Premodule:

How do we know what we know about Indigenous peoples’ relationships with their lands and waters in the Chicago area?

Beyond the core standards common across the Indigenous Chicago curriculum (described in the Scope and Sequence), this inquiry highlights the following additional Illinois learning standards: 

Inquiry

• SS.9-12.IS.5. Gather and evaluate information from multiple primary and secondary sources that reflect the perspectives and experiences of multiple groups, including marginalized groups.
• SS.9-12.IS.11. Use interdisciplinary lenses to identify local, regional, state, natural, or global concerns and anticipate the outcome possible solutions might have on all impacted communities, including marginalized communities.

Geography

• SS.9-12.G.1. Use maps (created using geospatial and related technologies, if possible), satellite images and photographs to display and explain the spatial patterns of physical, cultural, political, economic and environmental characteristics.
• SS.9-12.G.3. Use self-collected or pre-existing data sets to generate spatial patterns at multiple scales that can be used to conduct analyses or to take civic action.
• SS.9-12.G.6. Analyze and explain how humans affect and interact with the environment and vice versa.

It is important to note that this inquiry requires prerequisite knowledge of how historians use written texts. Teachers should be prepared to guide students through analyzing material culture and maps. 

Following best practices in social studies research and guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education, Indigenous Chicago modules use an Inquiry Design Model (IDM). Inquiry prioritizes a cyclical model of learning in which students ask questions, learn to apply new tools and concepts, evaluate evidence, share their conclusions and take informed action, all of which then prompt new questions (Grant, Swan, & Lee 2023). Inquiry texts can be any source of information that allows us to meaningfully interpret the past. While many students might be more familiar with historical documents in colonial archives, sources for inquiry for Indigenous histories also include oral traditions, oral histories, community knowledge keepers, and artwork, among others. You will see examples of many of these sources throughout the Indigenous Chicago modules. The two core questions running through the seven modules are: How is Chicago an Indigenous place, past, present, and future? And what relationships with people, places, policies, and events have shaped the Chicago Native community over time? 

If the inquiry design model is new to you, begin with this overview from the C3 Teachers Framework. In addition to the content standards listed above, all Indigenous Chicago modules also align with the following ISBE Inquiry Standards:

• SS.9-12.IS.3. Develop new supporting and essential questions by primary and secondary investigation, collaboration, and use sources that reflect diverse perspectives (e.g., political, cultural, socioeconomic, race, religious, gender).
• SS.9-12.S.4. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
• SS.9-12.IS.5. Gather and evaluate information from multiple primary and secondary sources that reflect the perspectives and experiences of multiple groups, including marginalized groups.
• SS.9-12.IS.8. Evaluate evidence to construct arguments and claims that use reasoning and account for multiple perspectives and value systems.

This inquiry is expected to take five 30-minute class periods. The inquiry time frame could expand if teachers think their students need additional instructional experiences (e.g., supporting questions, formative performance tasks, featured sources, writing). Teachers are encouraged to adapt the inquiry to meet the needs and interests of their students. This inquiry lends itself to differentiation and modeling of historical thinking skills while assisting students in reading the variety of sources.