitive overload was definitely a big issue last time I tried to guide a class through the inquiry process, and probably the biggest learning that I have gained from this forum is the need for students to spend a lot of time under the direction of their subject teacher exploring, questioning and becoming engaged with a topic before they develop a research question and begin the process of retrieving, assessing and ordering information. I love the example in 'Focus on Inquiry' of a primary school class doing a project on 'The Life of Insects' that spent time looking at pictures, going on bug walks, singing songs about insects etc. and then started to form their own questions before moving on to do a bit of personalised research. I work in a secondary school but sometimes it helps to move things along the spectrum a bit. I have also taken away that I have to be more careful about how and when I teach the Information Literacy skills required to support the different stages of the process so that students feel they have at least one definite strategy to deal with each phase. As the text suggests, this is another way of reducing the cognitive load placed on the students. I know that this is Librarian 101, but I have to confess that I do sometimes feel that I need to go back to basics and brush up on my own Information Literacy skills, and my ability to deliver these skills in a way that students will find engaging - do you offer any such training @Elizabeth ? I suspect that the cognitive load issue is probably closely linked to affective load in that if I can reduce the cognitive load and make students feel supported through the process then affective anxiety would become less of an issue. This is not to dismiss the affective side of the process. I think it is important to make the students aware of the process that they are going through and for them to reflect upon each phase from an affective point of view as this will help them to develop their emotional literacy and resilience. This is another thing I have taken away from this process! Time (and therefore opportunity) is always an issue. There is a teach-to-the-test culture in my school and the UK has a government that has a teach-to-the-test approach to education, so I do feel that is the prevailing tide that we are all struggling against.

The two models do seem broadly similar and I'm sure both provide an excellent framework for Inquiry. It is interesting that the architects of the Alberta model chose to place 'Reflecting on the Process' in the centre of all the other phases as this does highlight that Reflection is something that is ongoing throughout the whole process and not just something that happens at the end. I understand that FOSIL does encourage reflection throughout the process and the need for a learner to go back and forth between the phases as they discover new information and make new connections, but perhaps the Alberta model makes this more explicit at the top level. I like the unpacking of 'Planning' (Alberta) into 'Connect' and 'Wonder' in FOSIL as this serves to highlight that time should be spent introducing the topic to learners and helping them to become engaged in the topic - something which is vital in order to sustain learners through the inquiry. Reading through 'Focus on Inquiry' it is clear that this sort of preparation is intended to be part of the 'Planning' phase but, again, it is a question of emphasis at the top level. I guess 'Express' and 'Sharing' are broadly analogous but 'Sharing' does seem to emphasis that learners are creating something that will be shared with an audience, even if that audience is sometimes just a teacher, and that it is important when creating anything to keep ones end-user / reader in mind. Perhaps it also encourages us, as educators, to create ways in which projects can be shared.

@Jenny Toerien Thank you for this response. So interesting to read, amongst other things, how you vary your approach to the Connect phase depending on age group and other context.

Absolutely agree that if Inquiry Based Learning is to take root it needs whole school buy-in. As others have said, starting small and creating successes that can be used as proof of concept is probably the best route. In my own school I am wondering whether the "learning to learn" aspect would fit within the Year 7 PSHE course where the focus could be on the skills rather than the knowledge gained, and it could be 'sold' to the students as something that will benefit them across the curriculum.

@Elizabeth That's a really useful point about how FOSIL can appeal to teachers who prefer a Knowledge based approach. I will sign up to the FOSIL forum, although successes in my school have so far been limited... Hopefully, this forum and other training will help to rectify that!

Unrestrained curiosity certainly does create problems for the school library in providing adequate resources. I feel that the way the introductory knowledge is delivered as part of the Connect phase is key here: if we / teachers can get the class excited about the topic then perhaps we can spark the student's curiosity along the channels we expect.

@Elizabeth We use Fosil as well. I think I lean towards the Alberta model in regard to the importance of students having some knowledge of a topic in general before they enter the 'Wonder' phase of the Fosil cycle. I know there is a 'Connect' phase before 'Wonder' in Fosil but I think this is usually presented as a moment to look inside for what you already know about a given topic. Ideally, this introductory knowledge would need to be delivered to students in an inspiring way that gets them really excited about the topic as a whole, but without going into too much depth - a difficult balance to achieve! I might change the Fosil model that we use in my school, so that it reads 'Connect and Kindle'. On a related note, I was very interested / jealous to read in the Foreword that 'inquiry based learning is a component of all Alberta curricula' - I wonder if this is likely to ever be the case in the UK?

As a number of people have said, I had not much considered feelings as part of the inquiry process, but this process has highlighted the importance of feelings in inquiry. Students should be excited by the possibilities of their study in the Wonder phase and this is something that we should try to foster and amplify if we can as it will help to sustain them when things get tricky later on. They should be excited when they find a piece of information that might be useful. Equally, we should prepare students for feelings of bewilderment ("where do I start?") and frustration when they don't find the information they need or can't work out how to use a piece of information.

Inquiry is the entire process around "learning by finding out for yourself". Inquiry based learning prioritises and brings into sharp focus the process that we go through when learning something new. I believe students often go through this process (or parts of it) in the course of their normal learning but they are not aware of doing so. It is important that this process is brought into the realm of conscious awarness because doing so allows students to: a) approach learning in an organised and methodical way b) repeat this process in different contexts IBL also has a huge amount of potential to help students to become "more creative, more positive and more independent". However, realising this potential is easier said than done!