LET

STUDENTS
LEAD
A guidebook on how local investigations
drive democratic and global learning

vif international education

We in America do not have government

by the majority. We have government by
the majority who participate.
Thomas Jefferson

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While its rare these days to hear

good news about the state of public
education, it continues to serve an
essential role in communities and
nations. As an institution, public
education is often taken for granted
or, worse, viewed as a failure despite
a common understanding that an
educated public improves the quality
and health of a society. Increasing
demands on teachers schedules,
diminishing access to teaching
resources, low compensation and
especially in countries overcome
by the pressures of standardized
testing changing expectations
of how proficiency is demonstrated
by students can all distract
from the role educators play in a
functioning democratic society.

let students lead:

how local investigations drive
democratic and global learning

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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) views access to a sound education as a
fundamental human right specifically because of the influence it has on
supporting democracies. Thomas Jefferson, one the founding fathers
of democracy in the United States, believed in a participatory society
that offered citizens an active role in decision making at the local level.
Jeffersons commitment to democratic participation is evidenced through
his advocacy of public education and his belief that sharing knowledge
and raising public awareness is required for preventing tyranny.1
The U.S. political philosopher John Dewey designed and
promoted an inquiry-based educational pedagogy tied
directly to his assertions about democratic principles. Like
Jefferson, Dewey believed that genuine democracy involves
more than periodic voting. Democracy involves intelligent, active
participation in the formation of values that regulate the living of men
[and women] together. He insisted that all those who are affected by
social institutions must have a share in producing and managing them. 2
In fact, almost a century ago,
Dewey asserted connected learning
principleswhich are still relevant
todayto engage students in the
classroom by drawing on their
prior experiences and eliminating
the barriers between school and
community. The classroom is the
place to engage in local and global
politics, from debates about science
to close readings of literature from
diverse cultures. For Dewey, the
primary purpose of education
is for students to draw regularly
from personal experiences,
connect those experiences to larger
academic texts, engage in political
debates and understand local issues
in order to develop as citizens.

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Reference: The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia

Reference: Democracy and Education: An

Introduction to the Philosophy of Education

Advanced democracies are increasingly marked by apathetic

communities disengaged from their local political processes, not to
mention the quality of public education in their communities. Social
action and community engagement are core principles in global
education but support for developing comfort with those practices is
often absent from U.S. curricula. Teachers are positioned to empower
students to trust their curiosities about the world and to be leaders
in investigating their own questions so that no information is ever out
of reach. Reinvigorating educational approaches that better develop
informed and active students is not impossible and it does not require
deviation from standards-based instruction.

For educators, student-led

local investigations are a
great place to start.

let students lead:

how local investigations drive
democratic and global learning

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What are local investigations?

All humans engage with the world around them
from the moment of birth. In fact, we are all natural
investigators. We crawl, put things in our mouths,
listen to the sounds of our families and caregivers,
touch everything, test gravity and smell the world.
Yet traditional schooling tends to untrain our natural
instincts for investigation. Curiosity is traded for
memorization, observation is traded for following rules
that often have little connection to learning, and open
questioning and research are traded for teacher-directed
instruction.
How do we re-engage students natural investigatory
instincts while developing their knowledge of core
academic content? The answer is pretty simple. Students
need learning spaces and caring adults to establish
those spaces to build on their prior experiences and
demonstrate true connections between academic
subjects and the world students know.

simple questions can lead to

great local investigations.

Where is my
family from?

Guide oral history projects based on student

interviews of family members to create timelines
or maps of major events in family history.

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Effective local investigations:

/ Put students into the role of investigator and charge them with identifying

and collecting the data needed to answer simple or complex questions arising
in classrooms, schools or the larger communities around them.

/ Introduce expert or primary source knowledge that allows students to expand

on their own existing knowledge or perceptions of topics being investigated.

/ Are generally hands-on and involve learning outside of textbooks, and often
outside of classrooms.

/ May be discrete activitiesunder no circumstances are local investigations

required to be complex, long-term projects.

/ Reveal natural connections between local topics or issues and their broader,
global implications.

/ Easily utilize technology and 21st century tools.

