Unit Plan 6 (Grade 3 Social Studies): Asking Good Questions About Our World
Build inquiry skills as Grade 3 students craft compelling questions about their community and use diverse sources—maps, charts, photos, texts, and interviews—to explore answers and think like young social scientists.
Focus: Develop strong inquiry questions about people, places, and community challenges, and practice using multiple sources (maps, charts, photos, short texts, simple interviews) to begin answering them. Students learn the difference between compelling (“big wonder”) questions and supporting (“smaller help”) questions and use these to explore their classroom, school, and local community.
Grade Level: 3
Subject Area: Social Studies (Inquiry/Skills)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 45–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, students learn that good questions are the starting point for understanding our world and communities. They explore how to form compelling questions about people, places, and community challenges (e.g., safety, environment, fairness) and then break them into smaller supporting questions. They practice using different sources—maps, charts, photos, short texts, and simple interviews—to gather information. By the end, students create a small “Inquiry Question & Sources” product where they show one big question, several helping questions, and some sources they could use to learn more.
Essential Questions
- What makes a good question about people, places, or our community?
- How are compelling questions (big wonder questions) different from supporting questions (smaller detail questions)?
- How can maps, charts, photos, and texts help us find answers or clues to our questions?
- Why is asking questions about our world an important part of being a thoughtful, informed citizen?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Explain in simple terms what an inquiry question is and why it is useful in social studies.
- Generate at least two compelling questions about their classroom, school, or community and several supporting questions for each.
- Sort or revise questions to be more open-ended and focused on how/why instead of only yes/no or one-word answers.
- Identify and use basic sources of information (maps, charts, photos, short texts, simple interviews) to gather clues related to their questions.
- Create a small “Inquiry Question & Sources” product that shows one compelling question, 2–3 supporting questions, and at least two possible sources.
- Use vocabulary such as question, compelling question, supporting question, source, and evidence correctly in discussion and writing.
Standards Alignment — 3rd Grade (C3-based custom)
- 3.C3.Inq.1 — Develop compelling and supporting questions about communities and regions.
- Example: “How does where we live shape what we do?”
- 3.C3.Inq.2 — Gather information from multiple sources (maps, charts, photos, primary/secondary texts, interviews).
- Example: Use a town map, a park brochure, and a short news article to learn about a new trail.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can explain what a compelling question is (a big question that makes me curious about our world).
- I can write supporting questions that help me learn more about my big question.
- I can choose and use sources like maps, charts, photos, and short texts to find clues.
- I can show one big question, smaller questions, and sources together on my Inquiry Question & Sources page.
- I can talk about why asking questions helps us understand our community and world better.