Essential Questions
Elementary
Inquiry
- What makes a question worth exploring for our class and our town?
- How can we turn a big wonder into a question we can answer?
- Whose questions are missing when we study this topic?
- When should we keep asking and when should we share what we found?
Evidence
- How do we tell a fact from a story?
- What makes a source trustworthy for kids like us?
- Why can two true stories sound different?
- What should we do when new evidence changes our minds?
Perspective
- Why do different groups remember the same event differently?
- How does where we live change how we see a problem?
- Whose point of view is closest to what happened? Whose is missing?
- How does learning a place’s history change how we treat it?
Change & Patterns
- Why do some problems keep coming back in new ways?
- How can small actions in our town lead to bigger changes later?
- How do we tell a cause from a coincidence?
- What can we learn from repeated mistakes or successes here?
Thinking & Emotion
- How do our feelings (happy, angry, scared) change what we notice or remember?
- When can big feelings help us understand others — and when do they make it hard to think clearly?
- What can we do when we feel pressured to believe or share something quickly?
- How can we pause long enough to let our brains catch up with our feelings?
What I Believe vs What I Know
- How do I know if something is true or just what I think?
- Where did this idea come from — a person, a book, a video, or a feed?
- How do my beliefs shape what I notice first?
- How can I pause and sort: ‘I believe this’ vs ‘I know this’?
Middle School
Inquiry
- How do we refine a question so evidence can answer it?
- What happens when we start local before looking far away?
- Which voices should shape the questions we ask?
- How do limits (time, access, place) shape inquiry?
Evidence
- What counts as evidence in history vs. science or journalism?
- How do propaganda techniques try to feel like facts?
- When should slow, local knowledge outweigh quick, distant claims?
- How do we triangulate sources when they conflict?
Perspective
- How do purpose and audience shape inclusion and omission?
- When is owning perspective more honest than pretending to be neutral?
- What happens when a dominant narrative crowds out community voices?
- What contexts are necessary to read this source responsibly?
Change & Patterns
- Why do certain solutions create new problems?
- Which patterns in history repeat across places?
- How do long-run trade-offs differ from short-term wins?
- What warnings from the past should guide choices now?
Media & Online Information
- How do social media algorithms decide what we see first — and how does that affect what we care about?
- Why do platforms use likes, notifications, and streaks — and how do these tools shape our emotions?
- How can I tell when my reaction (anger, excitement) is being used to keep me clicking or sharing?
- How do we check for truth when images, videos, or posts might be edited or generated by AI?
What I Believe vs What I Know
- How do I tell the difference between an opinion, a belief, and a fact?
- How do I figure out who or what shaped my ideas?
- How does being sure I’m right sometimes stop me from learning?
- What can we learn from people we strongly disagree with?
High School
Inquiry
- What makes a question meaningful to those most affected?
- How do we notice when our questions smuggle assumptions?
- When is ‘I don’t know’ a rigorous, ethical stance?
- How do competing questions expose value or power conflicts?
Evidence
- How do we audit data quality, authorship, and funding?
- When is absence of evidence itself evidence of exclusion?
- How do we separate causal explanations from persuasive narratives?
- What responsibilities follow once a claim is disproven?
Perspective
- How do memory and tradition construct ‘what really happened’?
- When is centering the local the antidote to sweeping generalization?
- How do incentives—political, economic, social—shape accounts?
- How do we responsibly compare experiences across cultures and times?
Change & Patterns
- How do we test causation when many forces interact?
- Which recurring patterns (migration, resource use, reform) shape this issue?
- What hidden costs of ‘progress’ appear across generations?
- When is a pattern resilient, and when is it fragile?
Algorithms and Emotion
- How do algorithms try to keep us watching, scrolling, or clicking — and how does that shape what we think about?
- When do strong emotions (fear, outrage, excitement) help us think clearly — and when do they get in the way?
- How do I recognize when technology is using my attention as the product?
- How do we check for truth when AI can create realistic but false images, audio, or news?
What I Believe vs What I Know
- How do I know whether what I believe is based on evidence or habit?
- How do I recognize when my beliefs are tied to identity rather than facts?
- How can doubt and uncertainty strengthen truth-seeking?
- What’s the difference between healthy doubt and cynicism?
Research & Frameworks Informing These Questions
| Source | Key Insight |
|---|---|
| NCSS C3 Framework for Social Studies | Defines the Inquiry Arc: developing compelling questions, evaluating sources, communicating conclusions, and taking informed action. |
| Stanford History Education Group: Civic Online Reasoning | Research shows lateral reading and source evaluation improve students’ ability to detect misinformation and bias. |
| Kuhn, D. & colleagues | Epistemic cognition research on how adolescents coordinate evidence, claims, and perspective-taking in reasoning. |
| King & Kitchener: Reflective Judgment Model | Describes developmental stages of reasoning about uncertain, ill-structured problems — from absolutist to reflective thinking. |
| American Psychological Association (APA) | Media literacy interventions help students resist misinformation and build resilience against propaganda. |
| Project Look Sharp (Ithaca College) | Media decoding model: ask ‘Who created this and for what purpose?’ before accepting information as fact. |