How do ‘enquiry questions’ help struggling students learn

history?

Scottish Association of Teachers of History8 November 2014

How do ‘enquiry questions’ help struggling students learn

history?

Scottish Association of Teachers of History8 November 2014

Christine CounsellUniversity of Cambridge Faculty of

Education

Christine CounsellUniversity of Cambridge Faculty of

Education

Who were the victims of the Holocaust?

Who were the victims of the Holocaust?

Jewish peopleJewish people Other groupsOther groups

Geographical diversityGeographical diversity

EthnicityEthnicity

Age, generationsAge, generations

RelationshipsRelationships

Those left behind?Those left behind?But WHO are they in relation to the Holocaust? “…victims”?

The unborn?The unborn?

truncated communities/traditions/families

Perpetrators? Bystanders?Perpetrators? Bystanders?

But ‘victim’ ???

What is a ‘victim’?What is a ‘victim’?

So, WHO were the victims of the Holocaust?

What made this question work well? WHO were the victims of the Holocaust?

It’s deceptively simple……but it has a puzzle at its

centre.

It’s deceptively simple……but it has a puzzle at its

centre.

That historical puzzle emerges only gradually.

That historical puzzle emerges only gradually.

The puzzle is clearly located within one second-order concept…

History’s second-order concepts

History’s ideas, structures or big concepts that shape typical historical questions and organise

historical accounts

•cause and consequence•change and continuity•similarity and difference (diversity)

•historical significance

JewsJews

Gipsy Roma peoples

Gipsy Roma peoples

Homosexuals

HomosexualsMentally

illMentally

ill

further persecuted categories

further persecuted categories

All the traditional categories

Geography

Ethnicity

Age (etc)

Traditional approach. A lesson on each category. Fine, but where is the

puzzle?

Traditional approach. A lesson on each category. Fine, but where is the

puzzle?

An approach driven by a sim/diff puzzle. Each lesson confronts the

SAME problem (‘Who?’). Crucially, each lesson addresses ALL victims at once. Each lesson we see them

all through a new lens, a new taxonomy for handling the ‘Who…?’

An approach driven by a sim/diff puzzle. Each lesson confronts the

SAME problem (‘Who?’). Crucially, each lesson addresses ALL victims at once. Each lesson we see them

all through a new lens, a new taxonomy for handling the ‘Who…?’

History’s second-order concepts

History’s ideas, structures or big concepts that shape typical historical questions and organise

historical accounts

•cause and consequence•change and continuity•similarity and difference (diversity)

•historical significance

Lessons learned in 1980s and 1990sWhat went wrong?

Lessons learned in 1980s and 1990sWhat went wrong?

Sources reduced to atomised ‘skills’

Sources reduced to atomised ‘skills’

Misconceptions fosteredMisconceptions fostered

Weaker students often alienated and confused

Emerging solutions: the ‘enquiry question’

Emerging solutions: the ‘enquiry question’

Riley, M. (2000) ‘Into the Key Stage 3 history garden: choosing and planting your enquiry

questions’, Teaching History, 99.

Riley, M. (2000) ‘Into the Key Stage 3 history garden: choosing and planting your enquiry

questions’, Teaching History, 99.

• A sequence of lessons around ONE question• Sources only used as part of a real puzzle• Evidential thinking LINKED TO THE QUESTION• Full integration of knowledge context• SUBSTANTIAL, MOTIVATING outcome activity

• A sequence of lessons around ONE question• Sources only used as part of a real puzzle• Evidential thinking LINKED TO THE QUESTION• Full integration of knowledge context• SUBSTANTIAL, MOTIVATING outcome activity

Across the 2000s…Clearer professional thinking about question types (second-order concept) and how they recur. Progression = teaching pupils to notice recurring features across the second-order concepts

Across the 2000s…Clearer professional thinking about question types (second-order concept) and how they recur. Progression = teaching pupils to notice recurring features across the second-order concepts

History’s second-order concepts

History’s ideas, structures or big concepts that shape typical historical questions and organise

historical accounts

•cause and consequence•change and continuity•similarity and difference (diversity)

•historical significance

History’s second-order concepts

History’s ideas, structures or big concepts that shape typical historical questions and organise

historical accounts

•cause and consequence•change and continuity•similarity and difference (diversity)

•historical significance

causation•Why did Scotland become Protestant?•Why did Mary lose her throne? •Why did the Atlantic slave trade last so long?

•How important were economic factors in making Scots emigrate?

•How far was Nicholas II responsible for the collapse of Tsarist Russia?

How do history teachers learn to frame effective

enquiry questions?

How do history teachers manage interplay of content and concept in planning?

Research questions: What were history teachers’ recurring objects of

concern as they wrestled with the wording of an enquiry question?

How did these these properties interact during planning?

Data: 3 MEds; 4 PCPSs; 5 PGCEs: analytic notes on supervisions/tutorials, enquiry

plans (including successive earlier drafts); lesson plans; observations; discussion after observations; assignments, follow-up interview.

History’s second-order concepts

History’s ideas, structures or big concepts that shape typical historical questions and organise

historical accounts

•cause and consequence•change and continuity•similarity and difference (diversity)

•historical significance

Example: Elody and her French Revolution enquiry

Example: Elody and her French Revolution enquiry

Effort 1: How big was the change from subject to citizen? Effort 1: How big was the change from subject to citizen?

Effort 2: How big was the change experienced by French people?

Effort 2: How big was the change experienced by French people?

Effort 3: Who experienced most freedom during the French Revolution?

This was closer to what Elody was trying to do, but she couldn’t get a sense of the final judgements pupils would make, and feared they would be simplistic or

overly speculative and unhistorical.

Effort 3: Who experienced most freedom during the French Revolution?

