Kathy Swan, Ph.D.
Professor
Kathy Swan is a professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Kentucky. Swan was awarded UKY’s Great Teacher Award in 2021 and has been a four-time recipient of the National Technology Leadership Award in Social Studies Education, innovating with inquiry-based curricula. Dr. Swan served as the project director and lead writer of the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards (2013), the national standards for social studies. She has co-written a number of best-selling books including Inquiry-Based Practice in Social Studies Education: The Inquiry Design Model (2017); The Inquiry Design Model: Building Inquiries in Social Studies (2018), and; Blueprinting an Inquiry-Based Curriculum: Planning with the Inquiry Design Model (2019). Swan works extensively with museums and other educational institutions including the Smithsonian American History Museum, Smithsonian American Indian Museum, National Geographic, Library of Congress, and the Southern Poverty Law Center where she consults on building inquiry-based initiatives for teachers. She is the co-creator and co-director of C3 Teachers (c3teachers.org) and Making Inquiry Possible (makinginquirypossible.org) where she facilitates networks of educators around the world who are helping social studies and civic education become relevant in K-12 schools.
Research categories: Social Studies Education, Technology, Assessment, Teacher Education, Secondary Education