Inquiry

Frame compelling questions to help students think like a historian.

History is not a fixed set of facts to memorize—it is a process of investigation and deliberation. Historians ask questions about the past, gather and interpret evidence, and construct narratives based on what they find. When students engage in historical inquiry, they take on this same intellectual work.

Inquiry begins with a compelling question—an open-ended, thought-provoking question that drives investigation and cannot be answered with a simple fact. Compelling questions invite students to explore significance, causation, and perspective in history, encouraging deeper thinking and sustained curiosity.

Compelling questions serve the anchor for thoughtful conversation, encouraging students to justify their ideas, respond to differing interpretations, and refine their understanding through discourse.

How can teachers promote critical inquiry and civil discourse?

👁️‍🗨️ 6 Lenses for Historical Inquiry

These six lenses help students approach the past as historians do: by framing compelling questions that guide investigation, reveal evidence, and highlight multiple perspectives and interpretations. Together, these lenses encourage curiosity, evidence-based reasoning, and thoughtful discussion in the classroom, showing that historical inquiry is driven by questions, not just answers.

1. Mysteries — Questions of Accuracy and Facts

Did the event happen as described in the sources?
What actually happened, according to the available evidence?
How do different sources describe the event?

2. Perspectives — Questions of Ethics and Judgment

How did people at the time view the event?
Was the event or action justified?
Who should be held accountable for what happened?

3. Decision-Points — Questions of Choices and Conseqences

What choices were available to people at the time?
What factors influenced the choices people made?
What choice made the most sense given what they knew then?

4. Counterfactuals — Questions of Agency and Contingency

What turning points made the event possible—or preventable?
What might have happened if the event had not occurred?
How might history have unfolded differently under other circumstances?

5. Patterns — Questions of Continuity and Change

How was the event connected to what came before?
How did the event differ from similar ones in the past?
What changed, and what stayed the same?

6. Interpretations — Questions of Meaning and Significance

What were the main causes and effects of the event?
Why is the event significant?
How have interpretations of the event changed over time?