Investigate, Uncover and Engage: Critical Instructional Design for Deeper Learning in Any Subject

Purpose & objective

The Investigate, Uncover, Engage framework came about during the design of an open access eBook, “Building Democracy for All: Interactive Explorations of Government and Civic Life,” as a way to both meet and go beyond the new Massachusetts 8th Grade Government and Civics standards. We developed separate sections for each chapter in the eBook entitled “INVESTIGATE,” “UNCOVER,” and “ENGAGE.”

The INVESTIGATE sections give teachers and students the opportunity to discover key facts and information about a topic through descriptive text and links to external sources for further exploration, including digital primary source materials, historical timelines, biographies of influential people, and interactive websites. INVESTIGATE sections are centered around topics commonly found in textbooks and curriculum frameworks.

In The Structure of Massachusetts State and Local Government topic, INVESTIGATE sections include the powers of state and national government and tensions between them, the Enumerated and Implied Powers of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the 14th Amendment, the regulation of sports betting, people’s taxes and how they are spent, and town meetings as a form of local government.

The UNCOVER sections present little-known histories and stories of Black Americans, women, indigenous peoples, LGBTQIA individuals, children and teens, and others who are underrepresented in United States K-12 textbooks, curriculum, and learning plans. These sections connect the struggles of diverse and marginalized individuals and groups to major events and institutions of United States democracy.

In The Philosophical Foundations of the U.S. Political System topic, UNCOVER sections discuss the legend of Pheidippides, the Heraean games, and first American runners in the Boston Marathon and the Olympics, Spartacus and slavery in the Roman world, Toussaint L’Ouverture and Black American slave revolts, Mary Wollstonecraft, Olympe De Gouges, and the rights of women, and the Peskeompskut-Wissatinnewag Massacre. The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens topic includes UNCOVER sections about the history of Puerto Rican citizenship, women’s political participation, youth activists and change makers, voter suppression laws against Black Americans, Black inventors' contributions to math, science and politics, Queen Liliuokalani and the American Annexation of Hawaii, and political protests, including Mother Jones and the March of the Mill Children (1903), the Stonewall Uprising (1969), and the Standing Rock Pipeline Protest (2016-2017).

The ENGAGE sections feature political- and policy-based questions that ask students to think deeply about the choices they face as members of a democracy and the actions they might take as engaged citizens in a democratic society. Political-based discussions among students can increase civic knowledge and dispositions while expanding students’ individual perspectives beyond their immediate group of family and friends (Hess & McAvoy, 2014).

In The Constitution, Amendments, and Supreme Court Decisions topic, ENGAGE sections ask: What new amendments to the Constitution are needed today? Whose images should appear on United States currency? Do supreme court dissents make a difference to the law? Is kneeling during the national anthem an effective form of political protest? And, what steps can communities and governments take to reduce gun violence?

The Investigate, Uncover, and Engage framework allows learners to examine topics from different perspectives. This empowers learners, especially those from marginalized groups, to gain a wider view of a topic and to see themselves represented within the content.

We believe that the Investigate, Uncover, and Engage framework can be used in any subject and grade level to support student-centered technology rich explorations of the content. For example, in teaching math, students can investigate a math concept, uncover the hidden history or untold story behind that math concept, and then identify ways to use the math concept to contribute as an engaged citizen in their local or national community (e.g., analyzing data/geometric shapes in gerrymandering using interactive digital maps and then writing a newspaper article based on their findings).

In this session, we will show participants how to apply this framework to their own practice. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1) Describe the purpose of each of the three essential elements of the Investigate, Uncover, and Engage critical instructional design framework. 2) Explain how each element of the framework can support student-centered, technology rich learning experiences. 3) Envision ways to adopt and adapt the framework to classes at the grade level and in the subject field they teach.

Outline

10 minutes: Our session will begin with participants selecting one of the chapters of the “Building Democracy for All: Interactive Explorations of Government and Civic Life” eBook and closely examining the Investigate, Uncover, and Engage sections. They will then share what they discovered with other session attendees.

10 minutes: Then, we will do a mini-presentation about the Investigate, Uncover, and Engage critical instructional design framework. We will discuss how and why the framework was developed, how technology fits in and enhances the framework, and how the framework can be adopted in any grade level or subject.

10 minutes: Finally, participants will brainstorm at least 3 ways to incorporate the framework into their practice during the upcoming school year. For example, a math teacher might consider how to investigate, uncover, or engage the concept of “probability”; a science teacher might choose the “water cycle” in a time of climate change; a English teacher might select the idea of an “odyssey” as a journey with many changes of fortune; and a history teacher might choose “ranked-choice voting.” Participants will share their ideas in a collaborative slide deck or Jamboard.

Supporting research

Driver, F. (2013). Hidden histories made visible? Reflections on a geographical exhibition. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 38(3), 420-435.

Apple, M. & Beane, J. M. (2007). Democratic schools: Lessons in powerful education. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Banks, J. A. (2008). Diversity, group identity and citizenship education in a global age. Educational Researcher, 37(3), 129-137. Retrieved from https://education.uw.edu/sites/default/files/people/faculty/banks/Banks,%20ER%20April,%202009%20article%20copy.pdf

Clark, S. & Teachout, W. (2012). Slow democracy: Rediscovering community, bringing decision-making back home. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Kahne, J. (2019, June 24). Study finds sizable impact of civic media literacy education on democratic engagement. Connected Service Alliance. Retrieved from https://clalliance.org/blog/study-finds-sizable-impact-of-civic-media-literacy-education-on-democratic-engagement/

Kahne, J. & Middaugh, E. (2008, February). Democracy for some: The civic opportunity gap in high school. Medford, MA: Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.