Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint™

Compelling
Question How does Fairfax reflect the story of America?

The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical analysis and responsible citizenship, including the ability to
a) identify, analyze, and interpret primary and secondary source documents, records, and data, including artifacts,
diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, historical accounts, and art, to increase understanding of
events and life in the United States;
b) evaluate the authenticity, authority, and credibility of sources;
c) formulate historical questions and defend findings, based on inquiry and interpretation;
Standards and d) develop perspectives of time and place, including the construction of maps and various timelines of events,
Practices periods, and personalities in American history;
e) communicate findings orally and in analytical essays or comprehensive papers;
f) develop skills in discussion, debate, and persuasive writing with respect to enduring issues and determine how
divergent viewpoints have been addressed and reconciled;
g) apply geographic skills and reference sources to understand how relationships between humans and their
environment have changed over time;
h) interpret the significance of excerpts from famous speeches and other documents;
Introduce the idea of Fairfax in American history through one of the following possible ideas:
 Visit from Fairfax Historian Susan Inskeep Gray
 Walking field trip to Fairfax Library’s Virginia Room
 Walking field trip to Blenheim
 Do an a document analysis of several Fairfax High School Yearbooks
 Take a field trip to George Mason University’s Northern Virginia and Regional History or Oral History collection in Fenwick
Library or invite them to Fairfax High School
 Review some highlighted materials from the blog covering the SCRC at GMU’s Fenwick Library
 Assign a personal field trip assignment earlier in the year to one of the following places:
o Mount Vernon
o Gunston Hall
o Fairfax Museum or any other one of these historic sites in the City of Fairfax.
o Bull Run Battlefield
Staging the o Oak Hill Plantation
Question Students are to visit these places with the following questions in mind:
 How do the people who occupied these spaces contribute to themes or eras in American history?
 Do the physical location, buildings, and other aspirations reflect the hopes and aspirations of its occupants?
 How has the economic value of this place influenced the history that happened here?
 How has government action or inaction shaped the history that happened here?
Find a story that is of interest to you from this that you would want to explore further.
Students will then brainstorm about a piece of local history found in the collections or one that is important to them personally that
they would like to research further. Parameters for research include:
 Person, event, or place to be researched must be have direct connections to Fairfax County.
 Person, event, or place must be tied into eras studied in American history
 Research must be presented as an infographic, documentary, interview (as video or voice memo), blog entry, or original
artwork (original musical composition, original fine art, or edited photo essay) with a written explanation that explains the
artistic rendering.

Grant, Lee, and Swan, 2014

 Supporting
Question 1
How do the people who occupied these spaces
contribute to themes or eras in American
history?
Do the physical location, buildings, and other
artifacts reflect the hopes and aspirations of its
occupants?
Formative
Performance Task
1. Students will identify a place, event, or
person that they are interested in
researching.
2. Students will contextualize the place,
event, or person as appropriate.
3. Students will correlate the place,
person or event to historical concepts
from the appropriate era.
4. Students will determine the effect of
these historical concepts on the
place, person, or event in question.
5. People will explain how the place,
person, or event impacted the
historical concept.
Featured Sources
 Virginia Room at Fairfax Library
 Fairfax City History Museum
 Fairfax City Historic Tours & Programs
 Blenheim
 Fair Facs Gazette
 Fairfax City historian
 Reston Museum
 Reston History Blog
 Lorton Prison Museum
 Fairfax County Virginia Historical Markers
 Fairfax County Historical Society
 Fairfax County History Commission
 Virtual Fairfax
 Virginia Museum of History & Culture
 Library of Virginia
 Gum Springs Museum
 Braddock Heritage
 Fairfax Historic Records Center
Supporting Supporting
Question 2 Question 3
How has government action or inaction How has the economic value of this place influenced
shaped the history that happened here? the history that happened here?
Formative Formative
Performance Task Performance Task
1. Students will examine the political
issues from the historical era in 1. Students will examine the economic issues
question. from the historical era in question.
2. Students will determine how 2. Students will determine how economic
federal, state, and local policy will factors impacted decisions of the place,
impact the place, person, or event person, or event in question.
in question.
Featured Sources Featured Sources
 Local history websites
 Fairfax County Park Authority Museum
Collection
 Sully Plantation
 Colvin Run Mill
 Frying Pan Park
 EC Lawrence Park
 Green Springs Garden
 Old Colchester Park and Reserve  US Census Bureau Fact Finder
 Riverbend Park  City-data
 Turner Farm  Library of Economics and Liberty
 Town of Clifton history
 Black history in Fairfax
 Library of Congress digital collection
 Encyclopedia of Virginia
 The Northern Virginia Partnership
 Mount Vernon
 Gunston Hall
 Virginia Museum of History and Culture
Guide to African American Manuscripts
Grant, Lee, and Swan, 2014
 Each student will work to create a digital document that is to be approximately (or minimum)
 750 words in length with a single image
 between 5-10 minutes recorded material
 a single original piece of fine art with a 500 word description
 a photo essay of at least 5-10 photos with a 500 word description
 an originally recorded musical composition with a 500 word description
Argument  a historical re-enactment (recorded) 5-10 minutes long
Summative  a recipe that includes researched narrative connecting it to Fairfax County with image, 750
Performance words long
Task  An immigration story with Google My Map that is annotated to include historical media and a
750 word narrative.
The product should be digitized. A works cited page in MLA Format is required. A minimum of ten primary
source and five secondary source documents are required.

Students can do extension by do further research. They can upload resources onto StoryCorps or
Extension participate in contests for academic honors like the 2018 SHRC Fair Housing Art and Literary Contest or
other competitive essay writing contests.

Taking Informed
Action
Students will post their final product onto the Fairfax High School Digital time capsule website.

Grant, Lee, and Swan, 2014