Social Education 80(6), pp 333– 342
©2016 National Council for the Social Studies
Developing Reading and Writing Skills through Social Studies
Initiating C3 Inquiry:
Using Texts and Curiosity
to Inspire Readers
Tina L. Heafner and Dixie D. Massey
For over a decade, we have both grappled with the challenges of helping students
read efficiently and effectively in the social studies. We have worked with teachers
across the country as they have exposed students to primary source texts only to find
consistent challenges with:
• Academic language gaps (lack of
content knowledge to contextualize or interpret texts);
• Comprehension gaps (inability to
accurately derive meaning from
text);
• Inaccurate use of evidence (failure to inference or overreliance
on literal meaning); and
• No motivation to read (reluctant
and uninterested readers).
In this article, we identify ways to tap
into informational texts that are readable,
engaging, inviting, and meet the appropriate level of complexity for each grade
band. We describe the importance of
reading complex text and what it looks
like in a social studies classroom, utilizing close reading and other techniques
aligned to the College, Career, and Civic
Life (C3) Framework and the Common
Core State Standards.
We focus in particular on four strategies that promote the vision of complex
text integration defined in the crossover
of the Common Core State Standards
and the C3 Framework. We describe
the following different ways to use
informational text to support inquiry:
(1) visual inventory; (2) “Chunking”—
using short texts; (3) close reading; and
(4) exploration of multiple sources. We
use these applications to explain steps
toward increasing text complexity. Each
of these texts supports the exploration
of compelling questions, developed by
novice social studies learners.
While each technique for using
informational text can be employed as
a stand-alone reading approach, using
the techniques in combination is the best
way of developing meaningful inquiry.
Each application can easily be tapped for
usage within all grade bands; however,
the U.S. history content that we have
selected targets secondary learners.
Noticing and Wondering
Visual sources help students develop
compelling questions and plan inquiries.
Images allow equal access to content and
level the learning opportunities for struggling readers, English Language Learners
(ELLs), students with exceptionalities,
and students who are able but unmotivated readers. Visuals allow us to introduce vocabulary, to give access to complex texts by previewing texts, to build
contextual and background knowledge,
to anchor concepts and terms to content
knowledge, invite students to think in
N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 016
333
response to their wonderings, and offer
students multiple ways to engage with
texts.
To initiate this inquiry, we recommend
showing a series of images and engaging
students in the Visual Inventory.1 Begin
with the picture of the man holding a
rod in Figure 1 (Phineas Gage, who was
injured in an accident in 1848).2 Be sure
not to share more information than the
images and allow adequate time for processing. Ask students, “What questions
do you have?” List all questions generated by students. While some students
may be familiar with the man, most will
not or will not recognize him without
more contextual information. Our aim
in this open-ended, general question
is to create space for student-initiated
thinking and wondering. We use this initial questioning phase to assess original
thoughts rather than employ the standard exercise in which the teacher asks
for the answer to a specific question (e.g.,
Are these images related?), which often
results in a factual response that fails
to initiate discussion. A series of these
narrow questions and answers can stifle
thinking. As images are introduced, offer
students time to think independently, to
gather evidence from each image, and to
process information for making claims.
We want students to notice details in
each image and then use this information by circling or listing evidence for
each image. Then students make a claim
Figure 1.
Visual Inventory:
• Do these images show the same person or different people?
• What is your evidence that supports your answer?
Notice Similarities
(circle evidence or list below)
Notice Differences
(circle evidence or list below)
Make a Claim Based on Evidence:
These images are or are not (circle one) of the same person because….
I wonder….
based on the details identified. Thinking
is scaffolded through peer discussion
and questioning. The first image of Gage will stimulate
questions such as: Is the man winking?
What is he holding? Why is he holding
that rod? Did something happen to his
eye? Does the rod have anything to do
with this? When was this picture taken?
As students pose questions, we ask for
evidence from their observations. Next
we share the picture of the skull (the
second image in Figure 1) and again
call for student questions. Claims will
begin to emerge. Students may suggest
that the man had a brain injury. Some
may wonder if these images are related
or perhaps of the same person. Once
students develop their confidence in
examining visual evidence to support
claims, we introduce the third image.
