New York State Toolkit Inquiries--Ready Made for Use
The inquiries below were developed as part of the New York State Social Studies Toolkit, a project funded by the New York State Education Department to aid teachers in aligning instruction to C3 Framework and Inquiry Arc inspired state standards.
These inquiries have been aligned to the corresponding grade level and content standard for the 2016 revision of the California History/Social Science Framework and corresponding content standards. New York state standards are not aligned perfectly to those of the State of California; teachers can modify these Inquiries to meet appropriate grade-level expectations and instructional approaches.
These inquiries have been aligned to the corresponding grade level and content standard for the 2016 revision of the California History/Social Science Framework and corresponding content standards. New York state standards are not aligned perfectly to those of the State of California; teachers can modify these Inquiries to meet appropriate grade-level expectations and instructional approaches.
Grade 11-United States History and Geography: Continuity and Change in Modern U.S. History
California Framework Unit of Study and Related "Essential Questions" |
Inquiry Title Description |
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Connecting with Past Studies: The Nation’s Beginnings
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The Constitution: Just Government? By investigating the justness of the Constitution, students examine how the Constitution structures the government, the Constitution’s relationship to slavery, and the extent to which the amendment process makes the government more democratic. |
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Connecting with Past Studies: The Nation's Beginnings
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Slavery and Emancipation: Who Freed the Slaves? By looking at the controversy about who freed the slaves, students should understand why this issue matters 150 years later. It is important to note that, in their contrasting interpretations, scholars do not really disagree on the facts of emancipation, but rather on the interpretation of those facts. |
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Industrialization, Urbanization, Immigration, and Progressive Reform
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Immigration: Immigration Debates By examining whether there is anything new about current immigration policy debates, students compare and contrast the discourse around immigration at three key moments in US history—the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Immigration Act of 1924, and the Immigration Act of 1965—with the current immigration policy. |
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World War II
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World War II: Accounting for American Victory Students examine both the economic and military factors that contributed to a successful war effort. Students start with an examination of the home front before looking at military factors in the wars in Europe and the Pacific. Students should be able to articulate a variety of factors that caused the Allied victory. |
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Contemporary American Society
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The Executive Branch and its Role in Economy This focuses on the motivations, actions, and impacts of two particular US presidents: Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan. Their economic programs stand in for the larger argument that persists today between liberal and conservative approaches to federal economic policy. Thus, the compelling question “How should the president foster economic opportunity?” is intentionally timeless to emphasize its relevance today. |
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The Civil Rights Movement
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Civil Rights: Effectiveness of Nonviolent Resistance The compelling question “What made nonviolent protest effective during the civil rights movement?” asks students to grapple with the means of achieving the various ends of the civil rights movement—an end to segregation as well as the achievement of voting rights and true equality as citizens. |
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World War II
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Japanese-American Internment: Curtailing Freedom for Security This inquiry places students in the middle of that important debate—a debate that goes beyond semantics and hypothetical constructs. The compelling question asks what limits we are willing to place on freedom in the face of real and perceived threats to our security. The internment of Japanese Americans represents one instance when the freedom of some Americans was sacrificed in the name of national security and thus can be seen as a case of the balance between freedom and security. The inquiry includes four related formative performance tasks that collectively enable students to build up their knowledge of the issues and events related to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the resulting lawsuit, Korematsu v. United States, which challenged the constitutionality of the internment policy. |
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Postwar United States
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Suburbanization Were the suburbs good for America?” and deals with the period of rapid suburbanization immediately following World War II, from 1945 through the 1950s. The question challenges the notion that all economic development is beneficial and considers both the positive and negative outcomes of American suburban growth. Students have an opportunity to learn about economic and social conditions in the United States following World War II, the roles of the federal government and private industry in supporting suburban growth, and the economic and social impact of suburbanization on Americans in the 1950s. |
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The Great Depression and New Deal
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The New Deal: Good or Bad? By asking the compelling question “Was the New Deal a good deal?” students take on a topic with a long history and plenty of relevance for today. The inquiry uses the New Deal and the expansion of federal government programs designed to stimulate the economy and support citizens in need as a context for considering the larger question about the proper role of government. Students examine a wide range of historical sources while focusing on questions concerning the extent to which government should take care of its people. |