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Inquiry Arc Project
Topic: How the attack on Pearl Harbor affected America.
Standard of Learning, Student Learning Goals, and Objective
Standard of Learning: USII.7 The student will apply social science skills to understand the major
causes and effects of American involvement in World War II by
a. Explaining the causes and events that led to American involvement in the war, including
the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Student Learning Goals:
Three goals for my students would be Explain the attack on Pearl Harbor and the events
that led up to it. Analyze America’s involvement in WWII. Identify the key players, events, and
fall out that ensured after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I want my student to gain the knowledge of
what happened to the United States really affected them. This attack led to World War II
Objective: Given an exit ticket that contains 5 question the students will answer questions about
the key components about Pearl Harbor with 4/5 correct.
Inquiry Practices
Inquiry-Developing Questions:
Children are curious and have questions. They go to school to get some answers to their
questions, but most of the time they get shut down. “When you listen carefully and sensitively to
their questions, you communicate to students that they are worthwhile individuals whose
curiosities are valued” (Maxim, 2017). This statement is so powerful, and there needs to be more
teachers like this. I will lead my students in asking questions about the topic. I would divide
them into groups and ask them to come up with a question they would like to find out about the
topic. Here are a few questions about Pearl Harbor, how different might our world be today if
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America had not engaged in WWII following the attack on Pearl Harbor? How would the
outcome have changed if the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor had been thwarted?
Inquiry-Disciplinary Concepts and Tools:
My activity will lead students, by researching a few things on their own. This will allow
students to find evidence on their own. After they do this, we will watch a video about Pearl
Harbor together as a class. This will give facts to the students about what happened on that day.
“The student’s job is to find evidence, analyze it, and use it to create an explanation of past
events” (Maxim, 2017). This is important when it comes to learning new history events. They
will be making connections to other events that happened.
Inquiry-Organizing Evidence:
In this activity, students will trace the path of the Japanese ships from Japan to Pearl
Harbor on the world map. Also have they will identify the other locations Japan targeted. Using a
world map will show the students the actual path they took to get there. “This is the point at
which students make a final statement that summarizes the investigation; it is called the claim or
conclusion” (Maxim, 2017). Allowing the students to investigate a conclusion on their own
creates a sense of responsibility. The students would be able to find out what happened on the
day the Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Inquiry-Communicating Conclusions:
I will divide the class into three groups. The first group will be responsible for
researching the countries that America allied with following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The
second group will create a timeline of the America’s involvement in WWII following the attack
on Pearl Harbor. The third group will research the impact to Pearl Harbor and Hawaii at large
because of the attack on Pearl Harbor. When each group has finished gathering their facts, have
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them present them to the class. “Observe and question, students observe something that they
want to know more about and ask a question. Or the teacher may ask a question. Form a
prediction or hypothesis, a prediction or hypothesis is a statement of what the students think will
happen, or what the result will be. The hypothesis must be observable and testable, but the
prediction can be a general statement. Collect and analyze data, an important part of the
scientific method is collecting data. Students must be able to gather evidence from reliable
resources to construct explanations. After the data are collected, they are analyzed. This step
often involves organizing data in charts and graphing the information. Make claims/Draw
conclusions, after they assessed and analyzed the data, the students checked to see if the results
supported their prediction. They also considered a way to share their results with others”
(Maxim, 2017).