We ask for questions again. This is the
point in the Visual Inventory when students will emphasize broader curiosities, e.g., How could this happen? When
would it have occurred? How long did
he survive? Questions of authenticity
will surface throughout the discourse—
for example, Are these images real? All
claims should be substantiated by visual
evidence. For example, students might
draw attention to the fact that images
are not from the same time period. The
coloring of the images is distinctly differ334
ent and the fact that one image is clearly a
digital image further supports this claim.
However, students could conjecture that
the relationship among pictures reveals
that something traumatic happened to
the man in the picture. Evidence backing
this claim is noticed in the entry and exit
point of the rod, the closed left eye, and
the damaged areas of the skull.
A third step in the Visual Inventory is
for students to finish the statement, “I
wonder….” Students should be invited
to share their answers to the questions
and present their evidence. For example,
one student stated that the images were
of the same person. His reasoning was
that the man in the first picture was hold-
ing a rod, and something appeared to
be wrong with his left eye. The image
of the rod through the skull suggested
that maybe the rod went through this
man’s head. He surmised that the final
image was a replica of the man’s injury.
This student then said, “I wonder how
this could have happened” and he asked,
“What is the rod that the man is holding
used for? I wonder if he was injured in
a fishing accident. I also wonder how
long he survived.” The student who
wondered if the injury was caused by
a fishing accident was not alone in his
interpretations of the image. In 2007, this
same image appeared on Flickr and was
titled, “One-eyed Man with Harpoon.”3
Directing students to this reading would
be a natural inquiry and one that adds
fodder for their curiosity. Other students wondered how the images could
be related because the first image was a
photograph clearly taken a long time ago.
Many wanted to know who this man was
or who these men were. With inquiry,
questions led to information and information led to questions. That is the cycle
of inquiry we want to nurture.
Once students have questions, they
have a reason to read and a way to guide
their reading. If we want to teach students to conduct inquiry, it is important
to let students discover their own questions and exchange ideas with each other.
Rather than quickly correcting inaccurate or incomplete knowledge, we have
to allow time for students to continue
to question the accuracy of their first
answers.
Guiding Inquiry
The image is of Phineas Gage, known
widely as the victim in the American
Crowbar Case. Gage was injured on
September 13, 1848, while working on
the Rutland & Burlington Railroad in
Vermont. Although his injury is perplexing, it was the behavior transformations
What a Headache!*
Building a railroad in the early 1800s was hard work! There were
few machines to make the work easier at this time. The places
where workers built the railroads also needed to be cleared of
trees before the track could be put down. They needed to build
tunnels. They also had to blast rocks out of the way—which is
how something awful happened to a man named Phineas Gage.
Phineas was the foreman of a group of workers laying track in
Vermont for Rutland and Burlington Railroad. The track would
eventually connect Vermont with Boston. Everyone knew Phineas
was a careful worker and a fair boss. One of Phineas’ jobs was to
blast rock. Blasting rock meant using black powder to shatter the
rock into smaller pieces. The pieces could then be loaded into
carts and carried away.
To break up large rocks and cliffs, workers would drill holes into
the rock. They poured black powder into each hole. Next, they
pushed a fuse gently into the black powder with a large metal
rod called a tamping iron. The hole was then filled with loose
sand. The tamping iron tapped down the sand. Then they lit the
fuse and ran for cover!
Phineas had blasted many times before. He had his own tamping iron, made by a local blacksmith. The rod was three feet, seven
inches long. One end came to a point, like a sharpened pencil. The
rod weighed about 13.5 pounds. On an ordinary day in September,
something went wrong. During the blasting, something distracted
Phineas. Maybe someone called his name at the last minute. He
looked over his shoulder and the black powder exploded!
The pointy end of the tamping iron entered his left cheek and
went out through the middle of his forehead. The tamping iron
went all the way through his head and landed on the ground.
Phineas fell on his back. Blood poured out of his injury, but he
was still alive. He was even talking.
Other workers took him to town in a horse cart. Phineas climbed
out of the cart by himself. He continued talking to those around
him while everyone waited for the doctor, Dr. Harlow. The doctor
cleaned the wounds. Phineas stayed in bed, and everyone waited
for him to die from the wound or from infection.
But he didn’t die. Within 10 weeks he recovered. His left eye was
fine, at first, but his vision gradually faded. He could speak and
sing. He understood what others said to him. Finally, Dr. Harlow
sent him home to live with his mother.
