Developing confidence in designing meaningful historical enquiry questions comes with practice, discussion and guidance. In a very real sense, it is an endless process in which revisions and new ideas can emerge from reading a new book on a particular topic, watching a documentary or seeing a powerful example created by a colleague.
Some questions for your questions
As part of the process of developing and reviewing enquiry questions, the questions set out in the left-hand column of the table below might be useful to ask of the draft questions you create. To quickly workshop one example using these questions, I will return to a question posed in part one of this piece: Who was Nicholas II and what do contemporary sources reveal about his character and rule? We might deconstruct that question in the following manner.
​Questions for your questions | Examples |
Will this be a more macro or a more micro enquiry question? | Micro. |
What content from the topic or course does this question target? | ‘Nicholas II as autocrat’ (Year 11 Modern History, Case Study List A) |
What aspect(s) of historical thinking does this question target? | Analysis and use of sources (and perspectives) |
What are the implied teaching and learning resources required to engage with this question? | Texts that provide deep knowledge of Nicholas II’s character and rule (e.g. textbook and extracts from historians as additional readings). Good range of contemporary historical sources commenting on Nicholas II, his character and rule. These could include comments from his father (Alexander III), his tutors and politicians who worked with him such as Witte, Rodzianko, etc. |
​What are the implied teaching and learning activities needed to ensure that students will be able to engage with this question? | Building deep knowledge of Nicholas II’s character and rule (e.g. readings, documentaries, glossary terms, etc.) Source workshops (finding evidence within sources) and writing workshops (particularly on integrating evidence). |
What will I get the students to produce to respond to the question at the end of the allocated time? | ​Source-based written response to the question: Describe the character and rule of Nicholas II (350-500 words) – students will be required to integrate evidence from at 2-3 sources. |
Using enquiry questions to frame a unit of work
For many topics, I have often found syllabuses of limited use in designing teaching and learning. I understand why lists of dot-points might be necessary for providing some sense of cohesion within mass education systems but they can often leave important issues and themes implied – and this is one area in which I would argue that strong content knowledge of the history of a topic can help to ‘fix’ the flaws and gaps in topics.
Before beginning a topic, then, planning a set of enquiry questions that cover the topic-, sequence- and lesson-levels can be a valuable use of time to give the unit a clear sense of direction. For me, it also often means that I don’t have to think too much about content or activities (or even individual lessons) as I begin teaching the topic and I can concentrate on formative assessment. It also means that my quest for resources is simplified as I know exactly the material I need and can look specifically for it (or create it if nothing of quality already exists).
Sample topic 1: Decline and Fall of the Romanov Dynasty
The example below addresses the Year 11 topic in NSW called ‘The Decline and Fall of the Romanov Dynasty’. In my view, this topic is a perfect opportunity to foreground an exploration of historical causation by focusing on the question of why the Romanov Dynasty collapsed when and how it did in early 1917 (and not in 1905 or some other time). For this topic, historical causation is generally my meta-concept that organises my plans for teaching and learning.
The way I have structured also includes some coverage of the concept of ‘History and Memory’ from the ‘Nature of Modern History’ component within the syllabus. This will involve about two weeks of lessons exploring the ways in which the Romanovs have been remembered since the abdication of 1917. This includes looking at the popular resurgence of Romanov memory in Russia in recent years, particularly in 2017 to mark the centenary of the collapse.
In this example, my main assessment tasks will be drawn from one of the topic-level questions. For example, I might require the students to ‘account for the collapse of the Romanov Dynasty in 1917’ or to ‘Assess the importance of the First World War to the collapse of the Romanov Dynasty in 1917’. Regardless of the specific question, the ‘big issues’ of the topic all relate back to the topic-level questions in one way or another. Not only is this helpful for me as the teacher, but it also gives the students some clear vision of where their efforts should be placed.
Sample Topic 2: The Cuban Revolution
The second example for the Cuban Revolution is based on the same essential principles. The focus concept in this topic, however, is change and continuity. Of course we will explore causation and other ideas but the overarching point of exploring this topic, for me and the way I want to address it, are questions about change and continuity: what were the most important changes initiated by the revolution? How much did the lives of the Cuban people change as a result of the revolution? Were these changes more positive or negative?
Conclusion
Developing the ability to design helpful enquiry questions takes time and is not a generic skill. I would argue, however, that it is a useful skill to develop as a history teacher because good questions lie at the heart of good history (though clearly there is more to it than that too). I must admit that I have never been a fan of ‘learning intentions’ and ‘success criteria’ and especially not of the formulaic practice of writing them on the board at the beginning of each lesson. I do, however, think that for the majority of students, it helps to provide clarity as to what we as teachers want them to learn and, in history at least, enquiry questions are a powerful tool to help communicate this while ensuring that disciplinary ideas remain at the centre.