The Authoring Cycle as Curricular Framework for Inquiry

Is the authoring cycle the framework as process of a subject area curriculum or is there a more effective way to approach the teaching of these core subjects? Kathy Short's Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers (1996) identifies the authoring cycle as the supportive framework for the process of the curriculum area. Another way to approach the teaching of the curriculum is through the use of theme units. These are the curricular framework for content exploration. There was a growing sense among the author and her colleagues that the theme units were deficient in integration and cohesiveness. Kathy Short and her colleagues believed that there was a disconnect between the system processes and knowledge systems in classroom learning experiences for students. Through further study Short (1996) and her colleagues discovered moving away from the authoring cycle as process and migrating toward an inquiry cycle which assimilates process and content.
In inquiry based learning the learner's focus is not only on solving problems but "wondering" about something we want them to investigate and become engaged in. Short (1996) and her colleagues recognized three sources of knowledge that inquirers extract in their quest for meaningful questions and their investigation of those questions. " These sources include: 1. personal and social knowing through life experiences; 2. knowledge systems as structures of knowledge and alternatives perspectives on our world ( history, biology, psychology), and 3. sign systems as alternative ways of making and creating meaning about the world ( art, music, movement, language, mathematics). The central feature of inquiry is personal and social knowing. Inquiry can enable a learner to know, observe, and feel. Short ( 1993) describes this exploration as " wandering and wondering." Students are offered opportunities to wander and investigate a topic and wonder about all of the different ideas that they develop before having to acquire a question for exploration.
Inquiry exploration can be used in places beyond journals. Students can record their inquiries on charts, webs, charts, graphs, and diagrams. Inquiry exploration can take place in the form of inquiry groups. These groups can work cooperatively to create skits, songs, poems, and other creative forms of writing. "As students engage in inquiry activities, they will require opportunities that will enable them to reflect on what they know (content), how they come to know ( process), and why they inquire ( purpose and goals)" ( Short, 1996).
I have always subscribed to a theme-based method of teaching. I felt that the students were provided with a strong sense of the central concept because of the connectedness within the curriculum subject areas. After reading this article and several others like it I am wondering if the students are making true meaningful connections to the concept or are the activities enjoyable and isolated from significant relevance to the concept. I am interested in exploring inquiry based learning in my first grade classroom. Because my students are naturally inquisitive and knowledge-seeking, this type of learning should be something that appeals to my students and they respond positively to. I would like to see my students engaged in critical thinking activities where they would have to think " outside the box." I would like my students to actively be thinking about thinking. What are the things that they want to know? Some of my units this year can set the stage for inquiry-based learning. My social skill action research unit, my unit on Native Americans, our new unit on habitats, and multiculturalism, to name just a few. Working cooperatively in an inquiry setting can provide the students with a multitude of learning opportunities. These will enable them to build off of each other's prior knowledge in order to formulate new understandings, new insights, and the motivation to dig deeper into the investigative process.