Within a year, Phineas went back to work for the railroad. But
people began to notice that Phineas behaved differently. He was
no longer careful or fair. He got angry easily. He swore a lot, even
in front of women. Swearing was something he didn’t do before.
He also couldn’t make up his mind about things.
Eventually, the railroad asked Phineas not to work for them.
Over the next 11 years, Phineas worked many different jobs. He
often carried his tamping iron with him. Eventually, he died of
seizures. His family buried him, but Dr. Harlow asked them to dig
up his skull. They sent Phineas’s skull to Dr. Harlow. The skull was
eventually donated to Harvard, where it is still on display.
Thanks to Dr. Harlow’s notes, other doctors learned a lot about
brain injuries from Phineas Gage. Scientists began to understand
that the front of the brain is the part that gives us our personalities. A person who receives an injury to that part of the brain may
recover physically but may never have the same personality.
*“What a Headache!” from Dixie Massey and Tina Heafner,
Initiating Inquiry in US History. Culver City, Calif.: Social Studies
School Service (in press).
N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 016
335
that occurred post-trauma that caused
the greater intrigue. Gage’s case was
among the first indications that the brain
has many specialized functions beyond
walking and talking. The damage to his
prefrontal cortex inhibited his reasoning,
adaptation to social conventions, and
ability to plan for future events. These
executive functions had been damaged
in Gage’s accident. His skull remains as a
perennial artifact in the Harvard School
of Medicine that has inspired neuroscience for over 140 years.
Gage’s case can quickly stimulate
students to look beyond an individual
incident and conduct an inquiry into
important historical trends and topics:
the growth of railroads and their impact
on the country; the enormous amounts
of labor, skill, and capital that were
required to build the railroads; the rights
of workers, especially those injured on
the job; and the growth of scientific
knowledge.
Reading for Information with
Short Texts
Following an examination and discussion of the images, we introduce the text
readings. In the case of Phineas Gage,
we ask students to read an excerpt from
a short text that describes the accident in
which Phineas Gage was injured:
[He] had blasted many times before. He had his own tamping iron,
made by a local blacksmith. The
rod was three feet, seven inches
long. One end came to a point,
like a sharpened pencil. The rod
weighed about 13.5 pounds. On
an ordinary day in September,
something went wrong. During the blasting, something distracted Phineas. Maybe someone
called his name at the last minute.
He looked over his shoulder and
the black powder exploded!
The pointy end of the tamping iron entered his left cheek
and went out through the middle
of his forehead. The tamping
Figure 2. C
ore expectations to achieve the goals of C3 Inquiry
and Common Core literacy aims
1. Regular practice with complex, difficult text and academic language.
2. Reading, writing, talking and creating are grounded in evidence
from texts.
3. Build knowledge through content-rich nonfiction texts.
iron went all the way through his
head and landed on the ground.
Phineas fell on his back. Blood
poured out of his injury, but he
was still alive. He was even talking.4
Short texts are accessible texts that
are typically focused on a very specific
incident or event within a much broader
era. Short texts offer invitations into the
content that spark interest and questions
about a topic. Short texts allow students
time to ask questions in a way they don’t
when too much information is presented
in a single reading encounter. The intent
is generative thinking that leads students
to additional informational texts for iterative thinking. Short texts are useful for
giving overviews, providing novel entries
into larger topics, and helping students
approach sophisticated, discipline-specific texts.
Reading to Challenge Evidence
and Revise Claims
To continue our investigation, we introduce additional texts about the images
distributed for the students to read on
their own. Here we want students to
read across texts and to corroborate
evidence. This would be an appropriate time to integrate the aforementioned
primary source. We also recommend
John Fleischman’s account, “Horrible
Accident in Vermont,” which offers a
vivid account of the events of Gage’s
accident on September 13, 1848.5 We
like this source because there is an audio
version available for differentiated reading, for ELLs, or students with disabiliS o c i a l E d u c at i o n
336
ties. We share the three-dimensional
model published in The New England
Journal of Medicine to visually demonstrate the trauma induced by the injury.6
Depending on the reading skills of students, it might be necessary to scaffold
reading. We recommend a technique
we refer to as Chunking.7 Chunking is
intuitively accomplished with short texts
but is an unnatural process needed when
students encounter primary sources or
technical writing common in the social
sciences. Chunking purposefully breaks
texts into smaller sections to allow students to consider each section as a singular text. This process draws students’
attention to details provided in information-laden texts without overwhelming
readers.8 The initial chunks of text can
serve as material for the teacher to think
aloud with students, serving as a model.
