Wishing.....

This process had its times of feeling messy. When I was in the middle of my research (and my head would leap to the "wrapping" part--I kept wondering "what am I going to do with all this?") I remember thinking and feeling like this was a big mess! I didn't quite know if I should be moving forward in my inquiry steps or staying where I was and doing more research. Knowing what my final product (the wrap) was going to be did effect my thinking at this point. When I was thinking about the webquest option, I wasn't sure how to bring closure to that inquiry--should it just be about growing cotton or should it be about what cotton is used for? It might have been about that time that I realized I was looking for two things--answers to my questions and also resources for teaching children. When I clarified that in my head, I was better able to realize when my research was "done." It was at that point that the pathfinder idea seemed like the "right" way to package this information.
A hard part about this research was when I realized from reading the book Up at Daybreak how the research options were truly vast--if this topic would be pursued with older students who have an understanding of US history, slavery, etc. I saw connects I hadn't thought about before. I included that book on my pathfinder for anyone wanting information for older students. There probably would've been more resources to include for the older students, but I didn't pursue that avenue--the project would've become very big at that point. Those were not questions I had initially listed as things I wanted to know as well. I also did not include resources about Eli Whitney (other than listing his name as a search term) who was instrumental in moving cotton production forward in this country. Again, I felt that was an area that was more suited for older students.
I felt I did find some good resources for this topic. It seems libraries have about two books on the topic, but not more. That made it difficult to evaluate those resources because they weren't readily available.
Callison says "Assessment is ongoing. It is done continuously, not just at the end of a project....Students assess to see what they are doing well and where they might improve in a specific phase of their work." I felt that I was assessing what kinds of resources I was finding as well as whether I was finding the resources that were giving me the answers to my questions.
I think my process of inquiry would be similar to younger students' processes. I think they would be very curious about the wrapping phase way back at the first or second step. I know I had started thinking about that phase early on--maybe in the wiggling step. I was trying to trust the inquiry process that the final product would become apparent with what I was learning--and it did. I don't know if younger students would be able to do that or not, unless they could become so involved in the pursuit of answers (something they were quite curious about). This response may be related to how much research they have done before and how it was conducted. If it was teacher assigned, their way of approaching this process may be different than if they have experience with an inquiry process. I think they also would have feelings like the whole process is a mess at points as well. That may be a point where the instructor needs to step in and help the student sort out the next step.

The Blue Book of Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy by Daniel Callison and Leslie Preddy, Libraries Unlimited, 2006.