Guided Inquiry Goes Global: Evidence-Based Practice in Action

FitzGerald argues that guided inquiry (GI), a collaborative approach to teaching, addresses all of the commonly accepted 21st-century skills (although he does not list these and instead routes readers to a YouTube video) and incorporates the tenets of information literacy. He stresses the need for a total overhaul in education systems in order to provide students with the skills to participate in a global society—GI is his solution. FitzGerald’s plan relies on buy-in from all members of the team, including teacher librarians, learners, learning facilitators/teachers, and administration. One of the biggest challenges to implementing GI is the tension among curriculum reform, accountability (e.g., standardized testing), and the need for 21st-century skills. Although FitzGerald includes a chapter on the role of teacher librarians, the book is mostly comprised of case studies of schools in France and Australia. He does go into great depth about collaboration (including the teacher librarian), but the focus is heavy on case studies. The book reads like a thesis or a dissertation (or a long journal article), heavy on acronyms, data, and case studies and short on the strategies that educators look for in professional reading titles.