Understanding Classroom Roles in Inquiry Education

Inquiry-based teaching and learning are rooted in social constructivism and are central to curricular reform. Role theory and social constructivism provided insight into a commonly observed but insufficiently understood phenomenon in inquiry. Within inquiry, role shifts have been described as the switching of roles between students and teachers; however, the process may be better conceptualized as role diversification because students and teachers may undertake multiple roles simultaneously in inquiry. This article expands on existing research and proposes a framework potentially applicable to both learners and teachers, but here focused on learners. Beyond exploration, engagement, and stabilization of roles, diversification was added and described. This framework expanded on current education theory, adding new insight to a minimally explored topic, with implications for students, teachers, consultants, and researchers.