No Place for Student-Driven Inquiry: History Teachers’ Reluctance to Let Go of Canonical Transmission

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Scaffolding, Inquiring, and Writing: Teachers' Approaches to History Education (Table 12)

Abstract

Many of the instructional materials in high school that are labeled ‘inquiry’ are little more than tools for teacher-directed transmission of a pre-set canon of historical events. Taught in chronological order, they often promote the linear progress narrative some see as necessary for patriotic civic education. In a teacher professional learning workshop, five history teachers had the scaffolded opportunity to increase student agency by turning their existing curricular units into student-driven inquiry into complex social issues (SdICI). Despite proclaiming appreciation for SdICI, history teachers’ actual unit designs showed their reluctance to let go of the prescribed ‘traditional’ canon and chronology—which made actual SdICI impossible.

Author

• Bianca Schamberger, University of Iowa