Let’s be honest about elementary Social Studies. It is the thing that gets pushed aside when Reading and Math need more time, and some weeks it disappears completely. I felt guilty about that for years.
Over the past few years, I have been incorporating inquiry circles into my classroom in Social Studies and Science, and they have finally solved this problem for me. Inquiry circles are a lot like most research projects. I would say the main difference is how they start.
Here is the best part…I run them during my reading center time because this project aligns with my Reading standards almost perfectly. Social Studies content, Reading credit. Nobody ever questioned it. 🙂
What Are Inquiry Circles?
Inquiry circles are small-group research projects that begin with a question that students came up with themselves.
That is really the whole difference. In a typical research project, you hand out the topics. With an inquiry circle, your students generate the questions after they have already studied a unit, and then you group them based on what they asked.
If you want to read more about where this comes from, check out the book Comprehension and Collaboration by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels.
Why This Counts as Reading Instruction
This is the part that makes inquiry circles worth the time when you feel like you have none.
Think about what your students actually do during one of these projects. They read a stack of nonfiction sources on one topic, pull out the information that matters, put it together into something new, and then present it to an audience. That is not Social Studies wearing a Reading costume. That is a huge chunk of your upper elementary Reading and Writing standards, happening while your students research the Civil War.
Depending on your grade level, one inquiry circle will usually cover research writing, note-taking from print and digital sources, listing where information came from, pulling together information from two or more texts on one topic, presenting with relevant details and visuals, and collaborating in a small group toward a shared goal.
Do check the exact wording of your own state’s standards before you write this into your plans. But the overlap is real, and it means an inquiry circle running during your reading block is not stealing anything from anyone.
Getting Started with Inquiry Circles
I always start inquiry circle projects towards the end of a Unit, never at the beginning. Your students need enough background knowledge to ask a question worth researching.
For example, when I am nearing the end of my Civil War Unit, I start asking my students to think of a question they still have about anything we have discussed. This is usually where I teach a lesson on “Thick vs. Thin Questions.”
A thin question has one short answer you could look up in about ten seconds. When did the Civil War end? A thick question takes real research, needs more than a sentence to answer, and often has more than one good answer. What was it like on the Underground Railroad?
My students come up with questions like, “What were some of the other major battles of the Civil War?”, “What was it like on the Underground Railroad?”, or “How did the North and South work together after the Civil War?” Sometimes students will need help tweaking their question, but overall they understand what types of questions are able to be researched.
Spend a whole lesson here if you need to. A weak question turns into a weak project, and all the research time in the world will not save it later.
Grouping Students
Once my students decide on a topic or question, I ask them to write it on a piece of paper and turn it in to me. I then go through all of their questions and group students based on what they wrote. While many of the questions are not the same, they are related. I usually look for 2 to 3 students with similar questions and put them in a group together.
This way of grouping students is fantastic! It pushes students to worry more about their own interest in a topic and less about what their friends are doing. It also gives me (the teacher) control over who works together, which means nobody gets picked last, and I can quietly keep certain students apart without anyone noticing.
Planning Time
Once groups have been formed, I ask my students to develop a work plan for their research and presentation.
A work plan usually includes group member names, the topic or question being researched, where information can be found, other related questions they will look into, what each member is responsible for, a plan for presenting the information, what help (if any) they will need from me, and a signature from every group member.
I find that this work plan helps hold students accountable. By the time it is complete, they understand exactly what they are supposed to do and have a plan to make sure it gets done. That signature line at the bottom does more work than you would think. It turns a fuzzy group assignment into something each student has personally agreed to.
At this point, my students begin the research process. With notebooks and pencils in hand, I take my class to the school library to check out relevant books, and to the computer lab to search the internet. All in all, I would say that I take about three to five days on the research part of this project.
A couple of things I learned the hard way here. Spend ten minutes on day one talking about which sources you can trust, because your students will absolutely find things on the internet that are not true. Have them write down where they found each piece of information as they go, or they will spend half of Thursday trying to find that one fact again. And check in with every group for about two minutes a day, because groups drift off course faster than you would believe.
Putting it All Together
Last, but not least, comes my students’ favorite part…putting together the presentations.
I give my students the option to present their information in any way they would like: PowerPoint, posters, a drama or play, create a book, create a movie. This part usually takes about a week, depending on how much class time you can donate to this adventure. Once students are ready, they present their research to the class and usually include a short quiz or game at the end.
That little quiz at the end is worth requiring. Your students listen completely differently when they know they are going to be asked about it.
How I Grade It
I grade the process, not just the pretty poster at the end. The flashiest presentation is not always the one with the best research behind it, and if you only grade the final product your students figure that out quickly.
I looked at four things: how good the original question was, whether they followed their work plan, whether their research actually answered the question, and the presentation itself. A group with a plain poster and a really well-answered question always scored higher than a group with a beautiful movie that never got around to the point.
Hand out the rubric along with the work plan on day one. Your students should know exactly what you are grading before they start.
How Much Time Does This Take?
Plan on two to three weeks from start to finish. One day for questions, one day for grouping and work plans, three to five days of research, three to five days building presentations, and two days of presenting.
I know that is a big chunk of time, which we all know is hard to come by in the classroom. But it is worth it! Not only do my students deepen their understanding of the content we covered, they also strengthen their research and presentation skills along the way. It was always the stretch of the year when my students read the most nonfiction they had actually chosen for themselves, and I could see it later in how they handled research writing.
Inquiry Circle FAQs
What are inquiry circles?
Inquiry circles are small group research projects built around questions students come up with themselves after studying a unit. Students get grouped by related questions, research together, and present what they found to the class.
How are inquiry circles different from regular research projects?
The question comes from the student instead of the teacher. That changes how invested they are, and it means students end up grouped by what they are curious about rather than by seating chart or friendship.
What grade levels work best for inquiry circles?
Third grade and up. Younger students can do a simpler version with more structure and a shorter research window, but the full process asks for independence that takes a few years to build.
How long does an inquiry circle take?
Two to three weeks, including coming up with questions, writing work plans, three to five days of research, building the presentations, and presenting them.
Can inquiry circles count as reading instruction?
Yes, and that is a big part of why they are worth the time. Students read multiple nonfiction sources, take notes, pull information together across texts, and present it. That covers a lot of your upper elementary Reading and Writing standards.
How do you group students for inquiry circles?
Have your students turn in their questions in writing, then sort through them yourself and group the students whose questions are related. Two or three per group works well. Students get a topic they care about, and you still control who works together.
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