This was closer to what Elody was trying to do, but she couldn’t get a sense of the final judgements pupils would make, and feared they would be simplistic or

overly speculative and unhistorical.

types of change (Shemilt 1980)types of change (Shemilt 1980)

• degree/extent?

• speed/rate/pace?

• nature/type?

• direction of change?

• degree/extent?

• speed/rate/pace?

• nature/type?

• direction of change?

Example: Elody and her French Revolution enquiry

Example: Elody and her French Revolution enquiry

Effort 1: How big was the change from subject to citizen? Effort 1: How big was the change from subject to citizen?

Effort 2: How big was the change experienced by French people?

Effort 2: How big was the change experienced by French people?

Effort 3: Who experienced most freedom during the French Revolution?

This was closer to what Elody was trying to do, but she couldn’t get a sense of the final judgements pupils would make, and feared they would be simplistic or

overly speculative and unhistorical.

Effort 3: Who experienced most freedom during the French Revolution?

This was closer to what Elody was trying to do, but she couldn’t get a sense of the final judgements pupils would make, and feared they would be simplistic or

overly speculative and unhistorical.

Effort 4: How quickly did France change during the French Revolution? Almost there? But is pace of change actually doable and is it what

I want to focus on?

Effort 4: How quickly did France change during the French Revolution? Almost there? But is pace of change actually doable and is it what

I want to focus on?

Palek, D. (2013) Was the Great Depression always depressing? Examining diachronic

diversity in students’ historical learning, International Journal of Learning and Lesson Studies, 2.2

Palek, D. (2013) Was the Great Depression always depressing? Examining diachronic

diversity in students’ historical learning, International Journal of Learning and Lesson Studies, 2.2

Example: Elody and her French Revolution enquiry

Example: Elody and her French Revolution enquiry

How big was the change from subject to citizen?How big was the change from subject to citizen?

How big was the change for French people?How big was the change for French people?

Who experienced most freedom during the French Revolution?Who experienced most freedom during the French Revolution?

How quickly did France change during the French Revolution?

How quickly did France change during the French Revolution?

EUREKA! What KIND of change was the French Revolution?

EUREKA! What KIND of change was the French Revolution?

How do history teachers manage interplay of content and concept in planning?

Research questions: What were history teachers’ recurring objects of

concern as they wrestled with the wording of an enquiry question?

How did these these properties interact during planning?

Data: 3 MEds; 4 PCPSs; 5 PGCEs: analytic notes on supervisions/tutorials, enquiry

plans (including successive earlier drafts); lesson plans; observations; discussion after observations; assignments, follow-up interview.

Two themes: she is trying to find:

Two themes: she is trying to find:

11 stable conceptual focusstable conceptual focus

How much can Vera Brittain tell us about experience of women in the First World War?

What was going on in the “Glorious” Revolution of 1688?

What did the master mason of Ely Cathedral know?

What did the craftsmen of Cordoba know?

Why did Islamic empires grow?

What does Henry VI’s reign reveal about medieval kingship?

How much can Vera Brittain tell us about experience of women in the First World War?

EVIDENCE

What was going on in the “Glorious” Revolution of 1688? CHANGE/CONTINUITY

What did the master mason of Ely Cathedral know? SIM/DIFF

What did the craftsmen of Cordoba know? SIM/DIFF

Why did Islamic empires grow? CAUSATION

What does Henry VI’s reign reveal about medieval kingship?

SIGNIFICANCE

Two themes: she is trying to find:

Two themes: she is trying to find:

11 stable conceptual focusstable conceptual focus

22 dynamic content scope dynamic content scope

As she tests the EQ against the unfolding lesson sequence, Elody

is trying to find …

As she tests the EQ against the unfolding lesson sequence, Elody

is trying to find …

11recursive encounterrecursive encounter

22 emergent puzzleemergent puzzle

33a knowledge-transforming resolutiona knowledge-transforming resolution

Where do I want the content

scope fixed and where do I want it

dynamic?

Where do I want the content

scope fixed and where do I want it

dynamic?

How can I keep the conceptual focus stable?

How can I keep the conceptual focus stable?

WHAT DO HISTORY TEACHERS DO WHEN THEY WRESTLE WITH ENQUIRY QUESTIONS THAT WILL MOTIVATE AND BUILD PROGRESSION IN BOTH HISTORICAL THINKING AND KNOWLEDGE?

Two themes:Finding stable conceptual focus (framework for historical

thinking; type of historical question)Establishing dynamic content scope (substantive knowledge

to be acquired; scope for pupil selection & transformation)

Three dimensions: Knowledge-transforming resolution, recursive encounter,

emergent puzzle

Emerging solutions: the ‘enquiry question’

Emerging solutions: the ‘enquiry question’

Riley, M. (2000) ‘Into the Key Stage 3 history garden: choosing and planting your enquiry

questions’, Teaching History, 99.

Riley, M. (2000) ‘Into the Key Stage 3 history garden: choosing and planting your enquiry

questions’, Teaching History, 99.

• A sequence of lessons around ONE question• Sources only used as part of a real puzzle• Evidential thinking LINKED TO THE QUESTION• Full integration of knowledge context• SUBSTANTIAL, MOTIVATING outcome activity

• A sequence of lessons around ONE question• Sources only used as part of a real puzzle• Evidential thinking LINKED TO THE QUESTION• Full integration of knowledge context• SUBSTANTIAL, MOTIVATING outcome activity

Across the 2000s…Clearer professional thinking about question types (second-order concept) and how they recur. Progression = teaching pupils to notice recurring features across the second-order concepts

Across the 2000s…Clearer professional thinking about question types (second-order concept) and how they recur. Progression = teaching pupils to notice recurring features across the second-order concepts