Organization description
Ohio Wesleyan has been educating teachers for more than 100 years. This experience confirms our belief that the most creative and effective teachers are prepared at strong liberal arts colleges such as ours. Our program emphasizes a solid theoretical base and practical experience.
Project description
From Campus to Classroom: Strengthening Preservice Social Studies Instruction through Primary Sources is a professional learning initiative designed to help preservice teachers build practical, classroom-ready skills for teaching with Library of Congress primary sources through the Micro-Inquiry instructional model. Using a blended sequence of an asynchronous online course (Fall 2025) followed by regional, full-day workshops across Ohio (Spring 2026), participants learn to find, analyze, and select high-quality primary sources; use Library of Congress tools and protocols for source analysis; and apply copyright and citation guidelines. The learning experience emphasizes inquiry-based, time-efficient lesson design that supports critical thinking, perspective-taking, and historical reasoning through a four-source Micro-Inquiry structure (Compelling, Context, Contrast, Complexity).
Participants will complete and share a finished Micro-Inquiry lesson plan built from four Library of Congress primary sources, receive peer feedback artifacts, and have access to follow-up coaching through optional drop-in sessions and individualized think-aloud design conferences. Final products will be curated in an open-access digital repository hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University, supporting broader educator use and adaptation. The project will disseminate outcomes through state and national conference presentations and evaluate impact through pre/post surveys, rubric-based reviews of Micro-Inquiries, and qualitative analysis of participant reflections to ensure the work remains sustainable, research-informed, and aligned with the TPS mission.
