This post was written as part of a course I took with Dr. Aaron Johnson at University of Nebraska, in the spring semester 2018. In the course, I was introduced to the C3 Framework and IDM and given an opportunity to develop an inquiry on a local history topic of m
When I began to understand the scope of this Inquiry design project, I was immediately interested in the relationship between baseball and Nebraska. Baseball has been in existence in Nebraska since the late 1800’s and has created a sense of place for many towns throughout the state. My family relates to the topic as well, starting with my great-great-grandfather, Wallace Rood. Wallace played for the Looking Glass Town team in Nance County and his son Norman played for the Genoa Town team. My grandpa played legion baseball in Nebraska along with his son. Not surprisingly, I play baseball as well along with enjoying a small-town Nebraska upbringing.
I was very excited for the primary source aspect of the Inquiry project, as I knew I would be able to find some great articles and photos that related directly to my family and Nebraska baseball. I visited the Nebraska State Historical Society and used a Nebraska newspapers catalog to find sources. I was interested in finding a few newspaper articles to start with as my primary sources for the inquiry. I liked the idea of using newspapers because, in my opinion, newspapers can give students a sense of what was going on at the time and what people found interesting in Nebraska towns. I also liked the idea of using newspapers because students are able to look at newspaper articles today and easily see similarities and differences with those from the past.
Early in my research and work with IDM, I found it hard to stick specifically to the sport of baseball. So, I decided it would be appropriate to expand some of the aspects of the IDM to sports, in general, and to how sports helped create a sense of pride and identity in Nebraska towns. I did this because I thought that it would give students more freedom in expressing their knowledge, given that some students may be interested in different sports. I did, however, focus mainly on Baseball for the historical aspects of the IDM.
My final inquiry product is HERE
While completing this project I learned a lot about the history of Nebraska baseball and the history of Nebraska in general. I also learned the importance of finding the right sources to help students answer specific questions. For example, in the second supporting question, I ask students to determine some of the historical pastimes in Nebraska towns. During my research I found baseball to be popular along with large meals, picnics, dances, and town and county fairs. I wanted to give students a few different sources that touched on these different past times. This way the students realized that other factors contributed to a town’s sense of Identity but also that baseball was a major contributor. I also learned the value of breaking down primary sources as a student. Previous to college, I was not exposed to primary sources very often. I now see primary sources as a huge opportunity for students to become more interested and to be leaders in their own learning through inquiry.
A few potential pitfalls stuck with me throughout my completion of this inquiry project. The first was simply that some students are not interested in sports. I do however think that while some students may identify more heavily with sports than others, it is important to realize that sports did have a historical impact on Nebraska towns. With that being said it may just be more difficult for an uninterested student to connect with this primary source learning method. A second pitfall would be that some students could be from out of state. Obviously, these students would potentially have less history with Nebraska and possibly less interest as well. While learning about the history of the state may intrigue them, it may be more difficult for them to make connections to the material. This pitfall would apply most heavily to my third supporting question, which asks students to present on their hometowns sense of pride in relation to sports. I give the student the option to use primary sources provided as well. An out of state student may have more of a challenge seeing similarities between their hometowns and the towns of Seward and Winnebago. However, the out of state students contrasting views could bring an interesting light to the inquiry-based learning environment.
I think that implementing a similar project to this with my future students would be great. I enjoy the aspect of relating family history to the state of Nebraska. While my project was focused on Baseball and sports, students could choose what interests them most and that would fuel their learning. When students became interested in a topic of Inquiry they could pour through sources and learn more than could be simply told to them by me as the instructor.
Overall this project was challenging for me as well as being very educational. I learned what it looks like to find primary sources and arrange them into a kind of lesson plan to answer specific questions for students. I would definitely use this project in the future because I see value in having students search for primary sources if they have the proper method of finding them. The research experience that I had was fantastic as I was able to meet with my grandparents which are always fun as well as using the State Historical Society for the first time as a student of the University. I enjoyed this Family Inquiry project and think that I created an IDM that can be actually used in the classroom!
