Doing History Through Inquiry: A Manifesto
If students learn nothing else from our Social Studies classes, let them learn this: all information needs to be evaluated critically in terms of its validity based on where and when it comes from, who is producing it, its use of evidence, and its intended audience.
If it is the primary job of English teachers to prepare effective communicators, the job of science teachers to prepare rational investigators, the role of math teachers to prepare numerically literate individuals, it is the primary job of social studies teachers to prepare critical citizens (of course, we should all be doing all these things, but that’s another post). To be critical citizens, my students need to know that they need to “read” the New York Post differently from the USA Today, the New York Times differently from the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC differently from Fox News. Moreover, they need to know to critically evaluate what they find through Google or YouTube. And they don’t know this. I recently asked my students to define the word “objectivity” in a discussion about journalism; only a small handful could.
I’m sure not many would disagree with me to this point. The question is how: how do we do this in curriculum that emphasize breadth over depth? How do we do this in a world where a few extra snow days can destroy an
