Designing Geographic Inquiry Learning by a Teacher Librarian and a Social Studies Teacher

An Analysis Based on Fieldwork

Abstract

Purpose: This study analyzed collaborative lesson-design meetings between a teacher librarian and a social studies teacher to describe how they developed geography lessons informed by a subject-specific inquiry-based approach. By analyzing the teachers’ interactions during these discussions, the study clarifies how inquiry-based learning matched to subject content can be achieved through collaboration and what such collaboration contributes to inquiry-based learning.

Methods: First, this paper reviewed how inquiry-based learning is discussed in geography education based on existing frameworks. Next, fieldwork was conducted at a school whose curriculum centered on inquiry-based learning. Collaborative design meetings between the teachers, as well as subsequent classroom instruction, were audio- and video-recorded. The practice of the teachers’ collaborative lesson design was ethnomethodologically analyzed through the collaborative design meetings, field notes, relevant materials, and interviews with the teachers about the lesson design.

Results: Examination of the fieldwork data revealed a process of restructuring learning activities—shifting from “structured inquiry” toward “guided inquiry”—that enabled students to independently select from a wider range of materials and information during their investigations, thereby supporting proactive learning. Furthermore, the description showed how the social studies teacher overcame the constraint of limited class time, which forced them to limit the scope of student research. Finally, the study illustrated how the social studies teacher shared lesson objectives while the teacher librarian, having understood the aims of the geography teacher’s design, planned instruction on locating resources relevant to the inquiry topics in ways consistent with the lesson content.