We are in the middle of an art exploration unit this week that is ideally suited to inquiry based learning because it allows the students to really examine their own tastes and respond to conscious and unconscious motivations.  The week began with techniques suggested by Eric Jensen to stimulate the brain and get it into a state of readiness.  I began the lessons with games and physical activities to get the kids up and moving and thinking.  My experiences at the ASCD conference were profound in that I learned you really need to monitor and adjust to the the states of your students.  You need to have a handful of simple techniques at your disposal to deepen their thinking and learning.  I liked trying them with the class because it made my teaching much more self-reflective and forced me to constantly put myself in my students' shoes and anticipate their needs.  One great way to further comprehension and long-lasting learning is to consistently provide a sense of ANTICIPATION in your class.  When the students are constantly wondering what's going to happen next, they tend to pay much more attention and their retention of material is greatly enhance.  Superb stuff and it really works beautifully.