Search results

The C3 Framework is a recent example in a long history within the field of social studies education of efforts to engage teachers and students in inquiry-oriented teaching and learning. While there is some research regarding the efficacy of the inquiry design model (IDM) of the C3 Framework, few studies have sought to engage social studies teachers as coresearchers as they integrate the framework. This study addressed a persistent divide between the theory and practice of integrating inquiry in the social studies.

In this study, a classroom teacher and a university-based researcher conducted a hybrid action research study to understand the instructional shifts that occur as the C3 Framework is fully implemented into instruction.

Based on the findings, the authors present a theory of action to highlight key opportunities to shift instruction, while also acknowledging the factors that might mitigate those shifts. In particular, the authors focus on teacher decision-making and contextual factors that allow for and hinder the full integration of inquiry.

This study is unique in developing a hybrid action research/qualitative case study that provides insider knowledge related to improving social studies teaching and learning.

The purpose of this paper is to engage readers with Unity Productions Foundation (UPF) films, which provide a powerful, inspirational digital tool for teachers. The organization's mission is to create documentaries, films and educational materials that contribute to bringing to light compelling stories of Muslim engagement through history and culture. UPF films and educational projects aim to promote peace and understanding to increase cultural pluralism and counter bigotry in our world.

Teachers will be able to utilize the resources provided in this paper to harness the power of media in their classrooms. Outlining the process by which teachers can follow the C3 inquiry using the film Prince Among Slaves will prepare teachers to see the alignment of the C3 Framework with their teaching. The “best practice” classroom strategies in structuring deliberations are ones that encourage students to fully participate and emphasize their voice.

This paper will unpack the practice methods that address the film Prince Among Slaves to be of benefit when sharing narratives through digital film and engage students in critical thinking through the C3 Framework. UPF films are the product of scholarly research and innovative production teams as the films provide the opportunity to visualize and explore multiple perspectives to understand historical content by providing a context for inquiry teaching and learning that is inclusive through deliberative discussions in the classroom.

The author certifies that this manuscript submission is original work and that all authors were involved in the intellectual elaboration of the manuscript and all parties have been acknowledged.

In the Fall of 2020, three teacher educators in Ohio collaborated on a three-month long online professional development series on how to write Focused Inquiries, a la the Inquiry Design Model (IDM).

The authors detail the contents of the six group professional development (PD) sessions and share the lessons that the authors learned as a result of leading this training.

Given this study’s mixed results, the authors often came back to the questions of “maybe it was us? Maybe it was the pandemic? Maybe there wasn’t enough training? Or maybe IDM creation isn’t a skill that all teachers possess and maybe that’s ok?” The authors share the struggles with these questions and situate all of this within the current culture wars raging around schools today.

Finally, the authors offer the current approach to inquiry training for teachers that situates inquiry creation later in the process after significant structured introductory work.

In recent years, the field of social studies education has seen renewed interest in using inquiry to teach intradisciplinary concepts and skills. However, prospective primary grade teachers may have few (if any) opportunities to observe classroom teachers modeling inquiry during field placements. Methods courses provide fitting contexts in which to introduce preservice teachers (PSTs) to inquiry as a basis for intellectually challenging, meaningful social studies instruction. The purpose of this paper is to utilize a published inquiry curriculum developed for the New York Social Studies Toolkit (NYSST) Project as a tool to explore PSTs’ thinking about teaching first grade economics.

This qualitative study utilized focus groups with two groups of early childhood PSTs enrolled in a social studies methods course (n=28). Secondary data sources included PSTs’ handwritten comments on hard copies of the inquiry curriculum and the researcher’s analytic memos.

In the process of critiquing curriculum during focus group interviews, PSTs concentrated on the proposed tasks, evaluated those tasks for their potential to affect children’s understanding, and suggested new activities that would promote more active student engagement. Participants recognized the significance of children’s prior knowledge and were sensitive to students’ family values, although they underestimated young children’s capacity for robust discussion and intellectually challenging content.

This study is unique in its use of a published NYSST Project inquiry to explore how PSTs make sense of new curriculum. Its attention to PST education for primary grades contributes to elementary social studies literature. Additionally, this study addresses a general concern in teacher education about the need for PSTs to develop skills in interpreting and adapting curriculum materials. Findings suggest that engaging PSTs in discussions about social studies curriculum can help teacher educators identify latent learning goals for their courses that may be overlooked or assumed unnecessary.

Preservice teachers (PSTs) typically have few opportunities to observe social studies instruction in PSTs' elementary field placements. To practice effective integration as a pathway to include more social studies instruction, PSTs developed a unit plan based on inquiry during an undergraduate methods course. The purpose of this study was to explore what scaffolds were effective in PSTs' development of social studies inquiry projects.

The author used a multiple case study approach, examining initial submissions, feedback and resubmissions as PSTs developed PSTs' inquiry projects. The data were analyzed with an eye on PSTs' ability to plan a unit according to the four dimensions of the C3 Framework's inquiry arc (National Council for the Social Studies [NCSS], 2013).

The author analyzed data related to PSTs’ area of highest need from PSTs' initial submissions: staging the task, formative tasks and resources. PSTs were able to develop inquiry projects after being supported in their (1) organization, (2) clarity, (3) alignment and (4) developmental appropriateness.

This study shows that novice teachers can create high-quality social studies learning experiences in elementary school when provided appropriate supports (in this case, feedback about organization, clarity, alignment and developmental appropriateness). With the tools to develop such projects, new teachers may be able to increase the amount of social studies taught in elementary classrooms.

