Essential Questions are great tools to organize courses and units. Regardless of how we end up using them, sooner or later reality demands that students find some answers! And here’s where the real work begins. Consider the challenge this way: to answer …
Here’s what I have so far… Does our system of government succeed or fail in preventing the abuse of power? Do interest groups frustrate or promote democratic ideals? Is popular sovereignty a reality or an illusion? Are the media …
Dan Fouts–current social studies teacher and co-founder of Teach Different— sat down with Drew Perkins of TeachThought to discuss the importance of critical thinking and inquiry, and how both can be employed to teach content in a more creative way. …
“I think, therefore I’m right.” Whether it’s defending a position on gun control, angling for a better grade in class or arguing about musical tastes in the lunchroom, many students tend to think that thinking about and believing in something are sufficient grounds …
In Monday’s (1/22/18) sschat we discussed ideas for Embedding Writing into the Social Studies Curriculum. I shared an innovative tool called The 4-Sentence Paper, which was created by Dennis Earl, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Coastal Carolina University. …
On their face some essential questions seem simplistic. They don’t involve big words or big concepts– that is, until you really start thinking. High school teacher Justin Riskus constructed one of these questions and used it during an exploration of …