Fostering Thought, Talk, and Inquiry: Linking Literature and Social Studies

1. Fostering Thought, Talk, and Inquiry: Linking Literature and Social Studies Roser and Keehn, 2002

2. Researcher and Teacher goals: • Enter into and begin to grasp the complexity of an important period in Texas history • Read a variety of materials and consult a variety of information sources • Scaffold students’ thinking, talking and inquiry (e.g. willingness to question, suspend judgment, entertain alternative views, tolerate ambiguity, pose and support hypotheses)

3. Three Theoretical Foundations: • Social and cultural contexts influence intellectual processes • Classroom talk can be a valuable tool for focusing, supporting, and negotiating meaning • Literature can bring history to life and support and propel inquiry

4. The Context • Two 4th Grade Classrooms in Texas, one urban and one suburban (pen pals) • 5 – 6 week cross-curricular unit on the Texas Revolution, linking social studies with literature

5. Primary materials and tools: • Literature: biography, historical fiction, and nonfiction • Student and teacher journals • Wall charts • Multiple resources: Social Studies textbook, literature, online resources, newspapers, and human resources

6. Phase 1: Launching the Inquiry • Teachers read a biography on Sam Houston aloud • Daily journal entries made by all • Whole class discussion of reactions and ideas • Whole class decision of what to record about Houston’s character on a large wall chart

7. Building the Scaffold: What supported talk and thought in Phase 1? • Teachers sharing their own interpretations and puzzlements • Student journals • Character chart

8. Phase 2: Going Deeper • Literature Circles (Book clubs) focused upon carefully selected works of historical fiction • Children rotate through specific roles (orator, scribe, discussion leader, member) • Students take notes in a “Big Idea” journal before the group discussion

9. Building the Scaffold: What supported talk and thought in Phase 2? • Historical fiction novels • Establishing regular procedures • Teacher developed prompts and tasks • “Big Ideas” journal

10. Phase 3: Inquiring and Investigating • Children work as a large group to “pose their questions or wonderings” • Teachers record and organize children’s questions on data charts that list questions and multiple sources they might use to address these questions • Formation of inquiry groups around 5 major issues • Individual and small groups research across multiple resources and then post and summarize their findings using data charts • Each inquiry group reports their findings to the class

11. Building the Scaffold: What supported talk and thought in Phase 3? • Questions students ask of themselves and other group members • Providing procedures & materials for inquiry • Data collection chart showing questions, already known information, and sources • Clues, findings and further questions posted on the chart with sticky notes

12. What were those goals again? • Enter into and begin to grasp the complexity of an important period in Texas history • Read a variety of materials and consult a variety of information sources • Scaffold students’ thinking, talking and inquiry (e.g. willingness to question, suspend judgment, entertain alternative views, tolerate ambiguity, pose and support hypotheses)

13. How well did they succeed?Observed Results: • Gains in important concepts and content; increase in accurate ideas and reduction of misconceptions • Increase in thoughtful talk and writing • Increased willingness to work together, sustain talk, support ideas with evidence, and to acknowledge and build on others’ talk • Experiences in comparing information from multiple sources, creating summaries based on evidence • Enhanced motivation to learn social studies

14. Constraints: What got in the way of genuine inquiry? • Inexperience with doing book clubs • Children’s struggles to manage time and activities • Lack of attention to one another’s responses • Difficulties of the texts for some children • Some children lack basic locational, reference, and notetaking skills • Time constraints

15. How do these supports and constraints relate to the theoretical foundations: • Social and cultural contexts influence intellectual processes • Classroom talk can be a valuable tool for focusing, supporting, and negotiating meaning • Literature can bring history to life and support and propel inquiry

16. Three Application Questions • What kinds of literature might I use in my social studies teaching? • What strategies might I use to incorporate literature into social studies learning? • Why would I choose to use literature along with writing and discussion in my social studies teaching?