Blueprinting An Inquiry-Based Curriculum

An Inquiry-Based Curriculum PL A N N I N G WI T H T H E I N Q U I RY D E S I G N MO D EL

KATHY SWAN www.socialstudies.org

co-published with

www.c3teachers.org

S.G. GRANT JOHN LEE

First published in 2019.

This book is a co-publication of National Council for the Social Studies and C3 Teachers.

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) is the largest professional association in the United States devoted solely to social studies education. Founded in 1921, its mission is to provide leadership, service, and support for all social studies educators.

NCSS is the publisher of the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards.

C3 Teachers is a collaborative network of over 8,000 educators that aims to empower teachers as they work through the challenges and opportunities of inquiry-based instruction grounded in the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards.

Through the network, teacher leaders share professional development ideas, resources, and online tools to support and sustain inquiry that uses the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) as its foundation.

Copyright Š 2019 Kathy Swan, S.G. Grant, and John Lee All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

Editorial staff on this publication: Michael Simpson, National Council for the Social Studies Design and layout: Gene Cowan, Cowan Creative ISBN: 978-0-87986-116-2 | Printed in the United States of America

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................................................1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 3 Why Another Book on the Inquiry Design Model?................................................................................................................4 Structure of the Book....................................................................................................................................................................6

CHAPTER 1

The Foundation for Inquiry: Questions, Tasks, and Sources.......................................................... 9 The Historical and Conceptual Roots of Inquiry....................................................................................................................9 The Why… Why Not of Inquiry...................................................................................................................................................12 The Role of Questions, Tasks, and Sources...........................................................................................................................14 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................................... 24

CHAPTER 2

Types of Inquiry....................................................................................................................................... 27 But First, A Look to Picasso for Inspiration............................................................................................................................27 Building a Curricular House through Inquiry....................................................................................................................... 29 Note about Inquiry Types.......................................................................................................................................................... 32 A Look Ahead................................................................................................................................................................................ 34 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................................... 35

CHAPTER 3

Structured Inquiry: Getting Started with the Blueprint.................................................................. 37 IDM’s Backward Design Process.............................................................................................................................................. 38 Characteristics of a Structured Inquiry..................................................................................................................................40 Anatomy of a Structured Inquiry: Can Words Lead to War?..............................................................................................41 Design Considerations for a Structured Blueprint...............................................................................................................51 Affordances and Constraints of a Structured Inquiry..........................................................................................................57 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................................................................57

CHAPTER 4

Embedded Action Inquiry: Asking Problem-Based Compelling Questions............................. 59 Civic Action................................................................................................................................................................................... 60 Characteristics of an Embedded Action Inquiry.................................................................................................................. 62 Anatomy of an Embedded Action Inquiry: Does My Community Have Enough Food?........................................... 64 Anatomy of an Embedded Action Inquiry: How Can I Make A Change?....................................................................... 71 Design Considerations for an Embedded Action Inquiry..................................................................................................74 Affordances and Constraints of an Action Inquiry...............................................................................................................76 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................................................................77 Table of Contents

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CHAPTER 5

Focused Inquiry: Collapsing the Blueprint to Focus on a Disciplinary Skill or Concept ������� 79 Focusing on Concepts, Skills, and Sources..........................................................................................................................80 Characteristics of a Focused Inquiry...................................................................................................................................... 85 Anatomy of a Focused Inquiry: How Should We Remember Columbus?.................................................................... 87 Design Considerations for a Focused Blueprint.................................................................................................................. 92 Affordances and Constraints of a Focused Inquiry............................................................................................................ 99 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................................... 99

CHAPTER 6

Guided Inquiry: Scaffolding Student Research in an Inquiry...................................................... 101 Scaffolding Inquiry.................................................................................................................................................................... 102 Characteristics of a Guided Inquiry...................................................................................................................................... 104 Anatomy of a Guided Inquiry: How Do Children Make History?................................................................................... 105 Design Considerations for a Guided Blueprint................................................................................................................... 111 Affordances and Constraints of a Guided Inquiry..............................................................................................................117 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................................................117

CHAPTER 7

Student-Directed Inquiry: Handing the Blueprint Over to Students........................................ 119 What Do We Mean by Student Agency?.............................................................................................................................. 120 Characteristics of a Student-Directed Inquiry................................................................................................................... 122 Anatomy of a Student-Directed Inquiry Blueprint: What Makes a Movement Successful?................................... 123 Design Considerations for a Student-Directed Blueprint................................................................................................131 Affordances and Constraints of a Student-Directed Inquiry.......................................................................................... 135 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................................................137

CHAPTER 8

Looping Inquiry..................................................................................................................................... 139 What Do We Mean by Looping Inquiry?.............................................................................................................................. 140 Looping Focused Inquiries Across a Course: An Eleventh-Grade Example................................................................141 Looping Different Kinds of Inquiry Across a Course: A Third-Grade Example......................................................... 144 Looping Inquiry Across Grade Levels: A Middle School Example................................................................................ 146 Design Considerations for Looping Inquiry ...................................................................................................................... 149 Affordances and Constraints of Looping Inquiry.............................................................................................................. 150 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................................................151

