ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of sources in an inquiry and in the inquiry design model (IDM), the instructional uses of sources, and the ways that teachers prepare sources for use in an inquiry. Sources serve three important purposes in the Inquiry Design Model. They help to initiate and spark inquiry, they provide students with the background knowledge they need to sustain an inquiry, and they supply the evidence needed to support arguments at the conclusion of an inquiry. Sources are relevant across the full scope of the Inquiry Arc, but they are also full of contradictions and complications. In definition of sources, the chapter describes as being useful in answering inquiry questions and such sources often originate in the social studies disciplines. Sparking curiosity is about engaging students as they initiate and sustain an inquiry. As a comprehensive approach to teaching and learning, inquiry helps students do many things, but perhaps most importantly inquiry helps students build knowledge.