/ Support evidence of how people learn
best, and help students feel in control
of their learning.

let students lead:

how local investigations drive
democratic and global learning

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The focus of local investigation activities and

projects, regardless of their scope or subject, is for
students to create content and engage in inquiry
processes by collecting data and testing findings against
what others considering the topic have found. This
brings students into the process of co-constructing their
own knowledge, supports their natural curiosities and
motivations to learn about the world around them, and
follows their developmental progression.
The number of technology tools currently available
allow students to collect data from sources ranging from
oral histories to bird migration patterns, and to analyze
and share findings with large communities. For example,
online open science applications, such as iNaturalist
and the Encyclopedia of Life, enable citizen science
projects supported by experts and resources and invite
students and teachers to contribute data to real-time,
crowd-sourced scientific investigations. Oral history
projects such as American Memory and StoryCorps
provide opportunities for all communities to document
their own histories and connect them to larger social
and historical narratives. Through these types of
investigations, students learn that historians, scientists
and artists are constantly interpreting, reinterpreting,
debating, arguing, researching and arriving at new
understandings of the world around them.

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Simple questions can lead

to great local investigations.
How are businesses started?
Investigate resources provided by the local chamber
of commerce and research or visit local businesses to
learn more about their reach.

Where does our tap water come from?

simple questions can lead to
great local investigations.

What kind of
plant is this?

Explore the genealogy of plants common

to the community.

Visit a local water utility or treatment plant to learn

more about your communitys water sources and
whats being done to protect them.

What kind of bird is that?

Research local animal species and their migrations
to the region, and explore other locales where these
species are found.

Why dont we throw trash on the ground?

Investigate local environmental policies and trace
what global issues they relate to.

let students lead:

how local investigations drive
democratic and global learning

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Why do we celebrate Mardi Gras, clam

chowder, flowers, blues music, etc?
Explore regional traditions (e.g., cuisine, festivals,
music) for global origins, connections or meanings.

Why do you talk like that?

Investigate regional dialects to reveal their
unique origins.

Who built that?

Consider local architecture and whether it reflects
other places in the world.

simple questions can lead to

great local investigations.

Where did you

get that shirt?

Investigate the geographic and resource

origins of students clothing.

Why is that building or street named

after a person?
Investigate local landmarks and places.

Simple questions can

lead to great local
investigations.
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Why are local investigations

important to student learning?
Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world
works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the
new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for
purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom.
from How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School

Local investigation practices in education are not new. Almost

every good teacher knows, for example, that if students have opportunities
to interview family members about their immigrant experiences,
knowledge is deepened because the information is relevant to students
lives. Imagine students then comparing their own family immigrant stories
with digitized primary sources available through the Library of Congress to
understand how their stories align with historical U.S. narratives.
Local investigations serve another critical function by providing teachers
opportunities to implement culturally responsive teaching strategies.
Education researchers have long documented the cultural biases that
exist in schools in the U.S. and other countries with highly diverse student
populations. 3,4 Educator biases, curriculum content, assessment procedures
and overall school cultures tend to privilege dominant groups within a
society. Students with diverse cultural backgrounds are often framed within
deficit models that view their experiences as something to overcome and
contribute to a downward spiral of low achievement and marginalization.

Reference: Multicultural Education: Issues

and Perspectives

Reference: The Importance of Multicultural

Education

Implementing instructional approaches that engage and serve students from

all backgrounds can be challenging if inquiry-based and student-centered
strategies are not central. It is not possible for teachers to know every detail
about a students background, nor it is necessary. Structuring time for
students to consider and share what they already know about a topic allows
teachers to better understand their diverse backgrounds and existing knowledge, and it reveals the misconceptions to address through investigations.

let students lead:

how local investigations drive
democratic and global learning

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Local investigations put students in the drivers seat

and provide opportunities for students unique personalities,
curiosities and strengths to shine. Challenging students to
lead their own learning is also essential for building trust
in the classroom. The importance of the relationships
between students and teachers cannot be overstated. When
student-teacher relationships break down, diverse student
perspectives risk being undervalued or ignored and will
result in students feeling disconnected. Achievement gaps
are easily understood in schools not actively undertaking
efforts to develop student-centered and culturally
responsive classrooms.
Again, maintaining a culturally responsive and effective
learning environment does not mean that teachers must
be experts in the cultures and backgrounds of all of their students. In
fact, willingness to admit not knowing everything can be a strength as
long as it is accompanied by an openness to students and a curiosity
to learn more about them as individuals. With this in mind, local
investigations should not be conducted only by students. Teachers need
to be active participants in the processnot just as teachers but as
fellow researchers and learners. For trust to be built, teachers have to
share and build on their experiences, too. Reciprocity is critical.

For trust to be built, teachers have to share and build on their experiences, too.
Reciprocity is critical.

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How are local investigations

relevant to global learning?
Local investigations provide compelling foundations for connecting student
curiosity to global contexts because students cant begin to explore the world
unless they recognize where they are.

