We Believe

We believe that asking great questions is at the heart of solving our world’s most pressing problems.

Our mission is to help people of all ages develop excellent question-asking and question-seeking practices. Rooted in day-to-day practices and brain-based research, we’ve spent decades working side-by-side with teachers, principals, non-profit and for-profit leaders, professors, and students on building inquiry-based mindsets, approaches, and tools.

We believe that teachers are uniquely positioned to promote freedom and a more just society.

Inquiry is a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy. Our five inquiry-based strategies support anti-racist teaching practices. We honor and thank those who inform our work through their research and advocacy by sharing our profits with them: Mission Africa, Education for Liberation Network and RISE (Refugees in Schools Everywhere).

We believe that teaching is a team sport.

Inquiry Partners is a community - not a person. While it’s tempting to celebrate the “rock star” teachers out there, we must remember that our students’ experiences are multi-faceted. Their years in classrooms will be as diverse as their teachers. How do we lift up our colleagues? How do we change systems that isolate us as teachers? How do we best engage family and community partners? How do we stay motivated in such an intellectually, emotionally, and physically challenging profession? We need each other. In a world where so often our answers divide us; our hope is that questions will unite us.

Inquiry is a way of teaching (a "pedagogy") that gets students to do most of the question-asking and answer-seeking. The role of the teacher is to design and guide experiences (and an environment) that encourage student discussion, collaboration, and critical thinking. 

Inquiry teaching is an ancient teaching practice, however its practice is still rare in today's K-12 classrooms. There are many reasons for this, but times are changing. More and more teachers are realizing that inquiry is a more effective, evidence-based way to build 21st C learning skills. Inquiry also puts the cognitive demand and learning responsibility on students, where it belongs. Most importantly, inquiry builds strong emotional bonds and breathes joyful curiosity into classrooms.