01Encounter
Spark
Begin with a compelling image, artifact, contradiction, or story that makes students want to know more.
✦ A signature project-based learning model
History is not something students receive.
History is something students investigate, interpret, and explain.
Explore the seven phasesConsequential questionsStudent-owned evidencePublic explanation
ASK
WHY
WHY
01 Spark→02 Inquiry→03 Investigation
01 / The shift
From coverage to consequence
Students do not just learn what happened. They learn how we know.
Traditional model
Teacher → Information → Student → Assessment
The Eldredge Inquiry Framework
Phenomenon → Question → Investigation → Creation → Public Defense → Reflection
02 / The learning journey
Seven connected phases
A structure for curiosity, rigor, and authentic work.
Each phase gives students greater ownership while the teacher provides the instruction, feedback, and conditions that make ambitious inquiry possible.
02Question
Inquiry
Students shape meaningful questions and identify what they need to understand about the past.
03Examine
Investigation
Primary and secondary sources become evidence as students compare perspectives, context, and credibility.
04Practice
Workshop
Targeted instruction builds the historical thinking, research, and communication skills the project demands.
05Make
Creation
Students turn claims and evidence into an authentic product designed for a real audience.
06Defend
Exhibition
Learners present publicly, explain their reasoning, and respond to questions with evidence.
07Reconsider
Reflection
Students name how their thinking changed, evaluate their process, and identify the next question.
03 / In the classroom
A World History example
The Industrial Revolution: Progress for whom?
Students investigate how industrialization transformed daily life, then create a museum exhibit that answers a contested question with evidence.
InvestigateFactory testimony, photographs, data, reform writing, and competing historical interpretations
Build a claimUse CER, source analysis, and a counterargument to explain who benefited and who paid the cost
Make it publicCurate a museum exhibit, present the argument, and defend design and evidence choices
“The question does not decorate the unit. The question drives the work.
04 / Shared responsibility
The teacher
Architect. Coach. Historian.
- Designs the conditions for inquiry
- Models disciplinary thinking
- Teaches skills at the moment of need
- Conferences, challenges, and redirects
- Connects student work to standards
The student
Questioner. Researcher. Creator.
- Develops questions worth pursuing
- Evaluates and interprets evidence
- Builds and revises an argument
- Creates for an authentic audience
- Defends choices and reflects on growth
05 / Authentic assessment
Measure the thinking, not just the product
Assessment follows the inquiry from first question to final reflection.
The framework combines formative feedback, checkpoints, performance tasks, public defense, and self-assessment.
01
Historical thinkingContext, sourcing, corroboration, and evidence
02
Inquiry processQuestion quality, research choices, and revision
03
CommunicationClear claims, purposeful design, and public defense
04
CollaborationShared responsibility, feedback, and contribution
05
ReflectionMetacognition, growth, and next steps
06 / Educator resources
Ready for Monday
Tools that move the framework from an idea into classroom practice.
Start with the free educator toolkit, then use complete inquiry units with the planning architecture, performance task, source map, workshops, and assessment sequence already built.
Historical Inquiry Starter Kit
Seven-phase framework guide, one-week launch plan, question builder, source-analysis organizer, corroboration matrix, CER planner, authentic-product planner, exhibition feedback, and reflection tools.
Download the free toolkit ↓The Industrial Revolution
Driving question: Did the Industrial Revolution improve life for ordinary people?
- Curated source architecture
- Workshop and checkpoint sequence
- “Progress for Whom?” museum exhibition
The Age of Imperialism
Driving question: How should the Age of Imperialism be remembered?
- Multiple-perspective source map
- Historical judgment workshops
- “Remembering Empire” memorial defense
07 / Founding educator pricing
Built for individual classroom teachers
Choose one inquiry or teach the complete sequence.
Purchase through Teachers Pay Teachers for straightforward delivery, permanent access through your TPT account, and a personal classroom-use license.
$29
One-time purchase / one educator
- One complete 18-20 day unit
- Performance task and public defense
- Planning sequence and source architecture
- Assessment guidance
$229
$348 individual value / save $119
- All 12 chronological World History units
- Approximately 18 days of inquiry per unit
- Illustrated and printer-friendly PDFs
- Editable Microsoft Word files
- Personal classroom-use license
Free
Explore the framework first
- EIF framework overview
- Inquiry-planning tools
- Question-building support
- CER and exhibition rubrics
- Student reflection form
The $229 full-year price is an introductory offer. Individual units remain $29 each. No subscription is required.
08 / Workshops and access
Bring inquiry to your classroom
Tell me what you are trying to build.
Ask a question about a resource, discuss adapting the framework to your course, or start a conversation about curriculum design and professional learning.
EIF
Created by Ian J. Eldredge
A practical framework for making student thinking visible.
Developed from classroom practice in social studies, coding, coaching, and project-based learning, the Eldredge Inquiry Framework brings inquiry, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and authentic assessment into one repeatable learning journey.