Successive chunks of text can be read
with partners or in small groups in order
to facilitate comprehension of text and
content. Final chunks of texts can be read
independently.
Reading to Inquire
Next we provide the complete short text
(see the sidebar “What A Headache!”
on page 335) and excerpts from Dr.
Harlow’s account to broaden the scope
of our inquiry. We want students to delve
into the causes of Phineas Gage’s injury
and to examine this event within its own
time. Harlow’s account describes details
about Gage and observations of Gage’s
post-traumatic changes. These changes
offer profound insights that had lasting
effects on the study of the human brain.
Moreover, Mr. Gage’s occupation and
TAKE YOUR STUDENTS
TO NEW PLACES
Discover how online mapping technology can enhance your social
studies classes. Esri provides free instructional activities and online
software to all US K–12 schools to support these explorations.
Esri is a member of the ConnectED initiative.
Learn more at esri.com/NCSS
N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 016
337
Copyright © 2016 Esri. All rights reserved.
the expectation of his employers created
the catastrophic event that removed his
frontal cortex.
The accident happened in this
town, upon the line of the Rutland and Burlington Rail Road,
on the 13th of Sept. last, at 4½
o’clock, P.M. The subject of it is
Phineas P. Gage, a foreman, engaged in building the road, 25
years of age, of middle stature,
vigorous physical organization,
temperate habits, and possessed
of considerable energy of character.
His contractors, who regarded him as the most efficient and
capable foreman in their employ
previous to his injury, considered the change in his mind so
marked that they could not give
him his place again. He is fitful,
irreverent, indulging at times in
the grossest profanity (which
was not previously his custom),
manifesting but little deference
for his fellows, impatient of restraint of advice when it conflicts
with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious
and vacillating, devising many
plans of future operation, which
are no sooner arranged than they
are abandoned in turn for others
appearing more feasible. In this
regard, his mind was radically
changed, so decidedly that his
friends and acquaintances said
he was “no longer Gage.”9
Successful readers have tacit knowledge, effectively call upon background
knowledge to make connections with
text, and can fix comprehension uncertainties while reading. There are times
that adding background information can
enhance content understanding, especially when there are clear gaps in content knowledge. While this often occurs
prior to reading, we recommend adding
information within the reading inquiry
process. To give students a historical
perspective on the impact of the development of railroads on the nineteenth
century, we recommend displaying the
painting Westward Ho! 10 (See Figure
4 on page 340.) This scaffolds content
understanding, and invites students to
be social studies insiders by revealing
contextual inferences.11 It is important
to introduce the visuals with a short
text that explains them in clear language
appropriate to the grade level of the class.
The years between 1820 and
1860 were a volatile time in
American history and brought
many challenges to the United
States. The transformation
caused by railroad not only facilitated the movement of goods
(e.g., cotton) but also people.
The reliance upon waterways
through the complex canal systems had given rise to settlements
located close to cities. Rail lines
opened new paths that moved
settlements patterns inland and
westward. Many viewed railroads as progressive as portrayed
in John Gast’s 1872 painting,
Westward Ho!, but the expansion of railroads could not have
been accomplished without the
labors of individuals who carved
routes through uncharted terrain
at great costs.
Throughout these activities, we invite
students to ask questions and make a
note of those questions. Rather than
answer student questions immediately,
or even verify that students’ responses
to the questions they’ve posed are correct, we challenge students to practice the
habits of thinking specific to the social
studies. We want students to move to the
disciplinary specific habits of mind that
social scientists use, such as contextualizing, corroboration, sourcing, and close
reading.12 We ask students: Where would
you go next to find evidence to address
your question? and, What sources would
S o c i a l E d u c at i o n
338
you use to develop (plan) your inquiry?
This allows students to develop the skills
necessary to answer questions that they
raise.
Reading to Answer Compelling
Questions: Longer Texts
Using the aim of C3 Framework
Dimension 1, Developing Questions and
Planning Inquiries, we use student interest to introduce more complex primary
sources and longer texts. These texts can
be Chunked or shortened to assist comprehension. However, with purposeful
introductions, students are better positioned to read longer texts because they
have some background knowledge and
because they have particular questions
they hope to answer. This type of inquiry
also allows students to pursue different
but related topics. In the case of Phineas
Gage, students might be interested in
brain research and medical treatment,
industrialization, transportation and the
railroad, the work of building railroads,
labor rights and railroad strikes, and
more. The teacher should guide students
to construct their own compelling questions (for example, Why would workers
build railroads if there was a great likelihood of injury or death?).
