Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta represents
history by depicting the voices, opinions, and experiences of individuals
important to the development of Alberta's character and spirit.
Mavericks provides a glimpse into the often contradictory
and eccentric nature of Alberta as an idea and a place. These resources
will provide contextual information about the individuals and the
collections, allowing educators to utilize them to create a dynamic
teaching and learning process where students will delve deeply into
"real" history, becoming historians and deep thinkers,
attempting to uncover the genuine "story" of the Alberta
The site will present nationally significant stories of the important
people and events that have shaped the identity of Alberta. Over
545 images, audio, and video of historical materials have been digitized
to greatly increase the access to Glenbow's collections and information
resources on the history of Alberta and its role in the development
What is Inquiry-Based Learning?
Inquiry-based learning, in the context of Mavericks: An Incorrigible
History of Alberta, encourages students to undertake the process
of a historical investigation and critically explore and assess
their findings. The procedure is similar to how an actual historian
would approach developing an understanding of historical information
or artifacts, having to interpret and construe their meaning to
the best of their ability. The social science history is just that,
a subjective interpretation of the evidence available that may be
disputed and argued by other people in the field.
Students, while undertaking historical inquiry, assume the role
of a historian and try to search for evidence, review and analyze
those sources, draw conclusions about those historical artifacts
or events, and present and defend their inferences with other groups
of "historians." Students become drawn into their own
learning by formulating their own questions and then constructing
their own new meanings and understandings in attempting to answer
their question or generate a solution. Finally, as a historian might
write and publish a paper on their findings, students will need
to present their results in an appropriate manner, allowing others
to evaluate and examine their conclusions.
How you engage in historical inquiry will depend on the age, abilities,
and interests of your students, the amount of time available, other
resources available, how it needs to be structured for a specific
classroom, and the desired outcomes, products, and learning. Historical
inquiry attempts to get to the "essence" of the specific
curricular outcomes, allowing students to have choice in the topic(s)
they examine, the process they undertake, and how they represent
their learning and new understandings. By using a broad-based, open-ended
"essential question," teachers allow for different methods
to be used by different individuals or groups as they attack their
Inquiry-based learning is an element of all areas in the Alberta
Program of Studies where students learn and use skills that may
be transferable to daily life outside of their school. Teachers
become facilitators of the learning process rather than disseminators
of knowledge. The new Alberta Social Studies Program of Studies
was designed to allow students to question, reflect on, and consider
different perspectives on historical issues and points of view.
The curriculum was created to develop students who can work and
problem-solve independently, as well as create new knowledge and
understandings rather than merely re-stating the same information
they researched. Thus, research is not done just for the sake of
doing research and presenting it, but research takes place for the
larger purpose of exploring and answering an authentic, real world
Processes of metacognition become a major piece of the puzzle of
education, where students learn how to learn and evaluate their
process and results. As in real life, they will be working with
challenges and questions that do not have a definite or easy answer,
forcing them to develop and modify a procedure for their search
for explanations and solutions for their problem. The development
of these types of skills will assist students in dealing with problems
in everyday life and prepare them for lifelong learning, further
studies, and the future world outside of school.
What Does an Inquiry-Based Learning Classroom Look Like?
Inquiry-based learning within a classroom is really about seeing
a transformation take place in the way students learn and work together.
The manner in which content is presented, the process students will
work through, and how the teacher interacts with students are made
meaningful and real for the learners, as compared to presenting
information and testing using knowledge questions. An inquiry-based
- authentic problems and explorations within the bounds of the
curriculum that have relevance to the real world outside the school
- students taking genuine ownership of the learning process;
- student curiosity in asking questions that are meaningful to
them, thus generating their own enthusiasm and excitement;
- student findings to be discussed, interpreted, reflected upon,
and deliberated upon;
- teachers acting as learners also, where they collaborate right
along with the students and interact more often on an individual
or small group basis;
- teachers facilitate the learning process through discussion,
support, guidance and monitoring;
- experts from the community and the greater society, such as
historians or other social scientists, are involved with the inquiry;
- students use ICT to approach or solve a problem in a manner
that is better than it could be done without using technology;
- evaluation is used as a tool throughout to increase learning,
allowing students to create evaluation criteria, set new goals
and directions, reflect upon the process, and re-evaluate; and
- learning may go in a different direction than anticipated at
the beginning of the inquiry.
The Inquiry-Based Learning Process
Inquiry-based learning is really about seeing a transformation
take place in how students learn. There is no one right process
that all teachers will use in their classrooms, although most have
very similar elements involved. The inquiry-based learning process
is student-driven using open-ended, broad-based questions of study.
It allows students to construct their own understandings through
examining, discussing, working on challenging problems and dealing
with competing notions and points of view.
Students will observe, discuss, ponder, research, measure, assess,
reflect, evaluate, and communicate their new information and understandings
to fellow learners, parents, and community members, and experts
in the field of study. Inquiry-based learning allows students to
go beyond a surface examination into a deeper understanding of the
issues and significance surrounding a specific topic.
Alberta Education has created the Focus on Inquiry document,
which was created to reflect changes in curriculum, the way students
learn and work, technology integration in classrooms, research findings,
and the processes in the world of work. The document represents
one approach toward using inquiry-based learning in your classroom,
and should be modified depending on the needs of students and teachers.
The Focus on Inquiry document outlines a non-linear, systematic
process model that involves the following phases.
- Planning-involves the exploration and identification
of a topic area as well as the development of a plan for their
inquiry. Students will also determine evaluation criteria for
both the process and final representation.
- Retrieving-involves the planning and collecting of data
and information for the inquiry and the development of strategies
that enable students to use ICT effectively.
- Processing-involves the evaluation and interpretation
of data and information collected by recognizing and evaluating
bias in different sources. Students will determine if the question
needs to be re-focused or if new questions will require the inquiry
to be modified.
- Creating-involves creating and revising the final product
that will communicate the findings of the inquiry to the audience.
- Sharing-involves the sharing of new knowledge and understandings
with a particular audience.
- Evaluating-involves evaluating their own inquiry process
using the criteria that was established in the beginning phases
and providing constructive feedback that would enable improvement
in the future.
- Reflection-takes place throughout the whole process as
students make time to look back at the questions, process, and
direction of the inquiry. They may revise what they have done
or decide to go forward in the intended direction.
A PDF version of the full Focus on Inquiry document is available
on the Alberta Education Web site at:
How Do I Use Essential Questions in Inquiry-Based Learning?
Essential questions should attempt to get at the "core"
or the "essence" of the topic, pushing students to investigate
and critically assess evidence and different points of view in order
to make their own decisions and conclusions. An essential question
should trigger student (and adult) curiosity, yet not require that
one "right" answer that can be found in a textbook. Students
will be pressed to use higher-order thinking skills to analyze,
synthesize, and evaluate their resolutions to the question.
For example, the essential question
"Was the treatment of the Chinese railway
may be examined using historical, cultural, ethnic, racial, and
modern perspectives. There are many different possible ways to approach
the question, as well as a continuum of possible positions or opinions
A good essential question should be pertinent to curricular objectives
and outcomes, open-ended, broad-based, integrate curricular subject
areas, initiate student curiosity, and be a significant question
that someone in the real world, such as a historian or scientist
A number of essential question are available as a starting point
that pertain to each specific Mavericks: An Incorrigible History
of Alberta theme area, as well as general essential questions
that would encompass the use of the whole Mavericks resource.
These may be modified or even spark teachers or children into creating
their own essential questions.
Resources for Inquiry-Based Learning
Note: The websites recommended below are primarily English language
All external links open in a new window.