Fourth Graders’ Guided Inquiry into Local Public Issues of Birmingham

In this manuscript, the authors discuss a seven-day research project that occurred within the Birmingham metropolitan area where fourth graders researched the role that public issues played in the creation of two suburban school systems in their city. We coded student work samples to look for themes. Emergent themes from student work samples are described in the findings section. We conclude in our discussion section with some recommendations for future research studies to teach issues of race in U.S. history based on our findings.