This inquiry is an exploration into the concepts of time, continuity, and change in a community with the dual purpose of establishing students’ understandings of the passage of time and explaining why the past matters today. The inquiry taps into a common student assumption about the authority of the present and its existence independent of past events and contexts. One way to explore present circumstances is through an examination of the short- and long-term effects of the past. The constructs of cause and effect are complex, chiefly because multiple causes may be associated with one event, just as multiple effects can be tied to a single cause. Through identifying the relationship of cause and effect, students learn to recognize how continuity and change over time help us understand historical developments in our present communities.
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About the inquiry
Compelling Question
If We Live in the Present, Why Should We Care About the Past?
Staging Question
Describe a disagreement in terms of cause and effect.
What’s the difference between a cause and an effect?
Formative TasksCreate a T-chart listing causes on the left side and their effects on the right.
SourcesSource A: Teacher-generated example of cause and effect
How have events from the past changed our lives in the present?
Formative TasksCreate a T-chart listing causes on the left side and their effects on the right.
SourcesSource A: Source packet: Pollution of Lake Ronkonkoma
How do people today solve problems created in the past?
Formative TasksWrite an explanation that answers the supporting question with proof or evidence.
SourcesSource A: “From Eyesore to Sunset Stunner”
Source B: ”Voices from the Region” video
Summative Performance Task
Argument: If we live in the present, why should we care about the past? Construct an argument supported with evidence that answers the compelling question.
Extension: Choose two inventions from a teacher-supplied list (e.g., telephone, video game, car, or pencil) and write a sentence about how each helped to solve a problem.
Taking Informed Action
Understand: Explore the causes and effects of a major event that has transformed the local community.
Assess: Investigate what people in the community are doing to confront and/or address the event.
Act: Invite a local politician or community leader to class to discuss the event.