Not the normal way: Using guided inquiry design in Australia

Not "the normal way" is how student participant Susie described the use of Guided Inquiry Design (GID), which has been embedded into the teaching practice of her Australian secondary school on the outskirts of Sydney for a decade. This chapter details research with Year Nine students of history, aged fourteen to fifteen years, who undertook an inquiry task on the Industrial Revolution. The study investigated the experiences of students in all stages of inquiry and considered how inquiry and explicit teaching might complement each other. An increased focus on content instead of skills on explicit teaching, and on teacher accountability within the school have led to a potential diminished demand for GID at the school but developments elsewhere might herald a new emphasis on inquiry learning.