Session 2 Objective: Gathering and selection of featured documents for selected topic(s) based on our partner’s unique collections and our participant’s various grade level(s).
The Toolkit project is designed around the IDM. In this section, there are 10 assumptions that support this model are described. These assumptions, based in research and practice, are integral to the conceptual and pedagogical coherence of the IDM in general and the 84 inquiries in particular.
1. Inquiry begins with a question. At the heart of social studies is the drive to understand how the social world operates; in short, why do people do the things they do? That seemingly simple question and others that emanate from it offer an opportunity for students and their teachers to explore and examine the many ways people have lived their lives both past and present.
No social issue, however, can be addressed through a single disciplinary lens because no social problem is only economic, political, historical, or geographic. The challenges we face are multifaceted and demand that we use the skills and content knowledge of history and the social science disciplines to address them. The questions students and their teachers examine do not lend themselves to simplistic conclusions. The conclusions they reach will be better informed when based on thoughtful and multidisciplinary approaches. As John Dewey (1916/1997) noted, “only by wrestling with the conditions of the problem at first hand, seeking and finding his own way out” (p. 188) do we learn how to think and reason our way through social problems.
The approach taken in the Toolkit is to frame grade-level inquiries around the New York State K–12 Social Studies Framework. The compelling question within each inquiry addresses key issues and topics found in and across social science disciplines and history. Compelling questions should also represent concerns or interests that are relevant to students’ lives and worthy of research. For example, “Who won the Cold War?” could be considered a compelling question because it reflects a genuine intellectual dispute, but it does so in a way likely to spark student interest in that it plays off
Each of these elements is represented on the first page, or blueprint, of the inquiry and is briefly described on the following pages. In the 14 annotated inquiries, however, the writers describe the elements and offer an expanded range of pedagogical advice. Crafting compelling questions and the elements needed to scaffold the rest of an inquiry can be more challenging than it appears. Doing so, however, puts students in the middle of legitimate and authentic inquiries rather than marching them through a series of “just the facts” curriculum units. There is substantial evidence that the latter approach does not work well (Goodlad, 1984; Grant, 2003; McNeil, 1988; Yeager & Davis, 1996). IDM is a curricular and instructional approach designed to support students' intellectual curiosity and improve their skills and content knowledge.
2. Inquiry topics and outcomes are grounded in the New York State Social Studies Framework. At the core of the Toolkit project are two frameworks—the inquiry-focused standards represented in the C3 Framework and the content-focused standards in the New York State Social Studies Framework. The 84 inquiries represented in the Toolkit reflect the curriculum design evident in the C3 Framework; they take their specific content cues from the New York State Social Studies Framework. All of the inquiries are explicitly linked to Key Ideas as well as to the related Conceptual Understandings, Content Specifications, and Social Studies Practices.
Standards-based instruction requires a comprehensive approach that aligns all aspects of teaching and learning to the high-level goals of the New York State Social Studies Framework. While the inquiries align with the New York State Social Studies Framework, they are not intended to be comprehensive, nor are they intended to be a series of prescribed lesson plans. They are intended to serve as pedagogically rich examples of ways in which content and skills can be addressed with students. These inquiries are typically designed to fit within 5–7 days of instruction. Writing curriculum based on a state framework requires paying close attention to the scope of content included in the framework as well as to the level of knowledge and skills expected of students. The Toolkit writers make explicit connections between the ideas and practices represented in the framework.