Dewey’s theory of inquiry connected to the experience of the laboratory School at the University of Chicago

From a Deweyan perspective, significant changes and innovations should be understood as the outcomes of multiple ‘‘experimental stations’’ situated within educational systems, where educational problems could be freely and responsibly investigated.Dewey referred to the laboratory school as the outcome of a process of empirical inquiry involving scholars, administrators, teachers, and students in a common enterprise: In these ‘‘experimental stations’’ — through a reflective use of a scientific approach to educational problems — educational practices themselves become less and less routinary, and more and more innovative, producing new forms of knowledge and understanding.Educational transformation can be effectively brought about through the involvement of professionals, conceived as agents of inquiry and reflection. Educational agencies and, within them, the various communities of educational professionals, together with administrators, politicians, and other stakeholders, can be seen as leading forces promoting innovation from the inside of educational systems if — and only if — the conditions for a free and sound process of inquiry are created and maintained at different levels.