Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6313-9631
Date Available
5-18-2025
Year of Publication
2025
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
College
Education
Department/School/Program
Curriculum and Instruction
Faculty
Dr. Kathy Swan
Faculty
Dr. Ryan Crowley
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the factors contributing to students' perceptions of meaningful inquiry. After using the C3 Framework and designing instruction using the Inquiry Design Model for a decade, I wanted to better understand the students' experience to fine-tune how I implement inquiry in the classroom.
Article 1 was written for Social Education and describes the year of IDM blueprints that I designed to loop the concept of equality through units spanning the social studies disciplines of sociology, history, civics, geography, and economics. Through designing and facilitating these inquiries, I discovered my problem of practice, which was how to better engage students in a collaborative culture that sparked interest and engagement among the students.
Article 2 is a literature review that summarizes the scholarship around inquiry in social studies, the components of the IDM blueprint, and building trust and inquiry into the classroom environment. Through this literature review, I determined that soliciting student voice could add to the expertise that has accumulated around inquiry in social studies.
Article 3 features the practitioner research I completed in my classroom to complete a phenomenological study, utilizing grounded theory techniques to analyze data. I found that meaningful inquiry requires both relevance and reciprocity. Teachers must connect learning to students' lives by demonstrating its relevance to their daily experiences or its potential to effect positive change. I found that students experience more meaningful learning when teachers foster reciprocity by providing instructional clarity, intentional support, and a classroom culture that supports deliberative collaboration between students.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2025.204
Funding Information
My doctoral work was supported by the Supervising and Resource Teacher Tuition Waiver Program throughout the duration of my graduate studies.
This study was supported by the Arvle and Turner Thacker Research Grant and a scholarship from the Graduate School in 2024.
Recommended Citation
Cartner, Christy, "Relevance and Reciprocity: Fostering Meaningful Inquiry in the Social Studies Classroom" (2025). Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction. 47.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/edc_etds/47
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Secondary Education Commons, Secondary Education and Teaching Commons