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Blueprinting an Inquiry-Based Curriculum

CHAPTER 9

Assessing Inquiry.................................................................................................................................. 153 Why Assess? ............................................................................................................................................................................... 153 The Very Real Problem of Assessment................................................................................................................................ 154 Assessment System in IDM...................................................................................................................................................... 155 Anatomy of an Assessment System ......................................................................................................................................157 The Assessment System in Action..........................................................................................................................................161 Affordances and Constraints of a Guided Inquiry............................................................................................................. 168 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................................. 169

CHAPTER 10

IDM As a Way of Thinking....................................................................................................................171 Solving Problems Through IDM Thinking............................................................................................................................172 IDM in the Big Curriculum Picture.........................................................................................................................................177 Final Thoughts............................................................................................................................................................................ 180

Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 185 About the Authors................................................................................................................................189

Table of Contents

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Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge the teachers who have inspired this book. They all have something in common—they lack a “satisfaction” gene. While we stand on the sidelines of their classrooms applauding and chronicling their innovations, they want more and better. They want to increase student agency, they want to tie assessment to inquirybased curriculum and instruction, and they want everyone in their building to teach with inquiry—they simply are not satisfied with their own excellence. In her famous poem, “Extravagant Spirits,” Maya Angelou wrote, “…they draw us from the safe borders and into the center of the center ring….there is no moderation in their nature.”

C3 teachers steal us away from complacency and continue to fuel our collaboration with their leadership, curiosity, laughter, bravery, and persistence.

We would also like to thank our families who have a few compelling questions of their own (e.g., When are you going to finish this book?

Are you still on the phone with those two?). We know they have their own set of tasks that they would like us to complete and mounds of household sources they would like us to put away already. They share a common inquiry: When will those three have enough of inquiry?

Sadly, no time soon. Regardless, we thank them for their enduring patience and support.

And, we would like to thank each other. We joke (well, Kathy does) that we are C3 married. We know each other well enough to often finish each other’s sentences and to let it go when one of us is cranky and pops off at another. Our conversations still feel electric when we work together on a knotty idea and we are deeply grateful to have built an inquiry-yoked life together.

Kathy Swan S.G. Grant John Lee

Acknowledgments

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CHAPTER 1

The Foundation for Inquiry: Questions, Tasks, and Sources The operating metaphor for this book is a blueprint for a house.

One reason we like that image is that it suggests both a set of fixed elements and the creativity to define those elements in a range of inventive ways. Houses can look as if pressed out in cookie-cutter fashion, but they don’t have to. The blueprints for interesting, inviting, and innovative houses can vary widely, but they invariably have foundations, rooms, and roofs. In an inquiry blueprint, the foundation is composed of questions, tasks, and sources.

We have written about these three foundational elements in a couple of earlier books.1 In this chapter, we take a fresh look at questions, tasks, and sources as we position them as the base for an inquirydriven curriculum.

To ground this book in general and the foundational elements in particular, we thought it would make sense to take a quick look at the historical and conceptual roots for inquiry-based teaching and learning. Those roots run deep and they invariably support the idea that all students benefit from an inquiry approach. We then turn directly to the key elements of questions, tasks, and sources and show how they matter both individually and in interaction.

The Historical and Conceptual Roots of Inquiry The number of newly published books on inquiry might persuade the casual observer that it is a new phenomenon. It’s not. Teachers of even modest experience know that the reform-minded winds that blow by their classroom doors are old winds at best. So, we make no claim to be inventing fire with the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) around which this book is constructed. We freely acknowledge our The Foundation for Inquiry: Questions, Tasks, and Sources

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About the authors Kathy Swan is a professor of social studies education in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky.

S.G. Grant is a professor of social studies education in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University.

John Lee is a professor of social studies education in the College of Education at North Carolina State University.

About the Authors 189

The basic IDM blueprint has become a widely accepted foundation for inquiry-based teaching. This book presents new variations of that blueprint to support curricular and instructional strategies that target specific goals—for example, taking informed action, the need to fit inquiries into limited class time, and the promotion of studentcentered learning.

The authors of this book, who were the lead writers of the C3 Framework, present five different forms of inquiry and their associated blueprints. In addition to structured inquiry based on the original IDM blueprint, the authors describe inquiries and offer blueprints that center on taking informed action, focusing inquiries to fit limited class time, guiding students to greater involvement, and launching studentdirected inquiries. The book also provides invaluable advice on how teachers can progress from blueprinting a single inquiry to blueprinting an entire curriculum.

Kathy Swan is a professor of social studies education in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky.

BLUEPRINTING AN INQUIRY-BASED CURRICULUM

The publication of the C3 Framework and the development of the C3 Inquiry Design Model (IDM) were just the beginning!

An Inquiry-Based Curriculum PL A N N I N G WI T H T H E I N Q U I RY D E S I G N MO D EL

S.G. Grant is a professor of social studies education in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University.

John Lee is a professor of social studies education in the College of Education at North Carolina State University.

NCSS | C3 TEACHERS

NCSS Publications 195000

www.socialstudies.org

co-published with

www.c3teachers.org

KATHY SWAN S.G. GRANT JOHN LEE