Using “open” and “inquiry-focused” standards to study important women in Iowa’s history

This article provides Iowa’s elementary social studies teachers with a lesson idea for purposefully studying important Iowa women at either the third-grade or fifth-grade level. This article offers a step-by-step inquiry-based lesson that will help integrate elements of literacy, the Common Core, and the NCSS C3 Framework. Framed by the suggested compelling questions “How did the names of places on our maps get there?” and “Who do we chose to memorialize in this way and why?,” the lesson plan is made up of six steps incorporating the inquiry-based approach.