Kristin Martinez
November 15, 2006
Website Group Inquiry
10th Grade World History
Problem for Inquiry:
Why did a movement like the French Revolution whose motto stated, “Liberty,
Brotherhood and Equality” slaughter lead to the death of so many people?
How will I pose the problem?
I will pose the problem through instruction. I will have given extensive background on
the causes of the Revolution and the different political factions involved.
Hypotheses that students might develop:
People who didn’t agree with the movement had to be killed.
They lost touch with what they were really fighting for.
Freedom isn’t free.
The political factions had different ideas about the meaning of “Liberty, Brotherhood and
Equality”.
What kind of data will I provide for the students that will help them evaluate their
hypotheses?
http://www.britannia.com/history/euro/1/2_2.html
 Ideology of the French Revolution
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook13.html
 Primary source documents online
http://www.pbs.org/marieantoinette/revolution/america_france.html
 Compares American and French Revolution
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761557826_5/French_Revolution.html
 Detailed background information on Revolution
Ron’s comment: This is an interesting inquiry question. One of the problems, you’ll run
into, however, is that none of the primary documents really will address this issue.
Historians of the revolution are the ones we resort to for an interpretation so what you
are asking for is really a very sophisticated inquiry problem. It is all right as an inquiry
problem, and the students could easily develop hypotheses for it, but it would be difficult
for them to read and interpret primary documents that would allow them to test the
hypotheses. So yes, this is a good inquiry question, although one that would take more
time to develop than is realistic in a class. For instance, if I said that “people who did not
agree with the movement had to be killed,” then I would have to look through some
materials that tells me that they did. And if I did not find any specific statement that said
so (for instance, if I did not find any statement by Robespierre that said so), would I then
say that this is not the correct hypothesis? It gets complex; too complex, maybe. Part of it
is that so many different factions were fighting during the revolution it would be like
trying to figure out what was happening in Iraq today!
Suggestion: so what to do? Tough one. As I said, in terms of the inquiry, you have a good
inquiry question. In terms of an inquiry doable for 10th graders within a limited amount
of time: tough one. You might think in terms of asking students more value-laden
questions that they can then support with their own research. Was the French Revolution
successful? Or was it justified to kill Marie Antoinette (having students look at the movie
in the theaters might be good).