ABSTRACT
Skytown was established in 1960 as a parent cooperative. The school's current philosophy focuses on the ideas of knowledge as constructed socially, learning as achieved through play, children as respected for who they are now and supported as they develop, and social interactions as central to the evolution of the emotional and educational formation of an individual. At Skytown, inquiry is alive in the classrooms as well as in the systems that run the school. In particular, inquiry supports children's learning by providing adults with the opportunity to pay closer attention to the children's explorations, needs, and questions. Inquiry allows the children the space to engage in what they are doing, as opposed to doing for the sake of doing, or following an adult's ideas about what they feel needs to be learned or experienced. A devotion to the inquiry process has resulted in a complete change in the understanding of adults as learners.
