Inquiry-based teaching creates the kind of museum experiences where participants lean in, ask questions, and make personal connections with art and objects. It’s collaborative, unpredictable in the best way, and incredibly rewarding. But despite all these benefits, many educators feel hesitant about trying it?
Over the years, I’ve heard the same concerns come up again and again from museum educators and docents all over the world. They’re curious about using inquiry-based approaches, but they’re unsure how to begin or how to grow in confidence. The fears are real – losing control of the conversation, managing time, handling awkward silences, not knowing all the answers.
If you’re feeling some of these concerns, you’re not alone. And the good news? There are practical strategies that can help you move past these fears and facilitate inquiry with confidence. That’s what I want to explore today – how to take the fear out of inquiry-based teaching and take those first steps forward.
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Why inquiry-based teaching works
Inquiry-based teaching in the museum works. It creates experiences where participants become active investigators, building understanding through their own observations and discoveries, rather than passively receiving information.
There’s something really rewarding about watching a group work through their own questions about an artwork. You see people making connections, building on each other’s observations, and coming up with insights they never would have reached if you’d simply told them what to think.
As a facilitator, inquiry-based approaches keep every session fresh and interesting. You never have the same tour or programme twice – each time you’re responding to what participants bring to the conversation. It’s collaborative, it’s unpredictable in the best way, and it’s so rewarding.
But despite all these benefits, I know that many educators feel hesitant about trying inquiry-based teaching.
Common fears about inquiry-based teaching
We might fear losing control – when you open up genuine inquiry, you can’t predict where it will lead, and that unpredictability can feel intimidating. We might worry about time management – how do we ensure we cover what we need to in the time we have?
Many of us might be anxious about participation – will people engage at all, or will one person dominate while others check out? We might be uncertain about how to structure an inquiry-based session – how much should we plan, and how do we stay flexible while keeping things organised?
We might worry about knowledge gaps – what happens when participants ask something we don’t know the answer to? We might worry about whether the discussion will feel productive or worthwhile to participants. We might be anxious about awkward silences after asking questions. We might fear that some participants will feel left out or unable to contribute. We might worry about managing strong personalities or difficult group dynamics. We might be concerned that we’re not being helpful enough or providing enough value. We might fear that participants expect us to have all the answers.
These are all completely normal concerns, and if you’re feeling some of them, you’re not alone.
So how do we move past these concerns and take those first steps into inquiry-based teaching with confidence? Here’s my practical advice.
Get clear on how you feel about inquiry
Before you dive into facilitating inquiry, spend some time reflecting on your own relationship with it. What does inquiry mean to you? How do you feel when you don’t know something? Are you comfortable with uncertainty, or does it make you anxious? Do you see questions as valuable in themselves, or only as stepping stones to answers? Understanding your own feelings about inquiry – the excitement, the discomfort, the curiosity – will help you become a better facilitator because you’ll be more aware of what participants might be experiencing.
Develop comfort with uncertainty and not-knowing
You don’t need to have all the answers to facilitate great inquiry. In fact, some of the most engaging discussions happen when you’re genuinely curious about something alongside your participants. When someone asks a question you don’t know the answer to, or when an artwork raises questions that don’t have clear solutions, that’s an opportunity to explore ideas together. These moments of uncertainty can lead to rich discussions where everyone is learning and thinking together.
Contrary to what we may feel, uncertainty isn’t something to fear or rush past – it can be where the most interesting learning happens. When you model curiosity and wonder, when you say “I don’t know, but let’s explore this together,” you’re showing participants that not-knowing is a valuable starting point.
Practice saying “I’m not sure about that – what do you think?” when you don’t know something, and get comfortable with pausing and thinking before responding, rather than feeling you need to give immediate answers.
Start small and build confidence gradually
You don’t need to transform your entire programme overnight. Instead, you could pick one artwork or object to focus on and work on building up to 10 minutes facilitating inquiry around the one object. You can gradually expand from there as you build confidence and see what works for your groups.
Or you could start every conversation at every artwork or object with time for looking (let looking lead, as we often say) and then start by asking observation and description questions: “What do you see?” “What do you notice?” Start using “What are you wondering about?” as a way to get participants talking and telling you what they’re curious about. Always listen to their responses, and acknowledge what participants have shared. This gives you a taste of how inquiry works without completely changing everything about your approach.
Use flexible structures to support inquiry
Having some structure can really help when you’re facilitating inquiry, especially when you’re trying to take the fear out of it. One approach is to use a Questioning Practice – these are structured sequences of questions that provide a flexible backbone for museum inquiry while still allowing for spontaneous conversation. The structure gives you confidence about where you’re heading, but it’s loose enough that you can follow interesting tangents or spend more time on whatever resonates with your group.
