Chapter 15: Using Inquiry to Teach About Religion in Middle and High School Classrooms

Middle and high school teachers often need practical strategies, activities, and frameworks that address the fullness of religious identities and beliefs— moving beyond commonly used materials that may over-simplify religions. Lessons often highlight the founders, sacred texts, and places of worship for the world’s major religions, an important component to building understanding, but these facts alone poorly address what it means to be a religious person. Instead of only focusing on simplified details or bullet points about religions, teachers can help students understand how people are deeply shaped by their religious traditions and, in turn, shape those same traditions. In support of a comprehensive approach to teaching about religion, the National Council for the Social Studies has recommended that the study of religion “take place across social studies disciplines and courses, wherever and whenever knowledge of the religious dimension of history and culture is needed for balanced and comprehensive understanding” (NCSS, 2021, Recommendations and Implementation section, para. 1). One way to address this goal is through the use of inquiry.