Virginia

The Virginia Inquiry Collaborative

Virginia’s History and Social Science Standards of Learning (SOL)  emphasize the importance of developing students’ skills through social studies content.  Revised in 2015, the  SOL  identify social science skills which recognize “the interrelationships between history, geography, economics, and civics content. The development of these skills is important in order for students to become better-informed citizens.”  One way to foster student curiosity and ability to navigate a range of informational sources is to ask classes to investigate compelling questions generated by both teachers and students. These open-ended, relevant, and thought-provoking questions can be revisited by students as they revise their claims and justification.  Indeed, it is through inquiry that students can best construct their understanding of the past and become active participants of society in the present.

In June of 2020, approximately  80 teachers partnered with experts from museums, historic sites, and academic institutions to begin designing inquiries with the expressed purpose of creating a more anti racist, anti biased, and culturally responsive curricula.    These inquiries were designed using the Inquiry Design Model (IDM), a distinctive approach to creating curriculum and instructional materials that honors teachers’ knowledge and expertise, avoids over prescription, and focuses on the main elements of the instructional design process as envisioned in the Inquiry Arc of the C3 Framework.