About the inquiry

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the ways we remember history, including a variety of memorials and consideration of the omissions in our collective memory. By investigating the compelling question, “What is the best way to remember history?,” students evaluate and explore a variety of types of memorialization, omissions in our collective memory, and the possible ways that historical memory can help people make better contemporary choices. The formative performance tasks build on knowledge and skills through the course of the inquiry and help students identify and compare some of the ways history is memorialized and remembered. Students create an evidence-based argument about the best ways to engage in the process of preserving the past.

Compelling Question

What Is the Best Way to Remember History?

Staging Question

Discuss why people study history, and create a class-generated list of the tools available for learning about and remembering history.

Summative Performance Task

Argument: What is the best way to remember history? Construct an argument (e.g., detailed outline, poster, or essay) that addresses the compelling question using specific claims and relevant evidence from both historical and current sources.

Extension: Conduct research on historical markers and monuments in your town and answer the question, “What stories do they tell?”

Taking Informed Action

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