Visualizing Inquiry

Mr. Nik RobertsInstructional Specialist

Teaching with Primary SourcesCollege of Education and Human Services

California University of Pennsylvania

Developing Themes / Topics• Your task in this activity is theme development.• You are to come up with learning-related themes

that you can apply to all the images in this slideshow. • You are to develop two themes total.• You will apply only one of your two themes to each

slide.• Partner-up with your neighbor. • Write down a theme for each image. • You are timed @ 5 seconds per slide.

Revision

• One more round, starting from the top… • Determine if your two themes work.• If not, revise them!

Reflection• Did you revise your themes?

– How many groups report “yes?”– How many groups report “no?”– What does this mean?

• “The more you look, the more you see”• How does this activity relate to primary sources that you might use

in the classroom?– Are primary source subject-specific?

• How might this relate to an oral history project that you might plan for class?– Can interview questions and/or a post-interview analysis yield

subject-specific information?

Connection of Learning to Schooling

• “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education” -Mark Twain

• “Educational preparation based primarily on the memorization of declarative facts does little to prepare students for today’s real world environment” (Giddens & Brady, 2007).

• 21st century learning makes schooling more like the process of learning.