Inquiry in Action: Building Literacy Skills in Social Studies

I turned eighteen in 2020 (Yeah, I know ... awesome, right?). Amid graduating high school, going to college, and all the uncertainty of the time because of COVID-19, there was another new frontier I had to face: voting in my first-ever election.

I honestly didn’t know a lot about politics, but I knew that the election was important, and I knew I had a civic duty to vote. There were so many questions I had to wade through: What party was I? How did I feel about certain issues? Who would I vote for?

Let me tell you, it was a struggle. Aside from the overwhelm I felt from COVID, this added an additional and hefty level of stress. I reflected back on all my education up until that point and wondered why I was not more prepared. Since then, I’ve made a greater effort to be informed of past and present events, allowing me to feel more prepared to do my civic duty. 

Teachers are not just filling the brains of students—they’re preparing the next generation of leaders, citizens, and voters. 

In order to create informed students who can think critically, educators must teach students about the past and what that means for our future. A key part of this is that students can understand what they read and create sound conclusions based on the evidence they are presented. 

Follow along to learn more about how you can teach your students social studies while also building up essential literacy skills. 

The Importance of Literacy in Social Studies

Around third grade, students shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” (Gee, 2003). From this point on, this critical transition is essential to student success in social studies and virtually every other subject. A student’s ability to comprehend complex texts is a make-or-break skill that is essential in education and their future careers.

A big factor in poor motivation and engagement for students is a struggle with reading comprehension, which creates a cycle where they read less and ultimately fall behind (Stanovich, 1986). This struggle becomes particularly concerning in social studies, where students need to engage with complex texts in a variety of ways: dissecting primary and secondary sources, comprehending historical documents, thinking critically, and writing. 

When literacy and social studies are intertwined, educators can:

• Help students develop critical thinking and writing skills
• Support student engagement and motivation
• Foster question-based learning and greater understanding of course content
• Prepare students for college, future careers, and civic engagement (The National Council for Social Studies, 2017)

How can you take social studies from the memorization of names and dates to an intellectually enriching experience? Here are some of our favorite ways to integrate literacy into the social studies classroom. 

Inquiry-Based Learning In Action

Social studies is all about inquiry – asking questions, examining evidence, and drawing informed conclusions. Research shows that an inquiry-based approach is key to student comprehension and engagement. With this approach, students analyze numerous perspectives, build effective arguments, and clearly communicate their findings (The National Council for the Social Studies, 2017).

Here are  a few ways you can integrate this into your classroom:

• Ask open-ended questions: Encourage students to explore historical events through compelling, thought-provoking questions. For example: Why do you think George Washington was such an important figure in the Revolutionary War? How do you think westward expansion affected the Native American tribes who were already living there?
  
• Use primary and secondary sources:  Have students analyze letters, read speeches, review newspaper articles, and explain political cartoons. These will be key pieces of evidence when they are building historical arguments.
• Teach how to evaluate sources: Help students consider key factors when examining a source, such as credibility, perspective, and the author’s intention.

💡 Quick Tip: Use graphic organizers to guide students in comparing multiple sources, helping them track different viewpoints and textual evidence.

Engaging Effectively with Primary Sources

Reading and interpreting primary sources is a cornerstone of social studies education. Engaging with historical documents will help students better retain knowledge and develop their critical thinking skills.

Primary sources may seem a little intimidating at first, but there are ways to make it more manageable for your students:

• Break texts into bite-sized pieces and include guiding questions so students have something to look for.
• Model annotation techniques to help students identify key ideas or details.
• Encourage students to create narratives or arguments based on their analysis (De La Paz & Felton, 2010; Wiley & Voss, 1996).

💡 Quick Tip: Give students an adapted version of a complex text alongside the original to build their confidence before tackling the full document.

Writing as a Tool for Understanding

Writing in social studies isn’t just about producing essays—it’s a tool for learning. When students write, they process information more deeply and develop stronger reasoning skills (McCulley & Osman, 2015).

