The Community of Inquiry as the Ideal Learning Arrangement for High School Classrooms.  By Jeffrey Smith, senior student at East Brunswick High School)

For the past four weeks, the Coping with Conflict in a Diverse New Jersey class at the Governor's School of Public Issues has participated in a "Community of Inquiry" with our peers. This unique method of participating in class discussions and sharing ideas has resulted in productive, prolific, and creative dialogue. In the following essay for my Final Inquiry Project, I will discuss what a community of inquiry is, how classes and groups of peers can participate in one, and the benefits and advantages of becoming involved in one.
Alverno College defines a community of inquiry as, "The taking of collective responsibility across a program for achieving student learning outcomes and is facilitated by approaches that build a community" (Alverno 1). A community needs to be democratic in order to be truly reflective of needs of the participants, but a democratic classroom is not merely one in which everyone has an equal voice. Rather, as Social Inquiry points out, "One of the presuppositions of the idea of democracy, at least since the time of John Locke, has been that the members of such a society should be not merely informed, but reflective, that they should not merely be aware of the issues, but be reasonable with regard to them" (Social Inquiry 2).
So how does Locke's view of a democratic body translate to a classroom setting? Simply put, it is essential to not just teach the young and get them to learn, for children spitting back the same information that they have been taught without personal analysis is not the point of education. On the contrary, educators and teachers must get their pupils to think and consider, and the formation of a community is a superb way to rectify this common problem.
Collaborative inquiry into learning, and ultimately thinking and analyzing, across various disciplines of study and  experience is a key step in the initial development of a community curriculum. In addition, the total group effort, or the forging of essential partnerships and the use of teamwork to solve problems, help keep the community of inquiry functioning through constant reform. Because Social Inquiry considers a community to be "experience that is shared in a fashion which enables the participants to discover the meaning of their participation", continuous adjustments and modifications concerning the discourse must be reached.

Thus, we arrive at the first, and arguably the most important, criteria for the formation of such a community: Self-Correction. Without the ability to objectively listen and share in the discussion of ideas and viewpoints other than your own, the community of inquiry will ultimately fail. The community is dependent on the persons involved being able to withdraw themselves from their own personal biases in order to reach a true dialogue and sharing of thoughts. Therefore, Open-Mindedness and Active Listening are other essential parts to maintaining a community of inquiry.
As paradoxical as it may sound, the process of sharing what students are learning about learning as they constantly modify their judgments and feelings is similarly vital.  As Alverno puts it, "effective collaboration across the curriculum requires faculty discourse that includes close analysis of practice, conscious reflections on the frameworks of practice and their critique in relation to student learning outcomes" (Alverno 2). It is necessary to be reasonable, check for inferences, uncover assumptions, define terms of conversation, and establish parameters in order to achieve a true sense of partnership. Without a doubt, communities of inquiry will "open-up" a topic or area of focus to incorporate a myriad of opinions, all of equal importance and value, within the community.
Communication is the most important part of the community of inquiry because if dialogue did not exist, then the community would flounder. Questions, for instance, and a yearning for knowledge and understanding are its foundations. Only when assumptions are uncovered and the true purposes of a theme are revealed can a community truly flourish.
Responsibility is another standard for operating within a community of inquiry. But responsibility means much more than personal integrity and honor. Social Inquiry makes the distinction that "Responsibility means more than simply accountability. Rather, responsibility implies capacity to respond appropriately and intelligently when confronted with a problematic situation" (Social Inquiry 3).
All communities of inquiry share three elements that are essential to the educational experience. Like a three-faced Venn diagram, all three components stand independent but are nevertheless linked to the larger ambitions of personal reflection and peer learning. These three elements are the cognitive presence, the social presence, and the teaching presence. The purpose of the cognitive presence is the general theme of the community of inquiry, which is to "construct meaning through sustained communication" (SSHRC 1). The social presence derives its
significance from the ability . . . (continued on next page)