Top of page

Teacher Webinar Tuesday Nov 18: Using Library of Congress Primary Sources to Engage Students in Inquiry Learning

Share this post:

This post is by Rebecca Newland, the 2013-2015 Library of Congress Teacher in Residence.

An inquiry approach supports students as they draw on their prior knowledge, personal experiences, and critical thinking skills to develop questions that guide their learning. Students are able to pursue answers to their own questions, increasing their engagement and giving them direct control as they construct meaning about topics of interest to them.

[Samuel W. Doble of Company D, 12th Maine Infantry Regiment, with drum [between 1861 and 1865]
Samuel W. Doble of Company D, 12th Maine Infantry Regiment, with drum [between 1861 and 1865] 
Join us for a webinar focused on strategies for taking an inquiry approach to teaching with primary sources on Tuesday, November 18, at 4 PM ET. Library education experts will expand on strategies and resources related to using primary sources in inquiry learning. Participants will engage in a model primary source analysis with items related to the Civil War and discuss strategies for incorporating primary sources into inquiry learning processes.

For those unable to attend the webinar the recording is now available.

The Library’s Teachers page offers ideas and resources to support inquiry learning. We have rounded up a few of our favorites:

Throughout the year, the Library will be hosting webinars focusing on a variety of instructional strategies for using primary sources in K-12 instruction. The 2014 schedule, recordings of past events, and information about joining the webinar are now available.

Watch this blog for reminders about upcoming webinars!

We invite you to add to the conversation in the comments:  How do you use primary sources to support inquiry learning in your classroom or library?

Comments

  1. I use Bloom’s Revised Taconomy along with research of the U.S. Constitution to teach my students to form questions from Bloom’s first three levels. Next students have to take those same questions and revise them to the higher three levels. I teach across several grades. I am going to use instruction from my adult GED class at Daley Coolege in Chicago to illustrate:
    Students get in small groups and read Amendment 1.
    They have to decide to which of the seven Articles Amendment 1 applies. This decision process demands students comprehend Amendment 1.
    Comprehension is developed by students creating one question from Bloom’s Remember, Understand or Apply categories. Example is ” Can I list all of Rights ?” (Remember ).
    Then students revise the question to reflect Analyze, Evaluate or Create categories. Example is “What is the relationship between the Rights listed and one of First Three Articles?” (Analyze).

    I think this is one method to help students use primary resources to support inquiry thinking learners.

Add a Comment

This blog is governed by the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are fully responsible for everything that you post. The content of all comments is released into the public domain unless clearly stated otherwise. The Library of Congress does not control the content posted. Nevertheless, the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content on the Library site. Read our Comment and Posting Policy.


Required fields are indicated with an * asterisk.