--- How can we help our students grow as thinkers, collaborators, self-managers, communicators and researchers as they inquire? The Power of Inquiry is an inspiring and comprehensive guide to the implementation of quality inquiry practices in the contemporary classroom. Organized around ten essential questions, each chapter provides both a theoretical and practical overview of the elements that combine to create learning environments rich in purpose and passion.

The Element

The Element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the Element, they feel most themselves and most inspired and achieve at their highest levels. With a wry sense of humor, Ken Robinson looks at the conditions that enable us to find ourselves in the Element and those that stifle that possibility. Drawing on the stories of a wide range of people, including Paul McCartney, Matt Groening, Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, and Bart Conner, he shows that age and occupation are no barrier and that this is the essential strategy for transform­ing education, business, and communities in the twenty-first century.

Finding Your Element

Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk video and groundbreaking book, The Element, introduced readers to a new concept of self-fulfillment through the convergence of natural talents and personal passions. The Element has inspired readers all over the world and has created for Robinson an intensely devoted following. Now comes the long-awaited companion, the practical guide that helps people find their own Element. Among the questions that this new book answers are:

• How do I find out what my talents and passions are?

• What if I love something I’m not good at?

• What if I’m good at something I don’t love?

• What if I can’t make a living from my Element?

• How do I do help my children find their Element?

Finding Your Element comes at a critical time as concerns about the economy, education and the environment continue to grow. The need to connect to our personal talents and passions has never been greater. As Robinson writes in his introduction, wherever you are, whatever you do, and no matter how old you are, if you’re searching for your Element, this book is for you.

Philosophical Inquiry emphasizes the use of collaborative learning, through class discussion, working with a partner, and small group work. This approach teaches students to think in socially responsible ways. It means that students become not only thinking individuals but also good team-players, with benefits that extend beyond the classroom and the school to community life and the world of work.

Contending that the ability to "earn" understanding will equip students to thrive in school, at work, and in life, the authors highlight seven higher-order thinking skills that facilitate students' acquisition of information for greater retention, retrieval, and transfer. These skills, which cut across content areas and grade levels and are deeply embedded in current academic standards, separate high achievers from their low-performing peers.

Drawing on their deep well of research and experience, the authors

• Explore what kind of content is worth having students make meaning about.

• Provide practical tools and strategies to help teachers target each of the seven thinking skills in the classroom.

• Explain how teachers can incorporate the thinking skills and tools into lesson and unit design.

• Show how teachers can build students' capacity to use the strategies independently.

If our goal is to prepare students to meet the rigorous demands of school, college, and career, then we must foster their ability to respond to such challenges. This comprehensive, practical guide will enable teachers to engage students in the kind of learning that yields enduring understanding and valuable skills that they can use throughout their lives.

The "thunks" in the book cover a broad range of topics including truth, justice, reality, beliefs, the natural world, the human condition, art, beauty, existence, difference between right and wrong, good and bad, life and death, war, religion, love, friendship and a whole lot more. Some examples of "thunks" are:

• What makes something ugly? (Here is a supporting image)

• If I borrow a million dollars am I a millionaire?

• Could a fly cause a plane to crash?

• Are you man-made or natural?

• When you comb your hair is it art?

Not only are "thunks" a fun way to develop thinking skills, but they also hit all the right buttons to encourage children to generate imaginative ideas to stimulate thinking and inquiry; look at and think about things differently and from other points of view; provide examples of what good provocations look like; and ask why, how, what if, or other unusual questions.

Remember, because there are no right or wrong answers to these questions, they are a great resource for teachers to use in the classroom in a myriad of situations or for conversation starters.