Kentucky Council for the Social Studies
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​The inquiry cycle is the foundation of our state social studies standards. Students are expected to ask and answer questions, use disciplinary skills to investigate sources, and communicate conclusions. Ultimately, students will become active and engaged citizens in their communities. ​For the Inquiry Skills, we organized resources around questions; tasks; sources; and taking action​.

Questions

Instructional strategies for generating compelling and supporting questions.
Be a Citizen
  • Question Formulation Technique: What does it mean to be a citizen?​
The Right Question Institute
  • Question Formulation Technique

Tasks

Instructional strategies and supports for formative and summative work grounded in argumentation.
ARGUMENTAION
​

Be a Citizen
  • Argument Organizer
  • Thesis Generator Worksheet
Democratic Knowledge Project
  • Persuasive Writing Organizer
Generation Citizen
  • Write an OpEd
Learning for Justice
  • Value Lines
Read Inquire Write
  • Mentor Text Tool
  • Planning Graphic Organizer
  • Useful Language Tool
  • Argument Self-Assessment

DISCUSSION

Learning for Justice
  • Affirmation Interview
  • Fishbowl
  • Four Perspectives
  • Save the Last Word for Me (3-5)
  • Save the Last Word for Me (6-8, 9-12)
  • Socratic Seminar
  • Text Talk Time (3-5)
  • Text Talk Time (6-8, 9-12)
  • Text-based Fishbowl
GROUP WORK

​Learning for Justice
  • Brain Share
  • Jigsaw
  • Carousel Brainstorming

Sources

Instructional strategies and resources for using evidence from primary and secondary civic sources to construct an evidenced-based claim.
PRIMARY SOURCE COLLECTIONS

Digital Public Library
  • Database that provides a large selection of primary source documents. Best used for supplementing a lesson with individual primary source documents. 

Library of Congress
  • Database that provides searchable, topic-aligned primary source sets aligned with specific civics content. Best used for creating a lesson with multiple primary source documents.

National Archives
  • Provides primary source documents alongside student resources/tools to analyze each document with. Best used to give students practice in dealing with/analyzing specific primary sources.


SOURCE ANALYSIS

Learning for Justice
  • Read Alouds
  • Responding to Read Alouds
  • Close and Critical Reading
  • Critical Listening Guide
  • Lifting the Text
  • Readers’ Theater
  • Say Something
  • Text Treasure Hunt
Read Inquire Write
  • Source Analysis Bookmark
  • Weigh and Corroborate Evidence Tool
Stanford History Education Group
  • Beyond the Bubble History Assessments
  • Reading Like a Historian

Taking Action

Taking civics out of the classroom and into students’ lives.
Be a Citizen
  • Action Guides
Generation Citizen
  • Action-based curriculum framework
Democratic Knowledge Project
  • Be a Changemaker Project
  • Changemaker Biographies
Facing History and Ourselves 
  • From Reflection to Action: A Choosing to Participate Toolkit
Mikva Challenge
  • Action Civics Curricula
  • Home
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    • Social Studies Teaching and Learning
    • SSTL Submissions
  • Advocate
    • KCEC
    • KCEC Resource Page
    • KCSS Position Statements
  • Contact