Inquiry Design Model: Building Inquiries in Social Studies

by Kathy Swan, John K. Lee, S.G. Grant

Also available at The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for State Social Studies Standards (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013) ushered in an important opportunity to articulate a common vernacular for and a curricular approach to inquiry. Featuring four distinct but inter-connected dimensions, the C3 Inquiry Arc lays out a process for supporting students to ask questions about our social world, use concepts and tools from the disciplines that make up social studies, analyze and argue about what they have learned, and apply that knowledge to the challenges that face our world today. While the C3 Framework was an important step in clarifying what inquiry should ideally look like in social studies, teachers understandably wanted more. Teachers have rightfully How do I teach the Civil War or the Civil Rights Movement or the Gilded Age through inquiry? How do the four dimensions apply to wealth inequality or teaching the three branches of government or push and pull patterns of immigration? We wrote this design book wanting to understand, how do you really (we mean, really) write an inquiry? Where do you start and how do you finish? What ideas come in-between? How do we teach others to do the IDM without falling down the rabbit hole of making things too complex, too convoluted, or too esoteric? Could we be as clear about a process for developing an IDM as we were in defining the C3 Inquiry Arc? As methods instructors, we couldn’t help but tackle this challenge and this book is the product of a 4-year conversation (and on some days, argument) about how exactly we do IDM.

Genres: Education

167 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Tim Callicutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Really a 4.5] This is an excellent book. It is short, plain-spoken, and endlessly practical. These are particularly important characteristics for a book many educators will read in the midst of a busy school.

The Inquiry-Design Model (IDM) essentially takes design theory and problem-based learning (PBL) and gives them a distinctly social studies sheen. This is an important step as the trend towards more research-oriented, experimental styles of learning don’t often properly take into account the unique skill set of the humanities, and the pressures of covering a large amount of content in a depth full way. These authors understand those issues and take care to encourage flexibility throughout.

The first half of the book is more helpful than the second. I don’t think I’ve ever read a better guide to creating engaging, student-centric questions. Also, the overall blueprint they propose gives a great starting point for planning my own IDM. In fact, I couldn’t wait! I began making one as I went chapter through chapter.

When you enter the final section of the book, things get more ambiguous. While the Taking Informed Action step was helpful, it lacked the clarity of what came before. As a result, if a teacher is reticent about taking on this step in the first place, I don’t see this chapter being particularly helpful. It needs a fuller treatment elsewhere. As it is, it feels more like an epilogue taped onto the end of an already complete work.

Any Social Studies teacher would greatly benefit from picking this up. I, personally, am looking forward to reading their follow-up work on curriculum.

[Serge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered this book at NCSS and it affirms a number of strategies that I have adopted in my social studies classes this year. Within the C3 Framework, I appreciate the accent on evidence-based argumentation in response to compelling questions. My formative assessments rely on evaluative and problem-based questions. "IDM elevates argumentation as the consistent outcome across inquiries and as the foundation of communicating conclusions and for taking informed action (p.48)." I agree that an argumentative task should be constructed so that students are authentically wrestling with a question that is unsettled. I appreciate that "evidence in an inquiry flows from sources and into arguments and is what separates knowledge and sensibleness from speculation and sophism"(p.77).

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was exceptionally helpful. It was helpful in that it was clearly written, provides examples and visual aides, is practically applicable while maintaining conceptual coherence (many teacher-aimed books fail noticeably on this score), and is flexible enough for teachers to customize how they use this information (or specific enough for other teachers to apply some of the examples precisely). I recommend this book to any social studies teacher planner her or his own lessons.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. A good extension to the concept of backward design, solidifying the focus of a lesson/concept instead of an entire unit. The concept of IDM is applicable to other courses, and will help to reshape and form new horizontally and vertically aligned lessons. The templates and web access are great additions.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly useful, practical guide to designing meaningful social studies inquiries for students of all ages. It is a great feeling knowing that I now have a blueprint I can follow to guide my lesson planning around important topics that I am excited to bring to my students. I plan to come back to this resource again and again.