Inquiry at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center When I taught tenth-grade American history, I had a sign on my classroom wall that read Never stop asking WHY. As an eager new teacher, I had plans to utilize inquiry in my classroom and envisioned my students, under my tutelage, asking
As I recently waited to pick up my child from school, I noticed a plaque that said the school was built in 1939 as part of the New Deal Works Progress Administration. I had walked by this sign several times and never noticed. Putting on my teacher hat, I thought
Where’s the time for inquiry? You may have your students do Inquiry Design Model inquiries throughout the year or you may do one a semester. If you are just entering the inquiry world, you may not have done any before! In Kentucky, my home state, new social studies standards have
One of the more difficult parts of writing inquiries is often crafting a compelling question. As teachers, we ask questions every day. We ask essential questions to help students address “essential” content. We ask supporting questions to help break up complex tasks and check for understanding. A compelling question’s role
The face of an inquiry may be the compelling question, but the strength of an inquiry and its questions is grounded in sources. The most compelling of compelling questions can’t go anywhere if sources do not support it. Just like scholars’ research, student argumentation must be grounded in evidence. Without
Recently, I read social science researchers are way too weird. WEIRD stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. Between 2003-2007, 96% of behavioral science research used WEIRD subjects. Accordingly, conclusions about the human mind are based on this very specific demographic group. However, WEIRD subjects are, well, weird themselves
There is one thing on which both sides of the political spectrum agree – our country is in a hyper-partisan era. Tribal partisanship and blind uncritical acceptance of information has become all too banal. However you position yourself on the political spectrum, teachers are in a precarious position as they
“Sorry, Carly,” she said, looking at me with shame in her eyes. “I had to cut the social studies lesson.” It was a Friday night. A friend of mine, “Ms. Kyles,” who teaches 4th grade, was sharing the stressful week she had. Generally, Ms. Kyles indicated, she had a good
Talk of civics education seems to be everywhere these days. From concerns about students not knowing enough civics to blaming election results on civics education to arguments that more rigorous civics classes won’t solve much. A recent article from NPR, asked what civics education needs to “stick” with students. The
When my nephew was first beginning to talk, one of the adults in the room said a curse word. The group winced. Picking up on this reaction, my nephew proceeded to repeat the word over and over and over. The fact that I couldn’t stop laughing didn’t help. My sister
C3Teachers.org facilitates open collaborative conversations among teachers as they tinker with their own instructional practice as it relates to the C3 Framework.
If you are interested in offering more professional development opportunities, rethinking or redesigning your social studies curriculum, we’d love to talk.