The Universal is a great one to start with. The structure gives you confidence about where you’re heading, but it’s loose enough that you can follow interesting tangents or spend more time on whatever resonates with your group. And it works with everything.
Practice specific techniques for managing time and participation
Now that you have a little bit of structure to work with, you need some practical techniques for managing the flow of discussion, especially around time management – which is one of the biggest concerns I hear from educators trying inquiry-based approaches.
But here’s the thing about time management in inquiry – it’s completely different from managing time in more traditional style programmes where you are controlling the pace. In inquiry, you’re responding to what participants bring to the conversation, which means you need flexible time management strategies, rather than rigid schedules.
Setting gentle time boundaries actually works better than strict timekeeping, because it maintains this collaborative, exploratory feel while keeping things moving forward. You might say something like “I’ll take a couple more responses” to give people clarity about what’s happening next while still honouring their engagement.
Don’t be afraid to move things along when needed – this is very much about serving the group’s overall learning experience. Sometimes one person or one topic can be dominant, and gently guiding the conversation forward actually creates more opportunities for everyone to participate and engage with multiple artworks or ideas.
For participation, learn to guide conversations while maintaining psychological safety – acknowledge contributions warmly, build on what people share, and invite others to contribute without making anyone feel cut off or dismissed.
Practice comfortable ways to handle silence too – count to five in your head before jumping in, and remember that thinking time is valuable time.
Build your facilitation toolkit gradually
You don’t need to master every facilitation technique at once. Start with a few basic skills and add to your toolkit over time. Focus on developing your active listening skills so you can really hear what participants are sharing. Show genuine interest and curiosity in their responses – lean in, ask follow-up questions, build on their ideas. Practice acknowledging and affirming what people contribute, making them feel heard and valued. Work on your timing – knowing when to let a discussion continue and when to gently move forward. As you get more comfortable, you can add techniques like summarising key points or making connections between different participants’ ideas.
Actually practice inquiry – not just in your head
As E.F. Schumacher said, “An ounce of practice is generally worth more than a ton of theory” – and this is especially true for inquiry-based teaching. You can read about inquiry-based teaching, listen to podcasts about it, and think through all the scenarios in your head, but none of that replaces actually doing it. Theoretical knowledge is not the same as practical application. The gap between understanding inquiry conceptually and facilitating it confidently can only be bridged through regular practice.
This doesn’t mean you need to jump straight into facilitating full inquiry sessions with your regular groups. Start by practising with low-stakes opportunities. Try inquiry approaches with colleagues during team meetings – spend a few minutes looking at an artwork together using the Universal Questioning Practice. Practise with friends or family members when you visit museums together. Even practising alone can be valuable – stand in front of an artwork and work through your questioning sequences out loud.
The key is to practise the actual mechanics of inquiry facilitation: asking questions and waiting for responses, building on what people share, managing your own impulses to fill silence or provide answers too quickly. These skills need to become comfortable and natural, and that only happens through repetition.
Consider setting yourself small practice goals – maybe you’ll try one inquiry question with your next group, or spend five minutes facilitating observation and description before moving into your regular programme. The more you practise these techniques in real situations, the more confident you’ll become with the unpredictability and flow of genuine inquiry.
Remember, every expert facilitator started exactly where you are now. They didn’t become skilled by thinking about inquiry – they became skilled by doing it, learning from it, and doing it again.
Reframe “failure” – what unsuccessful inquiry sessions actually teach you
Not every inquiry session will feel successful, and that’s completely normal. Instead of seeing these as failures, think of them as valuable learning experiences. A session where no one participates might teach you about your group dynamics or the need for different types of questions. A discussion that goes nowhere might show you the importance of preparation or timing. When things don’t go as planned, ask yourself: What can I learn from this? What would I do differently next time? These “unsuccessful” sessions often provide the most useful insights for improving your practice.
Find ways to debrief and reflect on your practice
Make reflection a regular part of your inquiry practice. After each session, spend a few minutes thinking about what worked well and what felt challenging. Keep notes about what questions generated good discussion, which techniques helped participation, and what you’d like to try differently. You might also find it helpful to talk through your experiences with colleagues or other educators who are also exploring inquiry-based approaches. Regular reflection helps you build on your successes and learn from your challenges.
Moving forward
You don’t need to do all of this at once. Pick one or two points that resonate with you and start there. Inquiry-based teaching is a skill that develops over time, so be patient with yourself as you learn.
Get clear on how you feel about inquiry, develop comfort with uncertainty and not-knowing, start small and build confidence gradually, create flexible structures that can help, practise specific techniques for managing time and participation, build your facilitation toolkit gradually, reframe unsuccessful sessions as learning opportunities, and make reflection a regular part of your practice.
Remember, inquiry-based teaching creates the kind of museum experiences where participants truly engage. It’s worth taking those first steps, even when they might feel uncertain.