Guide to social inquiry

There are multiple steps to take in order to learn through social inquiry. The steps below give instructions to students and teachers on how to practice social inquiry in classrooms, and handouts are provided to assist teachers with planning their classes:

Formulate a research question

Students: Select a question for your social inquiry, one that is compelling, interesting and will require investigation. A compelling question might be one that is broadly applicable to understanding our social world. For example, students may want to inquiry how political alliances are formed, when a war is justified, what are the prerequisites of democracies, or how does the past shape our identities today?

Teachers: students should be taught to ask interesting questions, think about the world that surrounds them and be inquisitive. Students can be encouraged to think about people’s beliefs, values and perspectives, how people make decisions, participate in political or civic life and topics alike. Further resources in “How do we find ‘gaps’ in our knowledge” and “How to develop a research question?” modules can be consulted for clarity.

What is a research question?

  • Clear: it provides enough information that readers can make sense of it without additional research and nuanced knowledge on the topic.
  • Focused: it is narrow enough that it can be researched in the timeframe and resources available.
  • Concise: it does not require lengthy explanation and can be expressed in few sentences.
  • Complex: a research question should not be answerable simply with a “yes” or “no,” but rather it should require some research, synthesis and analysis sources.
  • Arguable: potential answers must be open to debate and interpretation.

Source: The Writing Center, George Mason University

Conduct research

Students: Given the question of your choice, think about the cites and forms of inquiry you can engage in. Where would you go and what would you ask to get an answer to your question?

Teachers: For this basic level module, research should be focused on learning skills rather than gather rigorous data. Teachers should facilitate students enhancing their researching skills primarily: using local libraries, exploring historical archives, taking photos to document certain issues. Further modules (e.g., How do we choose research methods? and modules on primary and secondary data collection) may be explore by more advanced students

Communicate findings

Students: given the topic of analysis, think about various ways that the findings can be communicated. If it’s a group project, come up with some ideas about different formats in which you can share your findings. Consider the pros and cons of each format.

Teachers: there are multiple ways that students can present their findings, teachers should choose the most engaging form, which is appropriate for students’ age and level of knowledge.

How can students communicate their ideas?

Multimedia projects can take various forms, such as slide show, video, animation or other. Teachers should choose the most appropriate form given students’ skills. Copyright issues should always be considered.

Expository writing is a type of writing that exposes facts with the goal of educating or explaining something to readers.

Student projects can also take various forms, such as posters, a timeline, a board game, a novel or poem, a collage and many others. The form of student project will largely depend on what type of information students want to communicate and what kind of skills they possess.

Source: Fresh Ideas for Teaching

REFLECTION

Students: think about the findings of your research as well as what you learnt while designing, conducting and presenting research.

Teachers: active reflection is a very important part of learning and an integral part of students’ social inquiry learning process. Teachers may prepare questions for students to consider and reflect on at various stages of social inquiry.