This text is an account by teachers of the inquiries into practice they have undertaken in their own classrooms. The contributing teachers share a common social-constructivist framework. They focus their inquiries upon the dialogue through which knowledge is constructed in the classroom.

This book draws from six years' work by the Developing Inquiring Communities in Education Project (DICEP) to provide a range of practical, replicable methods for building collaborative communities, in which democratic principles of education may be realized. Recognizing that each classroom is unique in its makeup, its context, and its history, these seasoned teacher-researchers rely heavily on discourse, both spoken and written, to engage students in the active learning process.