Through deep inquiry! Inquiry learning empowers students to ask deep questions and do historical research that matters to them. No one debates the value of inquiry design in education, but teachers are busy and are often focused on designing inquiry lessons that are specifically geared toward their district’s standards. Teachers often lack the time to develop high-quality inquiry lessons that are not in their everyday wheelhouse. Yet few history and social studies teachers would reject the opportunity to infuse the stories of technology into their daily lessons, but again, who has the time? If only there were a FREE resource that infused the stories of technology and engineering into inquiry-based history lessons for high school and middle school teachers.
IEEE REACH (https://reach.ieee.org) creates free units of study, following the C3 Teachers’ Inquiry Design Model, that engage your students in an exploration of the interaction of technology and history. The C3 inquiry units span the spectrum of history from Athenian triremes to military drones, all while honing historical thinking skills like document analysis and persuasive writing. Every unit is the product of professional research by historians of engineering and technology adapted for high school and middle school students by experienced educators – and everything IEEE REACH offers is free to teachers and their students!
IEEE, a 501(c)3 organization, is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. The IEEE History Center’s mission is to preserve, research, and promote the history of information and electrical technologies. Student’s today need to know how technology shapes society and in turn is shaped by society to be responsible citizens in today’s technologically advanced world.
In addition to providing C3 Inquiry Units, these free resources also include: primary source documents that link to their digital source, such as museums; hands-on activities that can easily be implemented in the classroom; background information for teachers, and short engaging videos that may be used either in the classroom, or in a flipped classroom environment. All of these free resources, including the videos, are downloadable for easy application.
Technology is an integral part of history. It didn’t start with STEM – it’s been there all along. No matter your level of technological understanding, you can bring the stories of technology and engineering into your history classes with IEEE REACH. Registration is easy, fast, and everything is FREE!
Create an account today at reach.ieee.org and check out the C3 Inquiry Units and bring technology and history together in your classroom – just like it is in real life!