We next offer students text collections.
Initially, we may provide the texts within
a collection but allow students choice as
to which text set they explore. Soon, we
invite students to find their own sources,
specifically through Internet searches.
The selection and interpretation of
information from the Internet is a critical skill that requires the same patterns
of thinking we apply to more traditional
social studies sources. While many of
our students are familiar with searching
the Internet, they are less familiar with
thoughtfully evaluating what they find
on the Internet. They need to contextualize the source(s), evaluate where the
sources came from, and corroborate the
information between multiple sources.
We try to build toward reading longer texts, rather than assigning students
longer texts before they are prepared for
TIME Edge:
Visit us at
Booth 216 for
your free tote bag
with classroom
resources!
Content that Connects,
Educates and Excites
From the editors of TIME Magazine
and TIME For Kids
A digital learning and lesson planning platform for grades 6 and up.
TIME Edge provides educators across the curriculum with authentic nonfiction content written specifically
for middle school students and leveled for individual learners.
Stop by Booth #216 for a tote bag filled with classroom resources you can use now. You can also sign up to
win a free classroom subscription to TIME Edge!
•
Ready-to-use cross-curricular lesson plans
•
High-quality, high-interest nonfiction articles for students
•
Formative assessments and reporting tools
•
Exclusive teacher access to the complete
TIME Magazine archive
•
Suited for whole-class instruction, independent learning,
project-based learning and 1:1 instruction
Call us to learn more:
NYC and Long Island Schools: 516.280.4742
GA, TN and AL Schools: 770.337.9961
FL Schools: 866.380.9820
NC and SC Schools: 704.517.0850
All Other Schools: 866.634.3604
N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 016
339
TE_NCSS_conference_guide_final.indd 1
10/24/16 3:03 PM
Figure 3. A GalleryWalk
Images:
Source:
Alfred R. Waud, Artist. Work on the Last Mile
of the Pacific Railroad—Mingling of European
with Asiatic Laborers. 1869. Image. Retrieved
from the Library of Congress, https://www.
loc.gov/item/2001695508/.
George Benjamin Luks, Artist. Annual Parade
of the Cable-Trolley Cripple. 1899. Image.
Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
https://www.loc.gov/item/95522844/.
Figure 4. Types of Visual Inventories
Types of Visual Inventories
Noticing and Wondering
Noticing
I3
Wondering
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
I notice…
I wonder…
I’m thinking…
them, especially if these texts require a
lot of background knowledge. Second,
we build conceptual knowledge by such
activities as reading a series of shorter
related texts. Third, we capitalize on
the social nature of learning by allowing students to collaborate and discuss
as they're reading. Fourth, we pause to
think aloud and model how we read for
those students who need it. This should
include pausing when comprehension
breaks down and using strategic ways of
thinking to fix the problem of a breakdown in comprehension. Fifth, we provide time to read longer texts in class
so that we can monitor how students
are reading and where they may be losing focus. Finally, as with any skill, we
allow plenty of opportunities to practice.
Social studies teachers can expect that
many students have never read longer
texts that are discipline-specific and as
such, need ample time to learn how. In the following pages, we offer some
foundational works that address questions our students have asked. We offer
these as a starting point and encourage
students to find their own sources.
Students will ask: Why would workers build railroads if there was a great
likelihood of injury or death? To learn
more about the experiences of railroad
workers, we direct students to an image
collection we have compiled and to the
Library of Congress primary sources:
• Library of Congress. “Rise of
Industrial America: Railroads in
the Late 19th Century.” www.loc.
gov/teachers/classroommaterials/
presentationsandactivities/
presentations/timeline/riseind/
railroad/
• Library of Congress. “Westward
expansion.” www.loc.gov/
Picture Words
teachers/classroommaterials/
primarysourcesets/westward/
• Library of Congress. “Railroad
1828-1900 Maps.” https://www.
loc.gov/collection/railroad-maps1828-to-1900/about-this-collection/
We share two examples of the primary
S o c i a l E d u c at i o n
340
source images within our collection. If
many students share this interest, then
a GalleryWalk would be an effective
teaching technique for exploring the
meaning of these images.
