Making inquiry critical: Examining power and inequity in the classroom

What does the research say?

This article by Crowley and King advocates for critical pedagogy in social studies education, arguing that inquiry-based learning should actively confront real-world social issues. It emphasizes using the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) to challenge master narratives, incorporate diverse perspectives, and promote student action. To help teachers construct a critical inquiry using the IDM approach, the authors offer three important guidelines: 1) Begin by asking compelling questions that critique systems of oppression and power, 2) Expose students to sources that include the perspectives of marginalized and oppressed groups. 3) Develop formative performance tasks that encourage students to take informed action to address the issue they explored. Critical inquiry lessons are designed to engage students with meaningful content, foster collaboration, and encourage creative presentation of findings. As such, critical inquiry promotes a more active and socially conscious approach to social studies education that leads to civic engagement in a democratic society.

Why is it important?

Critical inquiry makes learning real-world and learner relevant as it provides learners with the opportunity to examine social issues from multiple perspectives including the reflection of their own views and beliefs. As such, critical inquiry promotes self-awareness, information literacy, and the notion that there is no such thing as neutral knowledge (Crowley & King, 2018).  As such, critical inquiry requires the differentiation between Four Truths: subjective, normative, objective and complex truth. As a learner-centered approach, critical inquiry provides the opportunity for learners to dive into the complexity of a real-world issue, explore that topic in its complexity, and cultivate learner agency and voice.

What are the implications for education?

Teaching with a critical inquiry perspective “may be foreign and uncomfortable to many social studies educators who first have to grapple themselves with the idea that knowledge is socially constructed (Crowley & King, 2018, p.15). It requires that teachers critically examine their learning resources and sublimate these with voices that are excluded in the curriculum. It requires that teachers ponder topics and questions that are important to students’ lives so that learners are motivated to engage in a sustained investigation of the topic. Finally, it requires a shift in pedagogy from the traditional model of students as passive consumers of knowledge to students as critical consumers as well as knowledge producers.

About the authors

A headshot of Ryan Crowley

Ryan M. Crowley is an Associate Professor of Social Studies Education and the Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Kentucky. He joined UK after completing his doctoral studies at the University of Texas. Dr. Crowley also taught secondary social studies for eight years in Houston and Austin prior to beginning his graduate work. He currently works in the elementary teacher education program at UK, teaching social studies methods courses.

His research focuses on issues of race and equity in education with an emphasis on how novice teachers integrate critical understandings of race and racism into their teaching and how social studies curricula address, or fail to address, issues of race and racism.

LaGarrett J. King

LaGarrett J. King is an award winning Professor of Social Studies Education in the Graduate School of Education at the University at Buffalo, New York. He is also the founding Director of the Center for K-12 Black History and Racial Literacy Education. Dr. King earned his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. A former teacher in Texas and Georgia, his research centers on the teaching and learning of Black history, teacher education, critical theories of race, and Black historical consciousness. His Black history framework has been used with multiple school districts in the United States and Canada.

King’s scholarship helps us examine the current shortcomings of how Black history and race is taught and learned in schools. Beyond critical analysis,  he guides his readership through helpful frameworks such as Racial Historical Consciousness and Racial Pedagogical Content Knowledge (RPACK)  by which Black history and the Black experience can be taught with more complexity.

 

 

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