Growing Questions through Books: An Inquiry Workshop at the Library

Instructor

Workshop details

Workshop description

Inquiry-based learning has become a required component of upper secondary education in Japan. As a result, many high school students are now expected to identify their own topics, formulate questions, gather information, and pursue an extended inquiry. However, students often struggle with the earliest stages of this process, particularly with deciding what to investigate and developing meaningful questions.

Several difficulties are frequently observed in students’ inquiry activities. Students may begin with a broad topic but find it difficult to turn it into a question that can sustain further investigation. They may also rely heavily on Internet searches from the outset, treating inquiry primarily as the collection of readily available information. Another common misconception is that consulting academic papers automatically makes an inquiry more “academic” or sophisticated. Such approaches can lead students to focus on finding information rather than developing questions and reconsidering their initial assumptions.

This workshop, Growing Questions through Books, explores an alternative starting point for inquiry: encounters with books and ideas in the library. Inquiry does not necessarily begin with a research method such as a survey or interview. Rather, it can begin with a moment of uncertainty, curiosity, or surprise that prompts a question. As students encounter unfamiliar ideas and perspectives, their questions may change, deepen, or branch into new directions.

The workshop therefore focuses on reading as a means of developing questions rather than simply obtaining information. Participants will use an “Imozuru-style Reading Map”1 a visual tool for organising ideas and information and making connections between them visible. By moving between books, mapping, and dialogue with other participants, they will explore how new questions emerge and how an initial interest can develop into a more substantial inquiry.

1 The term Imozuru-style Reading Map comes from the Japanese word imozuru (literally, “sweet potato vine”). When one sweet potato is pulled from the soil, other potatoes connected by the vine are also pulled out one after another. The term is used metaphorically to describe the process of discovering connections among ideas, information, and questions. Like sweet potatoes connected underground, one idea can lead to another, helping learners expand and deepen their inquiry.

The workshop aims to examine whether books and library-based exploration can provide students with an alternative to the immediate reliance on Internet searches and help them develop a richer starting point for inquiry.