Content knowledge, citizenship, and critical-thinking skills—high school history teacher Stephen Lazar uses inquiry to serve these multiple curricular aims. In his most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief story, he describes how he
- Poses questions that can only be answered using factual evidence.
- Exposes students to primary or secondary documents that help them refine and reevaluate their answers.
- Holds more nuanced questions until after students have wrestled with the factual evidence.
- Engages students with multiple perspectives that complicate generalized statements.
- Takes advantage of online curricula that support critical inquiry in history: Stanford’s Reading Like a Historian, San Diego State’s World History for Us All, and Historical Thinking Matters.
Through inquiry, Lazar’s students learn to critically discuss history using factually defensible evidence.
