Tier 1

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of maps, the common characteristics of maps, and the stories maps can tell about a place. By investigating the compelling question, “What is the most important information a map can tell us?,” students evaluate a set of maps with a focus on the Korean Peninsula as a case study. The formative performance tasks build on knowledge and skills through the course of the inquiry, help students deepen their understanding of maps and their value as a tool for understanding the world, and build content knowledge about the Korean Peninsula. Using the map set provided, students create an evidence-based argument about the most important piece of information they learned.

The Heart of Social Studies

Inquiries

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of maps, the common characteristics of maps, and the stories maps can tell about a place. By investigating the compelling question, “What is the most important information a map can tell us?,” students evaluate a set of maps with a focus on the Korean Peninsula as a case…

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the uses and misuses of media such as leaflets and radio broadcasts during the Korean War, and the uses and misuses of media in contemporary society, politics, and war. By investigating the compelling question of how media can be used to influence others, students attempt to explore…

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,…

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of individual and group sacrifices made during times of conflict and war. By investigating the compelling question, “What does it mean to sacrifice?,” students evaluate the historical significance of individuals and groups during the Korean War. The formative performance tasks build on knowledge and skills through the course…

The compelling questions for this inquiry call on students is to research the history of diplomatic relations between the United States and North Korea. How to talk with North Korea has been an important diplomatic question for US presidents from Truman to Trump. At times that question has been answered with the use of direct…

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the Korean War by investigating the compelling question “Whose voices are heard in history?” through the evaluation of oral histories, newspaper articles, photographs, and monuments. The formative performance tasks build on knowledge and skills through the course of the inquiry and help students identify points of view…

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the importance words have in easing or escalating diplomatic tensions. By investigating the compelling question “Can words lead to war?”, students evaluate the historical context of American tensions with North Korea. The formative performance tasks build on knowledge and skills through the course of the inquiry and…

This inquiry provides students with an opportunity to examine the role that the telegraph played in the Civil War. The telegraph system used in the Civil War emerged over two decades in the 1830s and 1840s as inventors and businessmen worked to find a way to send electronic messages over wires. Samuel Morse cracked the…

Students will examine eighteen telegrams to learn more about troop movements, battles, victories, and defeats, as well as other information communicated in telegrams in order to respond to the compelling question, “What do telegrams tell us about the Battle of Gettysburg?” The range of telegrams in this inquiry allows students to examine different perspectives on…

In this inquiry, students examine the question of whether the Civil War had to end the way it did. On February 3, 1865, leaders from the Union and the Confederacy met in Hampton Roads, Virginia, to discuss a negotiated end to the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward represented…