Eliciting thinking skills with inquiry maps in CLE

Abstract

The first aim of this chapter is to present the contributions drawn from the study exploring the use of inquiry maps in academic research for eliciting thinking skills. The second objective of this work is to highlight the potential collaborative learning environments (CLEs) have to enable students to learn different mapping techniques and to help them share ways in which they can apply inquiry maps to elaborate their scientific projects. While the study is informed by qualitative research methodology, it employs quantitative data to describe the fieldwork: an online course, which was organized by the author. The participants were lecturers and research students from different countries: Brazil, United Kingdom and Portugal. Findings indicate six kinds of inquiry maps that can be applied in academic research and may contribute to developing thinking skills such as, critical thinking, content thinking and creative thinking.