About Inquire
Inquire is a collection of writing, stories, and curriculum materials exploring how academic thinking skills — the kind used by mathematicians, scientists, philosophers, and historians — can be developed in everyone.
The central idea is theory building: the set of activities that knowledge-makers actually engage in when they construct understanding. Defining objects carefully, choosing assumptions, building chains of reasoning, classifying, and questioning foundations. These are thinking skills that transfer across disciplines — from geometry to ethics, from biology to everyday disagreements.
We start with mathematics, where these tools are most visible and precise, and extend outward — into science, philosophy, and wherever careful thinking matters.
What you will find here
The site is organised into three sections, each approaching the same set of ideas from a different angle:
- Articles — essays on theory building and academic thinking, written for educators, parents, and anyone interested in how careful reasoning works. Topics range from the art of defining and the role of assumptions to how mathematical thinking connects to ethics and everyday conversation.
- Stories — fiction that develops critical thinking. Each series poses problems, invites readers to construct definitions, and rewards careful reasoning. Written for readers of various ages.
- Curriculum — classroom-ready materials for teachers. Each module includes a teacher guide, student handouts, extension activities, and assessment tools. Designed so that students do the thinking rather than follow instructions.
The approach
Most education focuses on the results of thinking — the theorems, the facts, the established conclusions. Inquire focuses on the process. What does it actually look like to construct a definition? How do you decide which assumptions to start from? What makes one classification better than another?
These are questions that working academics navigate constantly, but they are rarely made explicit in classrooms. The materials here aim to make them explicit — and to show that these skills are not reserved for specialists. They can be practiced by anyone willing to think carefully.
The name
“Inquire” captures the spirit of the project: learning to ask better questions. Not accepting claims without examination. Tracing ideas to their foundations. The tagline — “Learn to Think” — is deliberately ambitious. It reflects a conviction that thinking well is something that can be taught, practiced, and improved.