Developed in the United Kingdom, Imaginative Inquiry is an approach based on the idea that children’s imagination is our greatest resource in the classroom, placing it center stage as a powerful tool for learning. Within a community of inquiry, teachers and students create exciting and meaningful contexts for learning, using conventions of theatre—such as point of view, tension, and narrative—to explore curricular objectives. Students are not merely passive observers of the stories of our world, but are collectively invited to take action in the realm of possibility that Imaginative Inquiry provides.
What does Imaginative Inquiry look like in the classroom?
“Students felt like they were invited to the table to share their knowledge and had a hand in creating something. Living and breathing it made a huge difference.” —Rebecca Poyatt, Middle School English Teacher, The Field School
Listen to a conversation between Co-Founder, Elaine Chu, and Rebecca Poyatt, 2022 Summer Institute Participant about her 6th grade mantle on Fred Korematsu and Japanese internment in the US during WWII. (October 16, 2023)
