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As an analytical practice, students evaluate historic events/topics, analyze sources, make conclusions and use evidence-based reasoning to help the cast and crew plan for the musical production.
Promote Student Inquiry
Civics! An American Musical is designed to help students practice and engage in inquiry-based learning. This active learning approach teaches them how to make observations, ask questions, and critically analyze evidence and information to make an informed conclusion.
Inquiry-based learning is student-led, giving them ownership over the direction and expression of their new learning. This approach also helps students personalize the content in ways that make it relevant and meaningful to them as they so determine their point of view about a topic and explore explanations to their own questions.
As an educator, your role is to encourage students to explore topics that interest them, generate new questions, look at evidence more closely, and engage in critical thinking as they uncover information about a topic. During guided inquiry activities, it’s also important to facilitate group discussions around difficult topics, and help as students question and process sensitive issues.
Listen as Lee Ann Potter from the Library of Congress discusses the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to inquiry learning.
Stripling Model of Inquiry
Dr. Barbara K. Stripling, Senior Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Practice in the School of Information Studies (iSchool) at Syracuse University, outlined the Stripling Model of Inquiry in 2003. Students engage in a cycle of inquiry-based learning as they move through six phases. The Stripling Model of Inquiry promotes deeper learning and understanding, and is not designed to be a linear process for students. Instead, ongoing reflection is encouraged and students should repeat a phase as needed.
Click each term in the following activity to explore the six phases of the inquiry process.
> Text version for interactive
