

Across Australian classrooms, many teachers are being asked to deliver increasingly prescribed programs and “what works” approaches. While explicit instruction has an important role, many educators are noticing a growing tension:
Students may comply — but they’re often disengaged, restless, or unable to transfer their learning.
This 2-day Concept-Based Inquiry workshop supports educators to design learning experiences that move beyond coverage and compliance toward conceptual understanding, intellectual engagement, and transfer — without abandoning structure, guidance, or evidence.
Across Australian classrooms, many teachers are being asked to deliver increasingly prescribed programs and “what works” approaches. While explicit instruction has an important role, many educators are noticing a growing tension:
Students may comply — but they’re often disengaged, restless, or unable to transfer their learning.
This 2-day Concept-Based Inquiry workshop supports educators to design learning experiences that move beyond coverage and compliance toward conceptual understanding, intellectual engagement, and transfer — without abandoning structure, guidance, or evidence.
Step into your students' shoes in a model lesson that demonstrates the power of guiding questions and case studies in building conceptual understanding.
Gain insights from video clips showcasing the kinds of thinking developed at each stage of inquiry.
Following the lesson, participate in a debrief where you’ll explore the role of guiding questions, case studies, and the inductive teaching process.
Learn from Rachel French as she introduces a six-phase model of Concept-Based Inquiry, and explore teaching practices proven to help students think conceptually.
Reflect on when and how to use structured, guided, and open inquiry to foster student thinking.
Leave with a ready-to-use toolkit of instructional strategies that enhance units you are currently teaching, ensuring immediate impact in your classroom.

Teaching students, conferring with small groups, coaching teachers, and leading PD.
The main shift has been a huge increase in the amount of time and methods I use during concept formation. I have seen such progress from all students and the teachers I work with as a result.
Teaching students, conferring with small groups, coaching teachers, and leading PD.
The main shift has been a huge increase in the amount of time and methods I use during concept formation. I have seen such progress from all students and the teachers I work with as a result.


Share a model of Concept-Based Inquiry that you use as a framework for planning intentionally designing learning experiences across the curriculum.

Develop your toolbox of practical teaching strategies that can be used flexibly to support concept attainment, scaffold conceptual understanding, promote learning transfer.

Discover how guiding questions can be used to empower students as thinkers capable of seeing patterns and making connections to develop understanding.

Rachel French, MA Ed. has led innovative curriculum design and transformed how educators teach and students learn for over 12 years.
Mentored by the founders of Concept-Based Curriculum themselves, Dr. H Lynn Erickson and Dr. Lois A. Lanning, Rachel was entrusted with the exclusive worldwide rights to be the sole provider of the Erickson and Lanning Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction (CBCI) Trainer Certification Institute — the certification that kick-started her journey into Concept-Based Inquiry and inspired her own approach to the pedagogy.
Rachel has presented numerous workshops and conferences on Concept-Based Learning globally. She now hosts the annual Concept-Based Inquiry Learning Labs Conference, a conference dedicated to bringing together passionate CBI educators from around the globe.
Rachel’s mission is to help other educators transform their classrooms and schools by accessing leading professional development, planning and implementing Concept-Based units, and adopting a Concept-Based curriculum development approach.
Rachel lives in Greytown New Zealand, with her husband and three children.

Lauren is a Theatre and English educator who feels privileged to be part of young people's learning journeys every day. Over the years, she has taught students at all levels, from early childhood to senior students, and is passionate about developing and delivering purposeful curricula. In addition to her classroom role, she has served in various capacities as a teacher-educator, assessor, curriculum writer, and committee member for educational organizations.
Lauren is an Erickson and Lanning Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction Certified Trainer and works with Professional Learning International as a consultant and coach. Currently, she spends most of her time in the classroom and serves as the Concept-Based Learning and Teaching Leader at Cornish College in Melbourne, Australia.


The cost of the 2-day workshop is $650 AUD.
This includes a copy of Concept-Based Inquiry in Action and morning tea and lunch on both days.
Register before March 27, 2026 and receive a 10% discount on your total by entering our Early Bird discount code: CORNISH10 when you checkout.


This hands-on approach invites you to recognize patterns and make connections, allowing you to articulate your own transferable conceptual understandings. The debrief session will delve into the strategies used to support inductive teaching.

