Search
Close this search box.

8th Grade

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the issue of preserving historic lands and the challenges that face preservation. By investigating the compelling question “Is Progress More Important than Preservation?” students evaluate whether preservation is always the most important consideration, or if there are times when progress must become a priority. The formative performance tasks build on knowledge and skills through the course of the inquiry and help students identify battlefield land in Arkansas, explore areas where preservation has occurred, and determine if preservation should always come before progress. Students create an evidence-based argument about progress versus preservation, researching and considering various points of view, including the possibility that both might be achieved simultaneously.

The Heart of Social Studies

Inquiries

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the issue of preserving historic lands and the challenges that face preservation. By investigating the compelling question “Is Progress More Important than Preservation?” students evaluate whether preservation is always the most important consideration, or if there are times when progress must become a priority. The formative performance…

The goal of this inquiry is to help students analyze a pivotal event within the American Revolution. Nearly every American student is familiar with the actions of the Sons of Liberty, yet this inquiry sheds light on the motivations for and consequences of The Boston Tea Party, a turning point in Colonial-British relations. Students look…

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of The Dust Bowl. By investigating the compelling question “Was the Dust Bowl a Perfect Storm?” students gain understanding through reading a variety of texts and analyzing photographs to determine the major causes of the Dust Bowl. By examining the dust bowl through multiple social studies lenses, students…

By asking the compelling question “Was the New Deal a good deal?” students take on a topic with a long history and plenty of relevance for today. The inquiry uses the New Deal and the expansion of federal government programs designed to stimulate the economy and support citizens in need as a context for considering…

This inquiry is focused on the compelling question “Were the suburbs good for America?” and deals with the period of rapid suburbanization immediately following World War II, from 1945 through the 1950s. The question challenges the notion that all economic development is beneficial and considers both the positive and negative outcomes of American suburban growth….

This inquiry is focused on the compelling question “Is protest patriotic?” The question challenges the notion that protest against authority is unpatriotic and asks students to consider whether America’s democratic institutions are strengthened through occasional opposition to American leadership. This inquiry deals with the Vietnam War era (1964–1973), focusing primarily on the national and international…

This inquiry is focused on the compelling question “Was American expansion abroad justified?” In other words, did the expansion of America’s global power justify the means by which lands came under control of the United States? The inquiry calls into question motives and outcomes of imperialism by considering both the positive and negative results of…

This inquiry uses the Industrial Age as a context for students to explore the compelling question “Is greed good?” The Industrial Age, often referred to derisively as the Gilded Age, brought about unprecedented economic growth and the advent of modern living. The effects of the Industrial Age were so essential to the economic and social…

This eighth grade annotated inquiry places students in the middle of an important debate—a debate that goes beyond semantics and hypothetical constructs. The trade-off between freedom and security is one of the thorniest dilemmas in United States history. From the Sedition Act of 1798 to the Patriot Act of 2001, the United States has sought…