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DBQuest and Case Maker: Two more critical thinking tools from LOC!
Alert your social studies and ELA teacher friends or dig in on your own. This past week the Library of Congress launched DBQuest and Case Maker, two new web and mobile apps that join a suite of digital resources introduced back in 2016.
The Library of Congress announcement shared that these new interactive opportunities for middle and high school students will engage learners in interactive civics, asking them to weigh evidence and build arguments.
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1. DBQuest (developed by iCivics) DBQuest teaches history and civics through the use of primary source documents and evidence-based learning. It offers a platform, accessible on mobile devices, that reinforces evidence-based reasoning and document-based questioning by teaching students to identify and evaluate evidence, contextualize information and write sound supporting arguments.
In this tool, a Big Question guides students’ deep examination of the text of three selected primary resources–texts, images and videos–through document-based supporting questions. Teachers’ Guides offer step-by-step instructions, timelines, maps and rich support for meeting all learners’ needs. An online glossary of terms supports students’ contextual understanding. Reports are available to monitor student progress.
The Louisiana Purchase, for instance, poses this investigation:
President Jefferson usually gets the credit for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which doubled the size of the young nation. But this ignores one important actor, the U.S. Congress. Nearly every step of the process involved the approval of, and funding from, the Legislative Branch. This DBQuest will walk you through primary sources that show the give and take between the two branches.
Students may attack the prompt in either Freeform Mode, allowing for more creative and independent engagement, or in Guided Mode, best for students new to primary source analysis. Guided Mode offers the scaffolding of pre-selected evidence options and just-in-time feedback.
Students review the three sources by sequentially answering multiple choice questions; analyzing the documents looking for textual evidence; and responding in writing to prompts.
2. Case Maker (developed by Bean Creative) Case Maker is a customizable system for inquiry-based learning for K-12 students using primary sources from the Library of Congress. Modeled after the “observe, reflect, question” framework, developed under the Teaching with Primary Sources program, Case Maker guides students to challenge a question, collect evidence and make a case.
Teachers may choose from among the 20 pre-made challenges listed below or choose to customize a challenge to better meet their own students’ needs.
- ANGER AGAINST IMMIGRANTS: What kinds of evidence can you find to support your opinion that people who are angry about new immigrants often come from families that were once immigrants?
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BECOMING A U.S. CITIZEN: Was it difficult for immigrants to become U.S. citizens in the early 20th century?
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BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION: An earlier Supreme Court ruling allowed separate “white schools” and “black schools,” as long as they both provide an equal education. Is “separate but equal” really equal?
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FEDERALISM AND “JIM CROW” LAWS: How did the “Jim Crow” laws disenfranchise African American citizens?
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FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS IN MODERN DAY AMERICA: Since the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written in the 1700s, how can we expect the people who wrote those documents to know what our world would be like today?
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FREEDOM OF PRESS: What evidence supports the view that you should be free to print even controversial opinions in a school newspaper?
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FREEDOM OF SPEECH: How does freedom of speech affect things that didn’t even exist when the Constitution was written?
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JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT AND CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS: The U.S. government said they were forcing Japanese-Americans to live in these camps to protect them from acts of discrimination by other Americans. What are their rights?
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PRINCIPLES OF MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES: What are the differences between the Democrats and the Republicans when they first began, and how have the two political parties changed over time?
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PROPAGANDA AND “FAKE NEWS”: How can propaganda, information that’s aimed at people’s emotions, impact American policies and laws?
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PROTESTS AND THE MANY SIDES OF PUBLIC OPINION: How have Americans throughout history used protests and expressing one’s opinion to influence political options and decision-making?
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REPRESENTATIVE ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY: The Declaration of Independence says “all men are created equal,” but it says nothing about women. Who has the right to vote in a representative democracy?
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ROLE OF MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES IN POLITICAL PROCESS: When people express their opinions, does it help create real-world change even if they disagree?
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SCHOOL DESEGREGATION AND THE LITTLE ROCK NINE: What are three facts that you feel are most essential for someone to understand the story of the Little Rock Nine?
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SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS: Would someone from the 1700s have the same feelings for the Second Amendment now as in their time?
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VOTER SUPPRESSION: Certain groups had to fight to win their right to vote, but have they faced voter suppression since then?
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WHAT ARE THE LIMITS OF THE PRESIDENT’S POWER?: How much power does the president have, and how must the president work with other parts of the U.S. government?
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WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?: What lessons about democracy can you apply from history to help your Civics Club?
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WHAT MAKES A GREAT POLITICAL SPEECH?: What can you learn from historical speeches – either good or bad – to help you make a better speech today?
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WORKER PROTECTIONS AND THE TRIANGLE: What are three aspects of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire story that might persuade someone to see how things that happened in the past can still matter today?
In Anger Against Immigrants, for instance, students are challenged to use evidence from a selection of primary sources to make a case responding to the following prompt:
The U.S. has an immigration process to select people who can make positive contributions to society, but not all Americans want to accept immigrants. Investigate the primary sources. What kinds of evidence can you find to support your opinion that people who are angry about new immigrants often come from families that were once immigrants? Make your case.
These instructional activities promote critical thinking, analysis and engagement with text. They clearly resonate with today’s headlines. They could easily introduce a lesson in history, inspire engaged civic writing and offer a lovely set of training wheels for AP US History.
You may also be interested in:
- Library of Congress: Using Primary Sources
- Stanford History Education Group: Reading Like a Historian, Beyond the Bubble, and Civic Online Reasoning
- NARA’s Teaching with Documents
- Smithsonian Learning Lab
- Newseum EdTools
- PBS History Detectives
(See my post, Library of Congress introduces three new apps and a reminder of some older goodies and note that Engaging Congress was recognized as an AASL Best App for 2018.)
Filed under: apps, critical thinking, information fluency, information literacy, interactivities, Library of Congress, primary sources
About Joyce Valenza
Joyce is an Assistant Professor of Teaching at Rutgers University School of Information and Communication, a technology writer, speaker, blogger and learner. Follow her on Twitter: @joycevalenza
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