How to Use Pear Deck to Engage Students in DBQs

A DBQ, or document-based question, is a type of essay that is becoming increasingly popular on standardized tests. In a DBQ essay, students are given a prompt and a set of primary source documents. They must then use the documents to answer the prompt. DBQs are a great way to test critical thinking and analytical skills. They require students to not only read and comprehend complex documents but also to think critically about them and draw their conclusions. However, they can be daunting to the average secondary student, especially students with special needs. And grading them can be just as intimidating!

If you're looking for a way to make your DBQs more engaging and interactive, Pear Deck is a great option. Pear Deck makes it easy to create DBQs by providing a variety of templates and tools that make it simpler for students to get started. Pear Deck is extremely easy to use for progress tracking and providing timely and meaningful feedback. You can use Pear Deck to add questions, polls, and other activities. This can help your students get more out of the DBQs and better understand the content.

1. Gather your resources and prioritize

You don't need to have ten sources to answer one question. Depending on your students' grade level, lexile levels, and other factors, you can scale down your DBQs. With that in mind, feel free to adjust the number of sources required for your DBQs accordingly. Focus on the most important primary sources, maps, and images that you know your students can handle. Take a look at a few examples of how I prioritize the most beneficial primary sources for students in these resources:

⭐ The Legacy of Charlemagne Charles the Great Pear Deck Google Slides Mini DBQ

⭐ Why Crusade? Crusades Mini DBQ with Pear Deck Google Slides

⭐ Caesar Augustus Octavian Pear Deck Google Slides with DBQ Skills Practice

2. Scaffold and differentiate (I know those words irk you, but please keep reading!!!)

You can break down DBQs into smaller pieces using slides, just like in this Road to American Revolution Pear Deck below. This is a great opportunity for students to practice close reading and synthesizing information, and can also be a helpful way for teachers to gauge student understanding. This makes them much easier to manage for both students and teachers. Additionally, you can find more modern and engaging maps and images online to supplement the black-and-white ones in the DBQ workbooks. Just be sure to cite your sources!

3. Match tasks to tools

Use all of the tools Pear Deck offers to help students identify key pieces of information in a document-based question. Use the ‘draw’ tool for students to highlight important parts of a document. Use the draggable option if you want students to find a specific location on an image or map. And of course, there is the text option for short answers. These are just a couple of ways you can make DBQs interactive and more student-friendly! Take a look at some of my favorite task-to-tool pairings in this post!

If you're looking to have students write a longer essay, I recommend doing so in a Google Doc. Pear Deck is great for shorter responses, but a Google Doc will provide more space to write a longer essay. Plus, you can change the text size and proofread your work more easily in a Google Doc.

The DBQ is a challenging assignment for teachers and students alike. But if you follow these steps, you can make this task easier for both groups! By using Pear Deck to engage students in the DBQ, you can help them better understand what they're reading and write their answers more meaningfully.