Weaving

I guess I started the weaving stage while I was still webbing.  (It is a good thing that this inquiry process does not necessarily have to occur in a linear fashion.)  My final web of that stage began to organize information into groups.  Once the key information was all laid out in a concept map, I could look for connections and begin developing insights.  One of my questions was about common themes in creeds. This became a task of comparing apples to oranges in some cases.  I didn't find useful connections when comparing a religious creed to a profession's creed.  Comparing apples to apples was more helpful though.  For example, it was insightful to compare the communist creed to the American creed, which was set forth by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.  Americans stand by the belief in the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  On the other hand, the communist creed declares that there can be no peace on earth until all nations are communist.  Certainly an example of creeds existing in opposition to each other.  In another example, I noticed that the Buddhist Jodu Shinshu Creed has similar elements to the Methodist Social Creed in regards to glorifying their respective deities and working for the improvement of society.  Additionally, neither of those creeds are really characteristic of the true definition of a creed- a statement of belief.  They are more like mission statements or pledges- aims and objectives.  This realization made me think about my karate student creed, which was what got me started on this inquiry in the first place.  That creed outlines the aims and objectives of a karate student.  Although they do reflect a karate student's beliefs, they are not explicitly stated as such in the creed.  Through my own experiences and the examination of information I've gathered, it seems like the term creed is often used when mission statement or pledge would be a better choice.

I think that the apples and oranges issue that I am running into here is a result of not narrowing my focus enough at previous stages of the inquiry process.  Perhaps it would be a good time to cycle back and choose a limited focus, such as religious creeds only.  However, I am going to be stubborn and hang on to all the themes and information I have found so far.  I want my final product to include information about creeds from many aspects of life, not just one.  I would imagine that this is a common problem for students of all ages.  There are signs that we should adapt our inquiry in some way or another (narrowing, broadening, shifting focus), but we don't necessarily want to make that adjustment.

I like the way that Pappas and Tepe refer to this stage as "interpretation" in their Pathways to Knowledge model.  That word choice reflects their belief that a student should not be merely regurgitating the information that they have collected, but instead be actively considering it and applying personal meaning.  I've tried to interpret the information I've located for my inquiry by connecting it to my own experiences.  I'm sure that, for any student, a project with a personal connection will have a more lasting impact than one that they complete from an emotional distance.

Carol Kuhlthau says that by this stage of the process, the student should be feeling relief and satisfaction.  I'm not quite there yet.  I think I will have those feelings as soon as I determine what my final product is going to look like.  At this point I'm thinking PowerPoint, or I may try out iMovie.  An announcement on that matter will be forthcoming.