This fall, our 9th- grade Individuals and Societies (IndiSocs) students, our school’s globally minded take on Civics, tackled a powerful guiding question: Was US growth after the Civil War truly sustainable?

Across English, and Advanced Spanish, French, and Chinese sections, students dug into the complex realities of post‑Civil War expansion, examining not only economic growth but also the human, environmental, and systemic costs that accompanied it. Their work culminated in a museum‑style gallery walk that showcased research, multilingual storytelling, and a remarkable range of perspectives.

Investigating the Real Impact of Expansion

Faculty member Andrew Cossette explains that the project invited students to look beyond the familiar narrative of rapid American growth. “Students investigated how expansion affected people, land, and long‑term systems, not just short‑term economic growth,” he shared.

Using case studies such as the rise of railroads, mining booms, the Homestead Act, and the entrenched system of sharecropping, students asked critical questions:

• Who benefited from expansion?
• Who was harmed?
• How did systems of power and control continue even after slavery ended?

This inquiry‑driven approach encouraged students to see history not as a set of isolated events, but as a web of interconnected forces that shaped lives across generations.

A Multilingual, Multicultural Approach

Because IndiSocs is offered in four languages, each class brought a distinct cultural lens to the same historical moment.

“Across all language classes, students examined how different countries and groups participated in or were connected to early American expansion. Each language class brought a different national or cultural lens to the topic, based on the regions they study.”

-Andrew Cossette

The gallery walk allowed students to compare findings across languages, revealing how global actors influenced US expansion and how the consequences rippled far beyond American borders. This multilingual structure transformed a US history unit into a global exploration of migration, labor, economics, and power.

Building Global Thinkers Through Systems Thinking

Working across languages pushed students to think more expansively. They practiced systems thinking by connecting economic, political, and social impacts across regions and cultures.

Students strengthened their ability to:

• Evaluate evidence from diverse sources
• Consider multiple perspectives
• Understand how similar historical processes affected different groups in different ways
• Communicate their findings in more than one language

This approach reinforced a core ISDenver belief: history is interconnected, and understanding it requires stepping beyond a single narrative.

Cross‑Class Collaboration Deepens Understanding

Comparing work across English, Spanish, French, and Chinese tracks enriched the experience for everyone involved. Students saw how the same historical period could look dramatically different depending on whose story was being told.

These cross‑class conversations sparked deeper discussions about:

• Power and inequality
• Migration and labor
• Sustainability and resource use
• The long‑term consequences of policy decisions

Cossette noted that this broadened perspective helped students recognize that expansion “looked very different depending on who you were and where you were from.”

Student Voice: A Closer Look at Sharecropping

One 9th-grade student shared her experience researching sharecropping in French. She chose the topic because she had some prior knowledge and wanted to understand it more deeply.

She quickly discovered one of the challenges of multilingual research: “There were little to no sources on the topic in French, so I had to use sources in English and then translate them.” Recording her podcast was another hurdle. “I’m a perfectionist,” she admitted, “and I kept messing up.”

Her project explored:

• Economic impacts: the entrenched poverty faced by African American sharecroppers compared to white landowners
• Social impacts: the ways African Americans built community in secret to avoid arrest or violence, creating spaces where they could safely be themselves

Her hope for her audience was simple and profound:

“I want them to understand the hardship that Black African Americans had to endure during these hard times. I also want them to potentially reconsider their choices if they are mistreating someone and think about how they might feel.”

Inquiry Sparks Discovery

For Cossette, the most surprising part of the project was how many connections students uncovered independently.

“They found stories and perspectives that none of us, teachers included, knew beforehand. Their excitement showed how inquiry and choice led to meaningful and authentic engagement.”

This IndiSocs project reflects the heart of ISDenver’s mission: empowering students to think critically, act with empathy, and understand their place in a global community. By examining US history through multilingual and multicultural lenses, students not only deepened their academic skills, they strengthened their capacity to see the world with nuance, curiosity, and compassion.