Print

xi Acknowledgments The reason the Guided Inquiry Design Framework has an authentic voice is that many peo- ple working in schools influenced and informed our thinking. All of the examples in the book are drawn from actual school situations. The seeds of this book have been sown over many years and in our many different experiences and environments. We have been fortunate to benefit from the wisdom, knowledge, and insight of many people, far too many to acknowledge in this short introduction. People from the library world, the teaching world, and the outside world helped us. We particularly thank Carol’s students who, over the years, have created innovative school library programs based on the ISP that provided extraordinary insight into Guided Inquiry. School librarians throughout the country who have been inspired by the ISP to change their approach to learning, in turn, expanded our vision to national issues of school renewal. School librarians around the world who have taken up the ISP extended our view across international cultural boundaries. The Dewitt Wallace Library Power study (University of Wisconsin, Madi- son), which confirmed the importance of collaborative, integrated learning in school libraries, provided impetus for pushing us forward to develop Guided Inquiry. We are indebted to the Rutgers University Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries research team, man- agement team, advisory board, and friends whose dedication and support continues innovative research and development on the impact of school libraries on inquiry learning. We thank Leslie’s various collaborative partners who have pushed our thinking, extended our ideas, and informed the design work represented in the following pages. The following dis- tricts and schools have been on the innovative edge of Guided Inquiry, working to implement the approach with the support of Leslie’s facilitation, coaching, and leadership in professional development on inquiry. At the forefront of this work has been the Department of Educational Technology and the Department of Library Services in the Denver Public Schools (DPS), as well as many teacher leaders and school librarians of DPS Newport News Public Schools in Virginia in their inquiry academy Farmville Elementary International Baccalaureate School in the Los Angeles Public Schools and Teaching with Primary Sources, Colorado, at Metropolitan State College of Denver, and their excellent inquiry-driven conferences and workshops along with the Council on 21st Century Learning. We also pay tribute to the support from Leslie’s international Professional Learning Network on Twitter. Last, we thank Ann’s colleagues and partners who have helped us to think outside the school. Teachers and administrators from the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) inspired many of the creative examples of inquiry and use of rich resources in the school and the community. We are especially grateful to the extraordinary educators at Oyster-Adams Bilin- gual School and to all the educators who took part in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Science in Pre-K program and shared their struggles and triumphs as they imple- mented inquiry in their DCPS preschool classes. We also thank the museum educators at the National Building Museum, those at the National Air and Space Museum, and those around the Smithsonian Institution whose excellent work is highlighted in session plans and examples throughout the book.