You can also see this video in Spanish.
[Blue background appears. Text appears in the upper left-hand corner reading “Hi, Everybody”]
Narrator: Hi, everybody! Meet Pa and Jose.
[Two hands appear bringing two kids, Pa and Jose. Hands quickly slide out of frame. Text of the kids’ names appears with arrows pointing to the kids. The kids stand waving]
Narrator: Follow along to see how Pa and Jose used the historical inquiry process to learn about the past. Inquiry is an exciting way to learn about people and the things they have done over time.
[Kids and text disappear. New text in appears in upper left hand corner reading “Inquiry Process.” An arrow appears from the text pointing to the right at the newly appeared word ‘Past’. “Inquiry is an exciting way to learn about people and the things they have done over time” appears in middle of the screen.]
[Transition to a new screen: all text sliding out of view to the left and a hand comes in from the right to pull the new scene down with a string.]
Narrator: How can students use historical inquiry to draw conclusions about the past?
[New scene features Pa, waving, with Jose, standing with his hands on his hips, in the lower right corner. Narration appears in text in the middle of the screen.]
Narrator: The inquiry process has four steps to guide us when investigating topics in history: ask, think critically, draw conclusions, and communicate findings.
[New scene flashes forward. A large white piece of paper covers most of the desk it is laid on. The words “Inquiry Process” appear in the top of the screen. Below the words in the middle of the screen is a yellow light bulb.]
[The four steps appear in text: “ask, think critically, draw conclusions, and communicate findings.” They form a circle around the light bulb with arrows between them pointing to the next word.]
[The screen then disappears]
Narrator: During this process, you need to be able to analyze different sources such as photos and artifacts.
[Blue background appears with text reading “analyzing sources” in the upper lefthand corner. Underneath the original text, more appears reading “ex. Photos and artifacts.” A photo image of a wooden playground appears to the right of the text and a brown teddy bear appears to the right of the photo]
Narrator: You also need to compare and contrast things; for example: two different accounts, or stories, of an event.
[The text and images remain on the screen. Below them text reads “compare and contrast” with text below it reading “ex. Accounts or stories.” A figure of a man appears to the right with a large red question mark by his head, then a figure of a woman appears with a large red exclamation point by her head]
Narrator: Let’s see how Ms. Adams guided Pa and Jose as they investigated the past using these historical skills …
[Pink background appears. A hand holding a marker emerges out of the bottom left corner and writes across the screen “Historical Skills.” The hand leaves the screen through the bottom.]
Ms. Adams: When we study history, we learn information from sources. What are some sources that can help us learn about the past?
[Blue background. Ms. Adams appears in the bottom lefthand corner. Pa and Jose appear to the right of her.]
[A text bubble appears to the right of Ms. Adams head reading “sources?”]
Pa: “a person” - My grandma tells me stories about her life.
[Text bubble and a thought bubble appear to around Pa’s head. The text bubble reading “a person” and the thought bubble has a image of a woman]
[Jose: “a book” - I like to read about the Aztecs.]
[Text bubble appear next to Jose reading “a book.” A drawing of a blue book appears above his text bubble]
Ms. Adams: Yes, those are sources. Here is a list of some others: photographs, oral histories, diaries or journals, and artifacts. You need to analyze different kinds of sources to learn about the past.
[Pa and Jose disappear, a white sheet of paper is the background with Ms. Adams still in lefthand corner. Words appear in the middle of the screen in the order they are listed. “Photographs, oral histories, diaries or journals, and artifacts.”]
Narrator: Now that Pa and Jose know about sources, they need to practice comparing and contrasting different viewpoints!
[New screen with a blue background. Text across the top reads “comparing and contrasting”]
[Ms. Adams appears in the lower left corner]
Ms. Adams: When we study history, accounts are descriptions of events or people; they are stories about the past.
[Text appears reading “accounts:are descriptions of events or people; they are stories about the past.”]
Ms. Adams: What is a recent event that happened on the playground during recess?
[Text disappears, a desk emerges behind Ms. Adams with a pencil and coffee mug on top. A white clock is above the desk.]
[Pa, Jose, and two other children slide from the left of the screen to the righthand side.]
[A text bubble appears from Ms. Adams reading “recent story?”]
Pa: We had an argument about whether or not Jose was “out” during our kickball game.
[A text bubble appears from Pa. It reads “kickball game!”]
[Jose: I thought that I was safe and had a homerun!]
[A text bubble appears from Jose reading “Safe!”]
Pa: Other students thought you were hit with the ball before you touched home plate.
[The screen remains the same with all the text bubbles in place.]
Ms. Adams: It sounds like this event has different accounts as to what happened. This would be a good time to think like historians. Some other questions to ask are … When did it happen? Who was involved? How and why did it happen?
[Text bubbles and the two other students that were not Pa and Jose disappear. Ms. Adams, Pa, and Jose remain in the same place.]
