As teachers, we often teach like we were taught. We repeat the same lessons year after year, because they worked once before. We even use lessons from someone else just because it worked for them. Don’t get me wrong, of course we should share our best teaching ideas, but at the same time we have to ask ourselves, are we doing the best we can?
Thankfully, for those of us who teach social studies we have a game changer on the horizon – a newfound focus on inquiry. This is the major reason why I am so encouraged about the work being done through the publication of the C3 Framework. To me, the C3 has the capacity to create change for the better in social studies teaching.
My most recent exploration with inquiry was piloting new curriculum materials from C3 Teachers and the Library of Congress. I took on piloting this lesson for lots of reasons. I was excited to use top-notch materials from the Library of Congress and to use materials that are aligned with our newest standards (Common Core and C3 Framework). I was really happy the lesson encouraged inquiry. But, most importantly, I was attracted to this lesson because it wasn’t a prescription for how to teach. The lesson respects my professional judgment, providing resources, background, and a structure, without disabling me as an independent-minded teacher.
The lesson is focused of the compelling question, “Did the founders want government to work?” and includes three supporting questions focused on specific aspects of the topic.
- What are the purposes of the Necessary and Proper Clause?,
- In what ways does the separation of powers limit government power?
- How does the system of checks and balances affect federal government?
I gave these questions to my 8th grade advanced history students, and we used the collection of challenging documents provided from the Library of Congress, including several excerpts from the Federalist Papers. So, what were my experiences, and how did I adapt these lessons to make them my own?
First, let me reiterate, I love inquiry. It allows my students to develop and create their own learning experiences. However, I believe that when challenging students with inquiry, we need to frontload content so kids can reason with the evidence they encounter in their work. In this lesson, my 8th grade students were analyzing evidence from the oh-so-challenging Federalists Papers. Given this challenge, I felt like I needed to teach students the basic constructs of the Constitution and the opinions of Federalists and Anti-Federalists.
Once my students had a basic grasp of the Constitution, they had an experience like none other as they tackled the sources and reasoned as if we actually had founders that did not establish a government that worked. It was incredible to see kids debate whether political parties harm government because the parties focus too much on winning a short-term political battles over doing the right thing for our country. My students were so interested in how politics influence the process of governing they petitioned me to run a mock Senate in my class where they could replicate how politics of political parties play out. It was amazing to see what one compelling question and nine excerpted historical sources could do for my kids and my instruction!
In my adaptation of this lesson, I concluded with a DBQ styled writing sample, a standard approach for sure, but it was the path to this writing activity that was exciting. I loved how this lesson spawned so much learning for my students. The conversations and debates we had in class went beyond my expectations. It’s why I love teaching with inquiry, because it enables students to reflect on why they believe what they do. To me, this is why we teach in the social studies. No other subject pushes students to reflect and examine how to make civic decisions in their lives.
Of course very few of our students will become historians, but all of them will have to defend and sell their ideas. This inquiry lesson modeled that sort of behavior. My students used what they learned to persuade others to think their way. And, while my student may not end up being politicians either, they will have to use inquiry skills in the civic arena, to write and convince, and to be successful in their professional lives. I believe in inquiry and I believe it can be transformative for the teaching of the social sciences.