Research is done. You have a pretty clear understanding of your specific topic and it is time to focus on putting the research and the project together. You sketch in your inquiry journal. You try some things out. You realize as you start to refine your concept and match your message up with your medium that there are aspects that lack some clarity and you go back and do a bit of additional research. You find that as your vision for your final product and your understanding of the topic gain clarity, things really start to come together.
More time passes...
Finally, after much blood, sweat and maybe a tear or two, you are done. You are particularly proud of your work. You present it to your classmates and they seem to be equally impressed. You find yourself surprised that they are genuinely interested in your story and seem to enjoy exploring the way that you've presented it.
This is magic. We have the pairing of an on topic story that the student cares deeply about with a product that tells that story effectively. It is possible that the project itself impacted how the student thought through the research. In this case, the making itself becomes entrenched in the inquiry process and it becomes very difficult to separate the two. It is also possible that the product that the student creates simply is a great pairing with the topic at hand and is the best vehicle for telling the story. In this case, the making occurs after the inquiry but is essential to the way the story is shared.
In terms of Guided Inquiry Design, we are looking at the difference between making as the Create phase with a view to the best Share experience possible and making as something embedded way back in the Explore and Focus phases where it is transforming the actual inquiry process.
However we as teachers think about this experience, the student has been engaged in making something that they are proud to share that tells the story of some research that they care about. They are likely to have had to think through their topic fairly deeply to be able to create something that tells their story this effectively and they are likely to remeber this experience for some time to come. Win-win!