Relation of Open Inquiry to Civic Dialogue
Please take a moment to reflect on what types of ground rules you would conceive as being important in any open inquiry process. What types of ground rules, implicit or explicit, are at play in your classroom discussions?
At its core, open inquiry is another phrase for a deeper, more productive, level of conversation. They generate new ideas or solutions that are beyond what anyone could have thought of before. They create a different level of understanding of people and problems. Open inquiry is the state where individuals question and discuss social issues. Individuals present a problem, and they discuss materials that can be used to solve the problem. They use any methods they know or devise to arrive at a potential solution. Open inquiry, then, focuses on the process to understand and resolve social problems. In this way, open inquiry teaches problem-solving skills, it allows learners to develop creative solutions to social problems, it provides learners with the freedom to solve problems in a variety of different ways, and it teaches them the importance of research and civic dialogue (National Extension Water Outreach Education, 2003).
Of course, the idea of open inquiry also suggests that discussions about social issues should be free from ideological bias, if possible (Colby et al., 2007). While professors and students have their ideological predispositions, such assumptions should be held at bay during the process of open inquiry. In essence, the process of open inquiry should include and allow an exploration and a discussion of multiple perspectives. It should highlight the multiple sides to an issue. It should encourage an open exchange of a diversity of thought. In this way, inquiry can be “open-minded” (Colby et al., 2007). How is this possible? One possibility is through what is known as civic dialogue.
The Process of Controversy (pdf)
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