When viewing images, we recommend
that students record their impressions
in Visual Inventories such as those in
Figure 4—Noticing and Wondering, or
Picture Words.13
Another example of student-created
inquiry began with the compelling
question, Why didn’t railroad workers
use a more stable substance to break
up rock? At the time of Phineas Gage’s
work for the railroad, workers did not
use nitroglycerin or dynamite to blast
rock. Instead, they used black powder
(or gunpowder), which did not always
work. By the mid-1860s, people began
to use nitroglycerin to blast rock and dirt
for railroad tracks. It was stronger, but
it was also more dangerous and easily
set off. Students can read more about
how nitroglycerin was used and learn
about the history of dynamite with these
sources:
• WGBH Educational Foundation,
“General Article: Nitroglycerin.”
Public Broadcasting Service,
American Experience, www.pbs.
org/wgbh/americanexperience/
features/general-article/tcrr-nitro/;
• ———. “Evolution of Railroads,”
Video, 4:19. A&E Network, www.
•
history.com/topics/industrialrevolution/videos/modern-marvelsevolution-of-railroads;
“Alfred Nobel,” www.bbc.co.uk/
history/historic_figures/nobel_
alfred.shtml;
• “The Story of Dynamite,”
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=n3COSL_cIoc; www.
youtube.com/watch?v=n3COSL_cIoc
• Samuel T. Pees, “Oil history: Nitroglycerin,” www.
petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/
pages/Shot/Nitro.html.
Yet another line of student inquiry is:
How could Gage’s employer fire him
after he was injured on the job? This
opens the dialogue to include labor history and the impact of railroad strikes.
We offer these sources:
• Howard Zinn, “The Other Civil
War” and “Robber Barons and
Rebels,” in A Young People’s
History of the United States. New
York: N.Y.: Seven Stories Press,
2007.
• “The Great Railroad Strike.
Digital History,” www.
digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.
cfm?smtid=2&psid=3189.
• “The Great Railway Strike of
1877 and Newspaper Coverage,”
http://railroads.unl.edu/views/item/
strike_77
Transforming
outstanding educators
into constitutional
scholars
Š Fellowship awards
up to $24,000 for
graduate study
Š Recognized as the most
prestigious award in
constitutional history
for secondary teachers
For more information, visit w w w. j a m e s m a d i s o n . g o v
N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 016
341
• Howard Zinn, “The Great
Railroad Strike, 1877,” http://
libcom.org/history/1877-the-greatrailroad-strike
Some other students may be curious
about the brain and may ask: Why would
Harvard keep a 140-year-old skull?
Examining brain injuries and the history
of neuroscience as well as the impact of
technology on scientific inquiry are possible curiosity pathways:
• Ned Brown, “Lessons of the
Brain: The Phineas Gage Story,”
Harvard Gazette, October 29,
2015, http://news.harvard.edu/
gazette/story/2015/10/lessons-ofthe-brain-the-phineas-gage-story/.
• Malcom Macmillan. “The
Phineas Gage Information Page,”
www.uakron.edu/gage/.
• Steve Twomey. “Phineas Gage:
Neuroscience’s Most Famous
Patient,” Smithsonian, January
2010, www.smithsonianmag.
com/history/phineas-gageneurosciences-most-famouspatient-11390067/?no-ist. www.
smithsonianmag.com/history/
phineas-gage-neurosciences-mostfamous-patient-11390067/?no-ist
• J.D. Van Horn, A. Irimia, C.M.
Torgerson, M.C. Chambers,
R. Kikinis et al., “Mapping
Connectivity Damage in the Case
of Phineas Gage.” 2012. PLoS
ONE 7(5): e37454. doi:10.1371/
journal.pone.0037454, http://
journals.plos.org/plosone/
article?id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.
pone.0037454.
After evaluating the evidence and the
different perspectives on the questions
they have asked, students communicate
their conclusions by writing either essays
or narratives,and presenting summaries
of the main points of their argumentative
writing to the class.
