Using Inquiry-Based Teaching to Promote Justice & Combat Inequity
Dr. Kathy Swan C-3 Author
NEW DATES! Target Audience: Educators Grades 6-12
Social studies has long had a bad rap as a “just the facts” school subject. That reputation isn’t entirely deserved but it’s been true long enough that far too many students have said “no thank you” when it’s time for social studies. However, as Bob Dylan once wrote, “The times...they are a changin’.” The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for State Social Studies Standards (NCSS, 2013) places inquiry at the center of good social studies teaching and learning. A big takeaway from the framework is this: Inquiry shouldn’t be a once in a while experience in social studies classrooms. Rather, teachers need to think about orienting their classrooms so that inquiry is a consistent drumbeat that students hear and experience regularly.
Join Dr. Swan for this two-day workshop in developing a coherent and holistic approach to inquiry-based social studies when thinking about curriculum, instruction, and assessment. In this workshop, you will work on crafting an inquiry-based curricular loop for a course; hone inquiry-based instructional practices (e.g., deliberation, questioning, source analysis); build an inquiry culture that includes a collaborative network of teachers and administrators. Through the Inquiry Design Model (IDM), Dr. Swan will show how teachers can pose expansive questions that promote justice and expose students to sources that demonstrate the ways in which history is framed by both oppression and resistance.
Day 1, April 18: 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
What is the value of inquiry?
The Value of Inquiry (“Show and Tell” Guided Discussion)
Teachers should bring an inquiry artifact that tells a good story and one that tells a challenging story from implementation (i.e., student work, instructional document, etc.)
What does inquiry look like?
A review of the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) and the key elements of inquiry—questions, tasks, and sources
How do we create an inquiry mindset?
Creating a Curricular Spine of Inquiry
Blueprinting an Inquiry Based Curriculum
How does inquiry-based teaching promote justice and combat inequity?
Posing expansive questions that promote justice and expose students to sources that demonstrate the ways in which history is framed by both oppression and resistance.
Workshop: Crafting questions and conceptual loops that tackle hard history
Day 2, April 19: 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
How do we create an inquiry culture?
Deliberative Spaces for Inquiry
Using the Harkness Discussion—Did the return of Bruce’s Beach bring justice?
Workshop: Teachers develop a Harkness Discussion inquiry for their classroom.
How should we coach inquiry teachers?
Finding the Signal through the Noise: Teacher Evaluation, Peer Coaching
Questions-Tasks-Sources (QTS Protocol)
How do you build your house of inquiry?
Building Thematic Curricular Inquiry Loops
Blueprinting an Inquiry Based Curriculum
Looping Inquiry
Workshop: Teachers craft an instructional loop for inquiry
What makes inquiry possible?
Defining the elements of a healthy inquiry culture
Film Premiere—Making Inquiry Possible
Option to purchase : Swan: Blueprinting an Inquiry-Based Curriculum: Planning with the Inquiry Design Model. Note: This book was included with Dr. Swan’s recent virtual sessions with CVEDC but is available for purchase at $40.
Location: Delta Conference, Center, S. Burlington, VT
Cost: CVEDC member $550 Non-Member $600
Kathy Swan is a professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Swan served as the project director and lead writer of the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards and is the co-founder/co-director of C3 Teachers. Dr. Swan has co-authored and edited many books including: Inquiry-Based Practice in Social Studies Education: The Inquiry Design Model (2017; Routledge); Inquiry Design Model: Building Inquiries in Social Studies (2018; NCSS & C3 Teachers); and, Blueprinting an Inquiry Based Curriculum: Planning with the Inquiry Design Model (2019; NCSS & C3 Teachers). Swan recently served as Project Director and Executive Producer of the Making Inquiry Possible film project (makinginquirypossible.org)