A teacher writes on the board, "How much did the shift to farming change daily life for early people?" and says the class will need many sources and several weeks to answer it. What is this question called in an inquiry?

During a unit on early farming, a student asks, "Which crops did farmers first grow in the Fertile Crescent?" The question can be settled with facts from one or two sources. What is this question called in an inquiry?

A student writes, "How many people lived in the city of Uruk at its peak?" and finds that one table of figures in a single source settles it. What kind of question is this?

A student wants to find out how much grain a Mesopotamian temple collected in a single year. Which source would answer that question most directly?

A student writes this sentence in a report: "Farming surpluses allowed some people in Mesopotamia to work at jobs other than growing food." What is that sentence called in an inquiry?

To back up that argument, the student quotes a dated clay tablet that lists grain stored in a temple storehouse. What is the quoted material called in an inquiry?

A student wants to find out which parts of a river valley have people living close together and which parts are nearly empty. What kind of map best answers that question?

A student's supporting question asks which parts of a region get heavy summer rain and which stay dry and hot all year. What kind of map best answers it?

A student asks where the mountain ranges, rivers and plains of the Indian subcontinent are located. What kind of map answers that geographic question?

A student investigating trade in Southwest Asia asks where oil and iron ore are found in the region. What kind of map answers that supporting question?

A student asks where farming, mining and factory work take place across a region. What kind of map is built to answer that question?

A student uses a diary that a merchant kept while traveling the Silk Roads in the 1300s. What kind of source is that diary?

A student wants to know how an ancient Egyptian scribe described his own working day. Which source would answer that question most directly?

In an inquiry, what is the job of the supporting questions a student writes?

A student asks, "Why do most people in Egypt live within a few miles of the Nile?" The question is about where people are located and why they are there. What kind of question is it?

A student asks, "How did daily life in the Nile valley change after farmers began to irrigate their fields?" The question is about change across time. What kind of question is it?

A student's claim must be supported with evidence taken from sources.

A compelling question can be fully answered by one fact taken from a single source.

A student asks how a river flood looked to someone who lived through it. Which source would answer that question best?

A student has written a compelling question for a unit on ancient river valleys. What is the next step in planning the inquiry?