Professional Development Articles
Implementation of the Common Core standards requires teaching research skills to students in grades 3 – 5 which allows them to create an independent product that can be presented either orally, in writing or utilizing multimedia. To that end, our client tasked us with writing a six-module course that included journal articles and book excerpts from their publications, as well as an original article from Cognicata, for each of the six modules. This article was written by Cognicata as an introductory reading. The focus of the introductory module is inquiry in the elementary classroom.
Inquiring Minds Want To Know

“The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards” (France, 1932).
Children are innately curious, and this curiosity naturally leads to inquisitiveness. Some educators hear the term inquiry and automatically think science. However, inquiry is what naturally creates the need to know. In all subject areas, this natural inquisitiveness needs to be recognized and nurtured. Yet, “…being questioned about anything often leaves some of us feeling uncomfortable. We are threatened by questions, fearing loss of control of the decision-making process or over the entire situation (Barell, 2003, p. 7). Often teachers mistakenly think that “good teachers” know all the answers. However….