The Guided Inquiry Design® Inquiry Tools
Guided Inquiry Design® is a complete instructional design model featuring the GID process framework and the Inquiry Tools.
Complete and regular use of the GID Inquiry Tools ensures that all students are engaged in the most productive thinking and tasks during each phase of the inquiry process.
The tools are simple in form, yet complex in net result.
GID Inquiry Tools
- increase student talk and critical thinking,
- include writing with a purpose and for self reflection,
- leverage collaboration for resource sharing, ideation, and creation,
- use charts to visualize and support decision making,
- teach the importance of maintaining working bibliography throughout the research process
- Place a strong value on personal learning in concert with a community

Download a Free PDF of the Inquiry Tools
The Inquiry Tools are a core component of Guided Inquiry Design®.
The Inquiry Tools are embedded in the process at opportune times to support student learning at each step of the way. (See below for when the tools are used in the GID process)
The Inquiry Tools are embedded in the process at opportune times to support student learning at each step of the way. (See below for when the tools are used in the GID process)
OPEN
JOURNAL
COMMUNITY
IMMERSE
JOURNAL
COMMUNITY
CIRCLES
EXPLORE
JOURNAL
LOG
CIRCLES
IDENTIFY
JOURNAL
LOG
CHART
GATHER
JOURNAL
LOG
CIRCLES
CREATE
JOURNAL
LOG
CIRCLES
CHART
SHARE
JOURNAL
COMMUNITY
CIRCLES
EVALUATE
JOURNAL
Tools as a Feedback Loop of Formative Assessments – Student artifacts from the Inquiry Tools also provide timely formative assessment data to those facilitating the GID process.
Student artifacts are used to drive critical instructional decision making “on the run” in the fluid and flexible GID process. Critical decisions for success of inquiry such as, how long to stay in Explore, when to support the Identify phase, and so on, are grounded in observations of students and the concrete feedback loop provided by the Inquiry Tools.
Further Reading
The 6 C’s for Constructing Understanding