Democracy and Inequality: Challenges and Possible Solutions

Teaching Strategies

The approach of this unit is using inquiry for students to develop understanding as they consider new information presented to them. At the heart of the inquiry approach, the development of questions “signal the unfinished nature of historical knowledge, the way its fragments can never be wholly reassembled.” ⁵⁵ The way that political scientists and historians work through problems of history is guided by good questions, research, and the evaluation of source material. One way to organize materials for an inquiry approach is what Wineburg refers to as an archive bin. In his archive bins, he took a plastic tub an includes a slew of resources that contain a “heap of documents of varying trustworthiness and authority…. some written hundreds of years before; others, more contemporary, were by historians who themselves couldn’t agree…. navigating through a fog of questions.”⁵⁶ This bin is what organizes the inquiry for students.

The inquiry approach unfolds in the following manner. The teacher selects a front-loading text for students to consider. It should be a document that is relevant and engaging for students to consider. This is important because students are more willing to do the work of historians when they find the topic interesting and relevant. The teacher will pose the big inquiry question and usually invite students to ask other relevant questions as the front-loading document is discussed. Teachers take those questions and use them to curate documents for students to review and consider. As students evaluate those documents (the archive bin that Wineburg suggests), students should evaluate each source and consider what it adds to their understanding of the inquiry question as well as the questions that they have as well.

While students are working through their archive bin, both teachers and students should engage in elements of thinking aloud. A think aloud is a strategy in which either the student or the teacher shares what is being thought about while reading a document. The teacher or student is explicit in sharing what he, she or they are thinking while evaluating a document. The goal is to make “audible what is normally invisible.”⁵⁷ Wineburg encourages teachers to have students consider sourcing, contextualization, and corroboration while evaluating these sources. He ended up writing books and a free inquiry curriculum that is useful in adapting when trying to teach using this approach. I have included a link in the resource section.

Once students have worked through all the texts/documents in the archive bin, students should select a way to communicate their learning. This can take many forms, and I have included a link to a helpful document from the Illinois State Board of Education that is a list of different culminating activities for communicating learning from an inquiry. The goal of the culminating activity is for students to act, be engaged, and champion causes. It positions students to be active participants in their learning and use the information they learn to make the world a better place.