Why would teachers and students initiate a Community Think Tank inquiry?

Developing a think tank as a course project lets students participate in:

• A structured inquiry into a pressing community problem. See the steps in the process and the roles of community/university partners.
  
  
• A dynamic, strongly motivated, intercultural and interpersonal dialogue that draws out the important knowledge of the urban community--knowledge that is usually silenced.
  
  
• A collaborative process of argument and case building that uses diversity to build new knowledge.
  
  
• A hands-on experience using skills in research, listening, problem analysis, and presentation to document new knowledge.
  
  
• An opportunity to make a genuine contribution to a professional and public forum in which the rhetoric of inquiry can make a difference.