The most effective approaches to global learning dont necessarily

start by focusing on things or places far away from students. Curiosity
and perspective-taking are critical global competencies to help students
develop, and those skills are nurtured when students thoroughly explore
their own backgrounds, communities and cultural contexts. New literacy
standards underscore the need for students as young as kindergarten
to compare and contrast because understanding is strengthened when
students analyze the similarities and differences between something
they recognize and something they dont. Local investigations provide
compelling foundations for connecting student curiosity to global contexts
because students cant begin to explore the world unless they recognize
where they are.
Lets consider a few more detailed examples. Oral
history projects conducted by students in any U.S.
classroom will find global connections among
family or community members within one or two
generations. The inherent diversity of the U.S.
population is something educators can use to create
units of study built on the premise that the majority
of U.S. Americans come from somewhere else in the
world. Several questions might drive these types of
investigations and students may develop interview
protocols to explore their own stories. What
brought their families and ancestors to this country?
What global event triggered their families immigration? What was the
relationship of newly arriving immigrants to the communities already
here? How did they adapt to their new homes?

let students lead:

how local investigations drive
democratic and global learning

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Most local communities are linked

to the global economy in real ways.
Community mapping projects will reveal
local companies with inherent global connections
established through trade, markets or outright
ownership. Chambers of commerce are excellent
resources for data and information about local
and global business relationships that may be core
components of local economies. Inviting local business
leaders or planning a field trip to a local business
will make these global connections transparent
to students. Guest speakers may focus on how
the products they produce locally are critical to
relationships across cultural and geographic borders
and to the success of their businesses. Diving deeper,
students may explore how local businesses have
changed business practices and product development
to ensure that they are connecting to diverse markets
and customers, including how local businesses have
adjusted to changing demographics in their own
communities. In addition, many communities have
experienced the loss of manufacturing industries
and students may examine the global forces that
contribute to such capital movement. Where did
these business go? Why did they move? What other
businesses took their place?
Local investigations driven by political
and history curriculum standards might
involve interactions with representatives
from local, state or national governments. Students
may conduct research and compile questions and then
engagevirtually or in personwith political staff
or local elected officials to discuss various aspects
of the political process, the roles of elected officials,
pending legislations, policy agendas, etc. These types
of efforts may be integrated into standards-based
projects that connect the study of U.S. government
to local investigations of political representation and
local-global interdependencies. Investigations such
as these are also essential for students to understand
how governments work and that they have a role
in their own governance. Engaging directly with
representatives through student-led questions is an
excellent first step in making civic responsibility more
transparent to students.

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simple questions can lead to

great local investigations.

Where do you
live compared
to where I live?

Map neighborhoods or local communities, using

Google Earth or other online mapping tool, to
identify community assets and landmarks.

Finally, local investigations create

connections that help students
recognize that most jobs will require
them to interact with and communicate effectively
across diverse cultures. They also allow students
to utilize technology tools, and to learn and apply
technology literacy in their research. These are the
types of applicable skills and insights that students
need to interact effectively with their communities
and with the world.

Next steps
For many teachers, local investigations are already
integral to everyday instruction. For others, curriculum
and accountability mandates may feel too pervasive
and time consuming to comfortably adopt a studentcentered approach. Educators interested in integrating
local investigations into instruction need to feel
comfortable putting students in charge of their
learning, which requires not only trust in students but
also planning to provide the structure and guidance
needed for students have some authority in their
learning process.
Local investigations do not abandon curriculum
standards in favor of student interests. The most
effective local investigations happen when standardsbased instruction can be supported, enhanced or
transformed by investigations sparked by student
curiosity. The list of local investigation dos and donts
on the following pages will help you get started and
demonstrate that these investigations will not steer
you away from standards-based curriculum.

Local investigations do not

simple questions can lead to

great local investigations.

What does a
mayor do? How
are laws made?

Facilitate virtual or in-person discussions of

policy and decision-making processes with
representatives from the local government.

abandon curriculum standards in

favor of student interests.

let students lead:

how local investigations drive
democratic and global learning

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DO

/ Let students lead. Establish routines at the beginning of the year that build

students responsibility and ownership in the learning process. Make the

high expectations you have for students clear and ask them to sign contracts
agreeing to be leaders in their own learning.

/ Know your curriculum. Remember that local investigations do not always

need to be full-blown interdisciplinary units. Investigations can be as simple

as autobiographical essays just know where to plug local investigations into
your curriculum and how they will deepen your students learning.

/ Let students interests indicate where they might engage more deeply
with the curriculum. Allowing time for students to wander and wonder
around topics reveals new thinking and often leads to deeper understanding of
content. Dont consider this getting off track.

/ Investigate alongside your students. Where are you interested in further

developing your own content expertise?

/ Take advantage of local connections in your community. What expertise

can be offered on investigations of local topics by your colleagues or your
students families?