Effective writing tasks include:

• Document-based essays: Students analyze historical sources and use them as evidence in argumentative writing (De La Paz & Felton, 2010).
• Historical analyses: Students explain cause-and-effect relationships and explore multiple perspectives on an event.
• Summarization exercises: Having students summarize a text in their own words enhances comprehension and retention.

💡 Quick Tip: Use sentence starters and graphic organizers to help students structure their arguments and make historical writing more approachable.

How to Support Struggling Readers 

Not all students’ reading abilities are equal. These differing abilities can greatly affect how students engage with historical texts. Struggling readers and multi-lingual learners often find academic vocabulary and dense historical texts overwhelming (Taboada Barber et al., 2015).

To support these students:

• Use scaffolding techniques: Provide guided reading questions, sentence stems, and model responses.
• Incorporate multimodal learning: Pair texts with visuals, listening, videos, maps, and other interactive elements to encourage increased understanding.
• Differentiate text complexity: Offer readings at various levels so students can feel motivated to engage with content at their level.

💡 Quick Tip: Encourage collaborative reading in your classroom by using peer discussions or think-pair-share to help students interact more with the text – and each other.

Making Social Studies Interactive 

Let's be honest. At one point or another, we’ve all probably fallen asleep during a lecture (freshman year astronomy class, I’m looking at you). Lectures can be beneficial for dispensing a lot of information but can also make social studies feel dry and disconnected. Integrate hands-on literacy-based activities to bring historical content to life. 

• Role-playing and debates: Have students study a historical figure, read their writings, and take on their perspective. Pair students together to debate and defend their viewpoint on events such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence or westward expansion.
• Newspaper projects: Assign students to create historical newspapers that cover key events. This is a great option to help students engage with primary sources as evidence.
• Literacy-rich stations: Set up stations around the class with different texts, sources, visuals, and activities that students can rotate through.

💡 Quick Tip: Interactive activities not only strengthen literacy skills but also increase engagement and content retention. 

Final Thoughts

Literacy mingled with social studies is more than just another teaching strategy — it’s a necessity. Students who struggle with reading comprehension are hindered in all other areas of study. When educators can build up a student’s reading ability while teaching them high-interest social studies content, they create a rising generation of informed and engaged citizens, as writing, reading, and critical thinking are key skills in any career path. 

At Mission.io, we prioritize lifelong learning, inquiry, and setting students up for success. Behind the scenes this year, we’ve been hard at work creating literacy-integrated social studies Missions and are excited to release them to the masses at the start of next school year.  Your students will get to help the colonists stand up against the British, draft the Declaration of Independence, and so much more.

If you’re interested in getting early access to these fifth-grade social studies Missions as a beta tester, please email cameron@mission.io. 

References

De La Paz, S., & Felton, M. K. (2010). Reading and Writing from Multiple Source Documents in History: Effects of Strategy Instruction with Low to Average High School Writers. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 35(3), 174-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.03.001

Gee, J. P. (2003). What Video Games Have to Teach us about Learning and Literacy. Palgrave  Macmillan. https://blog.ufes.br/ kyriafinardi/files/2017/10/What-Video-Games-Have-to-Teach-us-About-Learning-and-Literacy-2003.-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf

McCulley, L. V., & Osman, D. J. (2015). A Review of Quantitative Research in Social Studies and Literacy. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 39(3), 125-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssr.2015.06.002

National Council for the Social Studies (2017). The C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History. National Council for the Social Studies. https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/2022/c3-framework-for-social-studies-rev0617.2.pdf

Taboada Barber, A., Buehl, M. M., Kidd, J. K., Sturtevant, E. G., Richey Nuland, L., & Beck, J. (2014). Reading Engagement in Social Studies: Exploring the Role of a Social Studies Literacy Intervention on Reading Comprehension, Reading Self-Efficacy, and Engagement in Middle School Students with Different Language Backgrounds. Reading Psychology, 36(1), 31–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 02702711.2013.815140