database – Inquiry Teaching https://www.inquiry-teaching.com Lesson Plans for Inquiry Based Teaching Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:01:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://www.inquiry-teaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cropped-inquiry-home-v2-1-32x32.jpg database – Inquiry Teaching https://www.inquiry-teaching.com 32 32 A Simulation of Congress https://www.inquiry-teaching.com/lesson/a-simulation-of-congress/ Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:25:31 +0000 https://www.inquiry-teaching.com/?post_type=product&p=5750 Regarding Current Events: We recognize that our democracy is under incredible stress today, and that the majority of Americans think  Congress is a broken institution.  With the release of this product, we hope that teachers can show students how the Legislative Branch is supposed to function.  With this inquiry based learning, students will also be better equipped to consider what reforms might improve and enhance this part of our government.   We have spent decades working on our Simulation of Congress.  This set of materials provides teachers with directions, resources, and guides to run a complete simulation of the House of Representatives.  Our students have often considered this simulation to be one of the highlights of their school year!  The learning is deep, and often quite meaningful to students.  As teachers, we also enjoyed this unit more than any other. Way back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we created Version 1 of this simulation using Apple's HyperCard program.  Our Simulation of Congress Version 1 had 100+ fictitious Members of Congress for students to portray, a tool for writing bills, the ability to randomly select the Members to be assigned, and other features that only a software program could provide.  We sold a great many licenses for this software.  However, when teaching US Government classes ourselves, we found having our students portray the real members of Congress was better and as online resources became readily available for researching Members and their districts, students learned additional skills.  All of the materials you will find in Version 2 of our product are improvements we've made over the past 25. The Simulation of Congress Version 2 comes with our Analyzing Congress Database Activity which should be used as one of the preliminary lessons.  There's no need to purchase this additional lesson plan separately.
  • Subject Areas: Government, Civics, Social Sciences, Humanities
  • Materials Required: Printed copies of the materials we provide, recordings of CSPAN segments or Internet access to stream them.  For the Analyzing Congress activity: A virtual classroom or other screen sharing tool, or a large screen display with a computer.
  • Time Needed: Typically 5 to 7 weeks with five hour long class periods per week or a similar block schedule.
Below is an image showing the suggested scheduling of lessons and activities one could use with this unit: Calendar of lessons to be used with the Simulation of Congress]]> Regarding Current Events: We recognize that our democracy is under incredible stress today, and that the majority of Americans think  Congress is a broken institution.  With the release of this product, we hope that teachers can show students how the Legislative Branch is supposed to function.  With this inquiry based learning, students will also be better equipped to consider what reforms might improve and enhance this part of our government.  

We have spent decades working on our Simulation of Congress.  This set of materials provides teachers with directions, resources, and guides to run a complete simulation of the House of Representatives.  Our students have often considered this simulation to be one of the highlights of their school year!  The learning is deep, and often quite meaningful to students.  As teachers, we also enjoyed this unit more than any other.

Way back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we created Version 1 of this simulation using Apple’s HyperCard program.  Our Simulation of Congress Version 1 had 100+ fictitious Members of Congress for students to portray, a tool for writing bills, the ability to randomly select the Members to be assigned, and other features that only a software program could provide.  We sold a great many licenses for this software.  However, when teaching US Government classes ourselves, we found having our students portray the real members of Congress was better and as online resources became readily available for researching Members and their districts, students learned additional skills.  All of the materials you will find in Version 2 of our product are improvements we’ve made over the past 25.

The Simulation of Congress Version 2 comes with our Analyzing Congress Database Activity which should be used as one of the preliminary lessons.  There’s no need to purchase this additional lesson plan separately.

  • Subject Areas: Government, Civics, Social Sciences, Humanities
  • Materials Required: Printed copies of the materials we provide, recordings of CSPAN segments or Internet access to stream them.  For the Analyzing Congress activity: A virtual classroom or other screen sharing tool, or a large screen display with a computer.
  • Time Needed: Typically 5 to 7 weeks with five hour long class periods per week or a similar block schedule.

