Outlined in this article is the three-year journey of a middle school social studies department that led to a shift from teacher-led units of instruction (e.g., Reconstruction) to units that used student-generated questions (e.g., What was life like for former slaves?, How did Southerners' lifestyles change?, Did the North and South cooperate?, How did they physically rebuild and pay for it?) to guide understanding of relevant core concepts (e.g., "change"). The journey was guided by the department's belief that the ideal departing student is one who understands Big Ideas so deeply that he or she is able to spark further learning across contexts by questioning and investigating. Teachers led students to achieve these outcomes by focusing on Big Ideas, researching their practice, teaching with and for questioning, and creating consistency when needed.