[A yellow lightbulb appears above Pa’s head]
[The questions Ms. Adam asks appear in middle of the screen in text as she says them, one below the other]
Narrator: This is an exciting journey … our students have practiced some historical skills and now they are ready to use the inquiry process to look at sources and investigate playgrounds…
[All the figures disappear. A hand with a marker again comes out of the lower left corner and writes across the screen “Now they are ready for the inquiry process!”]
[Ms. Adams, Pa and Jose appear below that waving their arms joyfully]
Narrator: Historical Inquiry involves examining a variety of sources, interpreting findings, and using evidence to draw conclusions that address the question.
[A question mark appears on the left side of the screen with the word “examining”’ above it. An arrow appears to the right of the question mark pointing to the right at a wheel and magnifying glass. Text reading “interpreting” appears above those images. An arrow arrears to the right of the wheel and magnifying glass pointing right towards an exclamation point with the word “conclusions” above it.]
Narrator: First you need an inquiry question …
[New scene, but same blue background. Ms. Adam appears on the right side of the screen. The desk is to the left of her. Pa, Jose, and the two other children are at the left side of the screen with a window above their heads. Text reading “Inquiry Question” appears above the window.]
Ms. Adams: The inquiry question we are investigating is “What were playgrounds like 100 years ago?”
[A text bubble appears from Ms. Adams reading “What were playgrounds like 100 years ago?”]
Narrator: Pa and Jose need to choose the best sources for their inquiry question …
[Ms. Adams and her desk are still on the right side of the screen, the clock, window and extra children have disappeared. Pa and Jose stand to the left of the desk.]
[Above their heads is a real black and white image of a playground with children standing in front of it for the picture. The girls in the photograph are wearing dresses, some are hanging from playground rings while others are staring at the camera.]
[A text bubble appears from Ms. Adams reads “source?”]
Pa: What about this photo from Harriet Island in St. Paul from 1905?
[A text bubble appears to the right of Pa’s head reading “Harriet Island, St. Paul from 1905?”]
Ms. Adams: Good choice! After finding a few more sources, what’s next?
Pa: Asking the question “What do my sources tell me?”
[New scene is of Pa standing on the righthand side of the screen, over a blue background. A larger image of the same playground photograph is to her left. “What do my sources tell me?” appears in text above Pa’s head.]
[Jose: I will write down observations from the sources.]
Ms. Adams:That’s right! What do you see?
[New scene of Jose sitting on a chair in the lower lefthand corner. He is typing on a laptop. Pa is to Jose’s right, between them in the photograph of the playground.]
Pa: Kids played outside on playgrounds just like we do today.
[Text appears to the right of the photograph reading “Kids played outside.”]
[Jose: It’s just a bunch of wood and ropes!]
[Underneath that text appears more words “wood and ropes”]
Ms. Adams: Class, now that you have gathered evidence from your sources, you are ready to decide what that means, in other words, draw a conclusion.
[New screen with pink background. Text reading “draw conclusions” appears in the middle of the screen.]
Pa: The playgrounds were not as fun as today’s playgrounds.
[Blue background with Pa and Jose standing in front of the playground photograph located on the left half of the screen. Pa’s words “Not as fun” appear to the right of them with a checkmark]
[Jose: I don’t think I would feel safe on that playground.]
[“Not safe” appears with a second checkmark]
Ms. Adams: Using sources to draw conclusions is an important historical skill, but this is not the last step of the inquiry process ...
[Text, photograph, and kids disappear. New screen with blue background. “Source”’ appears in text on the left side, and an arrow pointing to the right appears in the middle pointing to the word “conclusion.” Both of those words have an arrow appearing beneath them, each pointing down to the middle of the screen to the word “historical skill”]
[The three arrows slide out of the screen to the right while the words fade away. Replacing them is a large exclamation point in the middle of the screen.]
Narrator: When using inquiry in history, it is important to communicate what you learned with others.
[New screen with pink background. The word “communicate” appears in a yellow explosion text box.]
[A megaphone appears in the upper left corner of the text, a microphone appears in the upper right corner, a blue film camera appears in the lower left corner, a smartphone appears in the lower right corner, an envelope appears above the text, and an exclamation point appears below the text.]
Ms. Adams: Now that you have come to a conclusion about our question, we will share our findings with others. We will be going to a first grade classroom tomorrow and you will describe what playgrounds were like 100 years ago.
[Blue background. Ms. Adams stand to the very left of the screen, her desk is to the right of her. The window is on the right side of the screen with Pa, Jose, and the two other children standing below it. The kids are waving their arms cheering.]
Narrator: Now that you know the inquiry process, you can apply what you learned to another question about the past … what will your question be?
[White piece of paper placed on a wooden desk is the background.]
[Text appears filling up the whole paper reading, “what will your question be?”]
[Four large question marks appear around the question]
[Words and question marks disappear. Same background with the list of photo citations appear.]
[Screen fades to dark blue with the Minnesota Center for Social Studies Education logo appears in the middle. The lower left corner has the Minnesota Historical Society logo and the lower right corner has the Minnesota Department of Education logo.]