Below is an image showing the suggested scheduling of lessons and activities one could use with this unit:

Calendar of lessons to be used with the Simulation of Congress

]]> The Power of Ideas – Database Project https://www.inquiry-teaching.com/lesson/the-power-of-ideas-database-project/ Wed, 03 Feb 2021 21:19:32 +0000 https://www.inquiry-teaching.com/?post_type=product&p=5491
  • Subject Areas: Any really, but ideal for History and Social Studies.
  • Materials Required: Virtual classroom or other screen sharing tool, or a large screen display with a computer, plus either printed or digital copies of the provided handouts.
  • Time Needed: Typically two to three class periods.
    • We've included everything you'll need in a single zip archive.]]>     Spreadsheets are perhaps the simplest form of a database and are excellent tools for introducing students to using technology for analysis.  This lesson plan provides an introduction to using databases for a research project about “idea creators” from history; famous artists, scientists, politicians, etc.

    While doing research about these individuals, students will learn about filtering, sorting, and other spreadsheet commands.

    • Subject Areas: Any really, but ideal for History and Social Studies.
    • Materials Required: Virtual classroom or other screen sharing tool, or a large screen display with a computer, plus either printed or digital copies of the provided handouts.
    • Time Needed: Typically two to three class periods.

    We’ve included everything you’ll need in a single zip archive.

    ]]>         Spreadsheet Basics – Learning to Analyze with Databases https://www.inquiry-teaching.com/lesson/spreadsheet-basics-learning-to-analyze-with-databases/ Wed, 03 Feb 2021 19:09:56 +0000 https://www.inquiry-teaching.com/?post_type=product&p=5486
  • Subject Areas: Any
  • Materials Required: Virtual classroom or other screen sharing tool, or a large screen display with a computer.
  • Time Needed: Typically an entire class period.
    • We've included everything you'll need in a single zip archive.]]>     Spreadsheets are perhaps the simplest form of a database and are excellent tools for introducing students to using technology for analysis.  This lesson plan provides data about homes sold in a given area to be used with an introduction to spreadsheet sorting and filtering commands .

    • Subject Areas: Any
    • Materials Required: Virtual classroom or other screen sharing tool, or a large screen display with a computer.
    • Time Needed: Typically an entire class period.

    We’ve included everything you’ll need in a single zip archive.

    ]]>         Analyzing Congress – Database Activity https://www.inquiry-teaching.com/lesson/analyzing-congress-database-activity/ Wed, 03 Feb 2021 17:23:13 +0000 https://www.inquiry-teaching.com/?post_type=product&p=5483
  • How representative of the average American is it?
  • What traits are common?
  • What does this tell us about what it takes to be a Member of the House of Representatives?
    • This teaching guide and lesson plan provides you with the resources to do a deep dive on current Members of the House of Representatives.
    • Subject Areas: Government, Civics, Social Sciences, Humanities
    • Materials Required: Virtual classroom or other screen sharing tool, or a large screen display with a computer.
    • Time Needed: Typically an entire class period.
    Special Note: This product comes with our Simulation of Congress.  Buy one or the other, but not both perhaps.]]>     Newly updated!

    Spreadsheets are perhaps the simplest form of a database and are excellent tools for introducing students to using technology for analysis.  This lesson plan centers around analysis of the current House of Representatives.

    • How representative of the average American is Congress?
    • What traits are common for current members?
    • What does this analysis tell us about what it takes to be a Member of the House of Representatives?

    This teaching guide and lesson plan provides you with the resources to do a deep dive on current Members of the House of Representatives.

    • Subject Areas: Government, Civics, Social Sciences, Humanities
    • Materials Required: Virtual classroom or other screen sharing tool, or a large screen display with a computer.
    • Time Needed: Typically two to three class periods.

    Special Note: This product comes with our Simulation of Congress.  Buy one or the other, but not both perhaps.

    ]]>