C3 Framework: College, Career, and Civic Life (C3)
The C3 Framework is a framework for Social Studies education that is inquiry based. C3 explains, "The Inquiry Design Model (IDM) is a distinctive approach to creating curriculum and instructional materials that honors teachers’ knowledge and expertise, avoids overprescription, and focuses on the main elements of the instructional design process as envisioned in the Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for State Social Studies Standards (2013). Unique to the IDM is the blueprint, a one-page representation of the questions, tasks, and sources that define a curricular inquiry." This framework has been adopted by NCSS and aligns with the Common Core.
NHCSS has taken the lead in posting creative teacher inquiries that align with the C3 Framework and address New Hampshire State standards. Check back frequently as more will continue to be posted. To have your content posted here, make sure it is in the C3 Framework's format. To do this, use the IDM Generator (online at http://idm.c3teachers.org). The platform develops interactive inquiries for online use by students. C3 explains, "The easy to use, web-based interface enables students to inquire about compelling questions, access disciplinary sources, and complete formative and summative tasks and exercises in taking informed action. Teachers can create class accounts and produce a unique web address for students to complete an assignment online."
NCSS has posted an explanatory note on it's website about why they have adopted C3:
NHCSS has taken the lead in posting creative teacher inquiries that align with the C3 Framework and address New Hampshire State standards. Check back frequently as more will continue to be posted. To have your content posted here, make sure it is in the C3 Framework's format. To do this, use the IDM Generator (online at http://idm.c3teachers.org). The platform develops interactive inquiries for online use by students. C3 explains, "The easy to use, web-based interface enables students to inquire about compelling questions, access disciplinary sources, and complete formative and summative tasks and exercises in taking informed action. Teachers can create class accounts and produce a unique web address for students to complete an assignment online."
NCSS has posted an explanatory note on it's website about why they have adopted C3:
What is C3?
The result of a three year state-led collaborative effort, the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards was developed to serve two audiences: for states to upgrade their state social studies standards and for practitioners — local school districts, schools, teachers and curriculum writers — to strengthen their social studies programs. Its objectives are to: a) enhance the rigor of the social studies disciplines; b) build critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills to become engaged citizens; and c) align academic programs to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies. In June 2017, a Religious Studies Companion Document was added as a Supplement to the C3 Framework. It is included in the downloadable pdf file of the Framework.
Why do we need the C3 Framework?
There are a number of motivating factors that inspired this work:
Marginalization of the Social Studies – The loss of instructional time at the elementary level and the narrowing of instruction in response to multiple-choice, high-stakes testing has significantly impacted time, resources, and support for the social studies. The introduction of the Common Core provided an opportunity for social studies educators to re-frame instruction to promote disciplinary literacy in social studies in such a way as to allow social studies to regain a more balanced and elevated role in the K-12 curriculum.
Motivation of Students – Children and adolescents are naturally curious about the complex and multifaceted world they inhabit. But they quickly become disengaged when instruction is limited to reading textbooks to answer end-of-chapter questions and taking multiple-choice tests that may measure content knowledge but do little to measure how knowledge is meaningful and applicable in the real world. The C3 Framework addresses this issue in fundamental ways.
The Future of Our Democracy – Abundant research bears out the sad reality that fewer and fewer young people, particularly students of color and students in poverty, are receiving a high quality social studies education, despite the central role of social studies in preparing students for the responsibilities of citizenship. Active and responsible citizens are able to identify and analyze public problems, deliberate with other people about how to define and address issues, take constructive action together, reflect on their actions, create and sustain groups, and influence institutions both large and small. They vote, serve on juries when called, follow the news and current events, and participate in voluntary groups and efforts. Implementing the C3 Framework to teach students to be able to act in these ways—as citizens—significantly enhances preparation for college and career.
Collaboration is Key
For these reasons and many more, thousands of social studies experts, curriculum specialists, teachers and scholars from across the nation... have been involved in the development of the C3 Framework.
