These inquiries were developed by Oakland Schools; Some as part of the Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum, some as a part of other projects. For more details, and to view the MC3 curriculum, please visit the Oakland Schools Social Studies team’s website.
Compelling Question: How should we remember Columbus?
Supporting Questions:
1) Who was Columbus?
2) How has Columbus been remembered over time?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: Should we keep, abolish, or reform the Electoral College?
Supporting Questions:
1. What is the Electoral College, and why was it created?
2. What are some of the strongest arguments for and against the Electoral College?
3. What are some options for reforming the Electoral College?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: What was the human cost of the United States’ history of enslaving people?
Supporting Questions:
1. Where did enslaved populations grow?
2. How was slavery driven by capitalism?
3. How did enslaevd people describe their treatment, and how did slavery tear families apart?
4. How did enslaved people resist?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: How should the history of the women’s rights movement be remembered?
Supporting Questions:
1. What legal limitations did women face in the early to mid-1800s?
2. What were the goals of the women’s rights movement, an dhow did it intersect with other movements?
3. What strategies/tactics did women use to obtain rights?
4. What are the existing narratives about the women’s rights movement?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: How did the people of West Africa overcome the challenges of the region to create great kingdoms and empires?
Supporting Questions:
1. In what ways did the environment present challenges to the people of West Africa?
2. How did West African rulers use natural resources and trade to build strong empires?
3. What can we learn about th elives and culture of West Africans from the oral traditions of this region?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: How should we tell the stories of slavery and freedom in Detroit through historical markers?
Supporting Questions:
1. How have we told the story of freedom from enslavement in Detroit?
2. What are the “skeletons in the closet” about slavery in Detroit?
3. How can historical markers tell the story of freedom and slavery in Detroit?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: Why did the Bill of Rights
matter then, and why does it matter now?
Supporting Questions:
1. What role did the Bill of Rights play in the ratification of the Constitution?
2. What rights are included in the Bill of Rights?
3. How is the Bill of Rights used today?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: What should Michigan be known for: "The Motor City" or something else?
Supporting Questions:
1. How has the automobile industry changed from the time Michigan became
home to “the Motor City” until now?
2. Are there other parts of Michigan’s history, culture, or economy that define
Michigan more than the automobile industry?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: How does environmental justice help us explain and challenge environmental threats?
Supporting Questions:
1. What is environmental justice?
2. How do environmental justice and democratic values help us make choices
that can improve the lives of all living beings?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: What is the fairest resolution to the Line 5 pipeline issue?
Supporting Questions:
1. What is the history of the Line 5 pipeline, and what is happening now?
2. What are the different viewpoints about the Line 5 pipeline, and what
democratic values would someone with that viewpoint use to argue their
point?
3. Who is helped and who is harmed by different resolutions?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
Compelling Question: What was the impact of interactions
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
peoples in what became Michigan?
Supporting Questions:w
1. What was the impact of the fur trade on what became Michigan?
2. What was the impact of the French and Indian War on what became
Michigan?
Click here for the slide deck for this inquiry.
All sources and activities are included in it, in addition to being included in this document.