/ Communicate with parents and guardians about local investigations being

central to students learning processes. Ask for their participation and input to
build trust and buy in.

/ Be mindful when engaging students in local investigations that

require investigative work beyond school hours since this may

inadvertently favor certain students while isolating others. As much as is
reasonable, allow students to conduct investigations during school hours.

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/ Dont overcomplicate local investigations or overthink the planning

phase. Implementing successful local investigations doesnt always mean taking

students outside of the school building. Start with small projects to develop
procedures that you are comfortable with and go from there.

/ Dont throw out tried-and-true best practices. Wherever possible, use local
investigations to complement and strengthen everything you already do well.

/ Dont always be the expert. In fact, dont ever be the expert!

Local investigations promote inquiry by allowing teachers to learn alongside

their students.

/ Dont be afraid of student questions they are the most important part

of any inquiry process. Too often, as educators, we race through or dont allow
student questions because we believe they take time away from the curriculum.
But students cannot connect to any curricular activity unless they feel connected
to the outcome. Using a simple Know-Want-Learn chart is a great way to have
student questions drive your instruction.

/ Dont avoid controversy. Many administrators and parents fear students

being involved in difficult conversations. However, the classroom should be

the place for these conversations so that students learn essential skills such as
effective argumentation, using evidence to support particular positions, and the
critical difference between opinion and fact.

/ Dont be limited by curriculum pacing. The perennial problem of breadth

over depth reflected in many, if not most, district pacing guides can be difficult
to manage. However, local investigations will strengthen any curriculum area or
focus. Remember that local investigations may be discrete activities or they may
serve as interdisciplinary projects that anchor six- to nine-week periods.

DONT
/ Dont endeavor on local investigations if you cant commit to their

implications. Local investigations require pedagogical approaches that are

student-centered, inquiry-based and that ask teachers to give up their role as
experts in order to learn alongside their students.

let students lead:

how local investigations drive
democratic and global learning

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Resource Links

American Memory

The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia

Democracy and education:

An introduction to the philosophy
of education

Library of Congress

Encyclopedia of Life
Google Earth
How People Learn: Brain, Mind,
Experience, and School

Multicultural Education: Issues

and Perspectives
One T-Shirt Changed the Way
Students in a North Carolina School
Think About the World
StoryCorps

The Importance of Multicultural

Education

Tech Tools: Our 4 Favorite Online

Mapping Resources

iNaturalist

The United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

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Contributors
Julie Keane, PhD
Julie leads research and evaluation for all VIF programs, contributes to professional
development curriculum design, and is a key contributor to the development of VIFs
digital badging system. She holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a masters in political science from the Graduate Center
of the City University of New York. Julie grew up in the New York City borough of
Queens in one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the world, Flushing.
By simply walking through the neighborhood, residents and visitors of Flushing,
Queens may encounter Irish, Greek, Russian, Italian, Indian, Sri Lankan, Malaysian,
Colombian, Salvadorans, Indian, Pakistani, Afghan, Bangladeshi, Chinese and Korean
people and communities just to name a few.

Tamara Oxley, MA
Tamara manages marketing initiatives and operations for VIF. She holds a
masters in media and cultural studies from The University of Texas at Austin,
and a B.A. in communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. Tamara grew up on the eastern coast of Florida where, as a kid, she spent
a lot of time playing around huge shell mounds that are remnants of the early
Native American tribes that once inhabited the area. The history of Florida is
rooted in Native American cultures and the influence of those cultures is still
apparent throughout the state.

Lauren Hanford
Lauren leads visual design efforts across VIF marketing and product
initiatives. She holds dual bachelors degrees in design and computer
science from North Carolina State University. Lauren is a North Carolina
native and her favorite retreats are to the Blue Ridge Mountains, an
area with a rich musical culture shaped by the traditional styles and
instruments of the English, Irish and Scottish immigrants and African
slaves who settled the region in the 18th century. The music of the Blue
Ridge helped launch genres of music that we know today as country,
bluegrass and blues.

let students lead:

how local investigations drive
democratic and global learning

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Know-Want-Learn chart
Name: Date:

What do I KNOW

What do I WANT to find out?

What have I LEARNED?

learn.vifprogram.com/localinvestigations
2015 Center for International Education, Inc.

VIF International Education

VIF International Education partners with districts and schools to
develop global-ready teachers and students. For more than 25 years,
educators have used VIFs professional development and curriculum,
language acquisition and cultural exchange teacher programs to create
engaging learning environments that integrate technology, cultural
literacy and other 21st century skills into classroom instruction. VIF is
a certified B Corp and Best for the World honoree headquartered in
Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
2015 Center for International Education, Inc.