Conclusion
This article has demonstrated the
instructional moves that we can make
with informational texts. These are
steps that can be replicated to support
student inquiry. First, start with images
to draw even reluctant readers into a
topic. Offer a short text, preferably a
short text developed from sources specifically written to help readers answer
a question or prove a theory. Next, use
short texts in collections that include
traditional primary and secondary
sources as well as multi-genre sources
such as images, digital imaging, audio
texts, artifacts, etc., which can be used
to differentiate reading. Throughout the
process, invite student questions and
let questions lead to new texts. Direct
students to think about what’s next and
where they would go from here. Support
students in planning their inquiries and
use texts to spark student independence
in seeking additional sources to develop
informed and actionable disciplinary
thinking. Our aim is to make content,
texts, and inquiry visually and cognitively accessible to all students, including struggling and reluctant readers.
in The New England Journal of Medicine to visually demonstrate the trauma induced by the injury.
7. Dixie Massey and Tina Heafner, Seeds of Inquiry:
Using Short Texts to Enhance Student
Understanding of U.S. History (Culver City, Calif.:
Social Studies School Service, 2014).
8. Tina L. Heafner and Dixie Massey. Meeting the
Common Core, Part Two: Reading Informational
Text (2015), www.socialstudies.org/c3/c3lc/meeting_
the_common_core_pt2.
9. Dr. John M. Harlow. Passage of an Iron Rod
Through the Head. (1869), www.nejm.org/doi/
full/10.1056/NEJM184812130392001
10.John Gast, American Progress. ca. 1873. (Image
printed by George A. Crofutt), https://www.loc.gov/
item/97507547/.
11. J.E. Readence, D.W. Moore, and R.J. Rickleman,
Prereading Activities for Content Area Reading and
Learning (Newark, Dele.: International Reading
Association, 2000).
12. Bruce VanSledright, The Challenge of Rethinking
History Education: On Practices, Theories, and
Policy (New York: Routledge, 2010); Abby Reisman,
“Reading Like a Historian: A Document-based
History Curriculum Intervention in Urban High
Schools,” Cognition and Instruction 30, no. 1
(2012), 86–112; Sam Wineburg, Historical
Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts (Philadelphia,
Penn: Temple University Press, 2001).
13.Heafner and Massey, Targeted Vocabulary
Strategies for Secondary Social Studies; Heafner
and Massey, Strategic Reading in U.S. History.
Notes
1. See Tina L. Heafner and Dixie D. Massey, Targeted
Vocabulary Strategies for Secondary Social Studies
(Culver City, Calif.: Social Studies School Services,
2012); and Tina L. Heafner and Dixie D. Massey,
Strategic Reading in U.S. History. (Culver City,
Calif.: Social Studies School Services, 2006).
2. The image of Phineas Gage is reproduced from the
Phineas Gage Information Page. Available at www.
uakron.edu/gage. Digital renderings of Gage's skull
showing the trajectory of the rod and the fiber pathways in the left hemisphere are from J.D. Van Horn,
A. Irimia, C.M. Torgerson, M.C. Chambers, R.
Kikinis, and A.W. Toga, (2012) “Mapping
Connectivity Damage in the Case of Phineas Gage,”
PLoS ONE 7(5): e37454. doi:10.1371/journal.
pone.0037454, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/
article?id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0037454.
3. Steve Twomey, “Phineas Gage: Neuroscience’s Most
Famous Patient,” Smithsonian, (January 2010) www.
smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gageneurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/?no-ist.
4. Dixie Massey and Tina Heafner, Initiating Inquiry
in US History. (Culver City, Calif.: Social Studies
School Service, in press).
5. Fleischman, John, Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but
True Story about Brain Science. (New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 2002), https://www.amazon.
com/Phineas-Gage-Gruesome-Story-Science/
dp/0618494782
6. Peter Ratiu, M.D., and Ion-Florin Talos, M.D, “The
Tale of Phineas Gage, Digitally Remastered,” The
New England Journal of Medicine 351, no. 21
(2004): 1, www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm
031024. We use three-dimensional model published
S o c i a l E d u c at i o n
342
Tina L. Heafner is a Professor of Social Studies Education at the University of North Carolina
at Charlotte. She served as Project Director of the
NCSS C3 Literacy Collaborative. Through online
professional development and the development of a
Teacher Practice Network for the C3LC project, she
supported over 50 teams of social studies educators
across the country who participated in online professional development, designed C3 and literacy-focused
inquiries, and collectively shared grassroots curricular
applications. Dixie D. Massey is a Senior Lecturer
in Literacy at the University of Washington.