The recent motion picture Selma infused fresh interest – and controversy – into the political and emotional peak of America’s modern Civil Rights Movement. Ava DuVernay, the film’s director, faced criticism for her exclusion of the Jewish presence from the movie’s portrayal of the March 21, 1965 Voting Rights March. The recent attention presents a teachable moment and new energy for thinking deeply about this pivotal event in America’s past. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors provide valuable historical domain knowledge surrounding the 1965 Voting Rights March, present the requisite plans and curriculum resources for implementing wise-practice instructional strategies, and explore the rationale underpinning the inquiry-based activities.

The authors share innovative approaches, at the secondary and elementary levels, integrating historical domain knowledge with renewed interest in the 1965 Voting Rights March to create powerful teaching-and-learning experiences. The approaches are innovative because they contain dynamic curriculum materials and reflect wise-practice use of historical photographs within the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards.

The approaches shared here are centered around questioning, a key to student learning. The lessons feature the development of questions, both from teachers and students, as classes work collaboratively to interpret a potentially powerful historical photograph and use historical events to practice thinking deeply about important topics.

Social studies classrooms are ideal educational spaces to develop and practice the analytical skills and dispositions students need to meet the challenge of critiquing visual information that concerns complex public issues, such as the role of religion in society.

This study analyzed gender balance in the texts and illustrations of three recently published, high school US history textbooks and one alternate volume of American history. In all of the American history texts analyzed there were significantly more males than females in text content and illustrations. These textbooks focused on the contributions of those famous Americans who have been a part of the historical record. The record is skewed with regard to gender, leaving teachers and students with the arduous task of acknowledging the absence of women while attempting to fill in the gaps through their own research and resources. Standards committees and textbook publishers should change their focus and teachers and students should confront gender imbalance by integrating high quality women’s history resources into the classroom with web-based resources, family and community history projects, young adult literature, history textbook analysis, and the vision of the C3 Framework.

Advanced Placement Human Geography continues to grow in popularity at the secondary level, but not without its supporters and critics. The purpose of this paper is to examine one critique, the lack of critical geography and then give two examples how teachers could incorporate it using inquiry.

Critical geography examines the praxis between space, place and identity, exposing power imbalances constructed within space and place. Critical geographers also consider how to transform space and place to be more equitable. This paper provides two examples of how critical geography can be infused into content covered in AP Human Geography using the C3 Framework and the Inquiry Design Model. By infusing critical geographic perspectives into AP Human Geography students practice asking questions about inequities in space and place with an opportunity to become agents of transformation.

There is a gap in AP Human Geography when it comes to incorporating critical geography. This paper looks to redress that by providing two examples on how critical geography could be used in an AP Human Geography curriculum.

This collection of two inquiries is given as ways that AP Human Geography instructors could incorporate critical geography into their classrooms.

The College, Career, and Civic Life Framework and recently revised social studies standards in a number of states have placed renewed emphasis on inquiry-based instruction rooted in rigorous and relevant questions, which necessitates a better understanding of how teachers develop questions capable of meeting the expectations set forth in these documents. The purpose of this paper is to examine teachers’ question-development processes and the impact of question development and implementation on their understanding of compelling questions.

This qualitative study examined how six high school civics teachers from a single Kentucky school district defined and developed compelling questions. Following recommendations for in-depth phenomenological interviews, this study implemented a three-interview sequence, each of which included a verbal report component. Additional data were generated through teacher-completed Question Development Tasks and Question Evaluation Tasks.

The findings suggest that participants’ attempts to craft questions that balanced relevance and complexity led them to engage in a deliberate, reflective question-development process. Teachers’ understandings of compelling questions were shaped by their question-development experience; however, teachers who implemented their compelling questions emerged with a more nuanced understanding of their construction and a deeper commitment to their use.

Although focused on a small group of teachers, this study provides valuable insight into teachers’ conceptions of inquiry, which may strengthen the supports teacher educators and administrators provide to those attempting to implement inquiry in their classrooms.

The purpose of this paper (i.e. Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service; Pimentel, 2016) is to detail a camping trip during which Tie Sing, a Chef, worked with Stephen Mather, a millionaire concerned about conserving national resources, to convince a group of influential Americans to create a National Park Service.

This lesson plan, based in the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) C3 Framework, encourages third grade students to investigate the geography of the camping area in what is now Sequoia National Park. Students also analyze and determine whether or not the National Park Service is a good idea. Students move through four stages of inquiry in the C3 Framework as guided by their teacher.

During Dimension 1, students determine the types of sources that will help them answer the inquiry questions. Next in Dimension 2, students are engaged in a read-aloud of Mountain Chef while learning how to gather information from the text and record evidence in an I-Chart through teacher modeling (Hoffman, 1992). Students use a text set in Dimension 3 to gather evidence in response to inquiry questions. The lesson concludes in Dimension 4 with students using research evidence to create a WPA-like poster of the camping area and students communicating ideas via social media.

Think-aloud – “Students who are exposed to think-aloud outperform their peers who do not receive the same instruction on measures of reading comprehension” (Ness, 2018). The teacher implements the think-aloud strategy within Dimension 2 of the lesson plan. Think-aloud is a metacognitive strategy that requires a teacher to verbalize thinking processes to scaffold students to perform a learning task on his or her own later. The portions of text that were selected for think-aloud were identified as “juicy stopping points,” points that may pose a challenge for students, or points where there were comprehension opportunities related to inquiry questions. Teachers may adjust this lesson to increase or decrease scaffolding through think-aloud at their professional discretion.

Mountain Chef was selected as the 2017 winner of the Carter Woodson Book Award in the Elementary category. This lesson plan was presented at the NCSS 2017 annual conference at the Carter Woodson and Notable Tradebooks: Engaging Early Grade Lesson Plans session.