What's Current, What's useful, What's useable?

Inquiry project research has led me down some very different ( and interesting) roads, I'm not the most adept researcher. Just lately I've been considering changing my topic, but haven't reached a decision. One of the reasons is the difficulty I'm having finding information on original topic but mainly its because I've become interested in a couple of other ideas that have cropped up.
New idea maybe: Self -regulated Mathematics Learning??
This area of thought is intriguing to me and seems destined to be connected to differentiated instruction ( althought i've yet to find the connection). Perhaps choosing this will allow me to 'kill two birds with one stone' as I am on the starting end of the learning curve about DI. Mainly I'm interested in any concept or approach that can help inquiry-based learning of mathematics. Students who are good 'problem-solvers' need, I believe, a strong background in mathematics knowledge ( facts,symbols, definitions, algorithms etc) but it is not necessary for this 'knowledge' to be received only through direct-instruction. I truly believe that if we make teachers aware of the 'how to' and not just the 'why' of teaching using an inquiry-based approach we will see it used more and more as an instructional approach. Perhaps my 'inquiry' for this course will lead me to a place that will be helpful in this regard.
I am never sure when an idea, that seems new to me, is actually still current in the field of mathematics. Is self-regulated learning a viable topic or have we moved on .... I guess that's a good question for Thursday!