The Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District is making progress when it comes to the New York State Education Department’s push to teach through inquiries. Inquiry-based education emphasizes relevant questions that inspire students to create unique ways of researching and sharing what they learn.
The district started the shift toward inquiry-based learning in 2023-24. Administrators and educators from different grade levels worked together to start the transition in Jamesville-DeWitt schools. They used resources provided by the state to create relevant teaching materials that aligned with Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education practices.
“One thing we really wanted to focus on was improving source materials to feature local history examples,” said Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Equity Nate Franz. “By partnering with the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) we’ve been able to make the lessons more relevant to students.”
For example, fourth-grade students are learning about the Industrial Revolution through questions and local history. Students are asked if industrialization made life better in New York. Supporting questions and real life examples from the OHA push students to research changes to local manufacturing in the 1800s.
“The OHA provided us with historic materials like images of the Franklin Automobile Factory, advertisements, news articles, comparison photos of local streets, political cartoons, and more,” shared Franz. “Students were encouraged to identify manufacturing changes. They noted positive things like growth and job opportunities but also challenges like workplace injuries and housing struggles.”
Tecumseh teacher Dana Dietz says he’s always taken this approach in his classroom as it promotes a deeper understanding.
“I like framing the study of Social Studies as developing answers to inquiry questions rather than remembering a lot of facts, which might have been how many adults learned in the past. By pushing this approach even further with hands-on experiential learning, students can hopefully make connections about how people were impacted during different stages of history,” shared Dietz.
The shift will also help the district adapt to changing graduation requirements in New York state which are expected to embrace inquiry-based learning approaches by 2027.
“This directly supports the district’s mission and strategic plan,” shared Franz. “Helping students’ ability to demonstrate deeper understanding through critical thinking, research, and problem-solving skills rather than just memorizing facts will help them succeed wherever life takes them after their time at Jamesville-DeWitt.”