Our C3 Briefs series examines emerging issues related to teacher and learning with C3 Framework inspired inquiry. Be on the lookout for more as we continue to examine the frontiers of inquiry and the Inquiry Design Model.
IDM Assumptions
The Inquiry Design Model (IDM) is a distinctive approach to creating curriculum and instructional materials that honors teachers’ knowledge and expertise, avoids over-prescription, and focuses on the central elements of the instructional design process as envisioned in the Inquiry Arc of the C3 Framework.
As an instructional framework, IDM builds out from the C3 Inquiry Arc through: a) compelling and supporting questions that frame and give structure to the inquiry (Dimension 1); b) summative, formative, and additional performance tasks that provide the opportunities for communicating conclusions (Dimension 4); and c) disciplinary sources that allow students to explore the compelling question, build content expertise, and develop the disciplinary skills to successfully support and defend their ideas (Dimensions 2 & 3). Unique to the IDM is the blueprint, a one-page representation of the questions, tasks, and sources that define a curricular inquiry.
IDM is rooted in 10 conceptual principles, based in research and practice that align with the ambitions of the C3 Framework and speak to the conceptual and pedagogical coherence of the Inquiry Design Model. These ten principles are summarized in this brief.
C3 Framework Instructional Shifts
The C3 Framework represents the ideas and practices that ambitious social studies teachers have long believed and practiced: ideas, and the questions that frame them, matter; disciplinary knowledge is necessary, but not sufficient for powerful social studies teaching and learning; social studies is about making and supporting arguments and using sources thoughtfully; and students need a range of outlets and opportunities to try out and revise their conclusions. As represented in the C3 Inquiry Arc, these ideas and practices set a challenge for students and thus require teachers to shift instruction to meet these new challenges.
Cultivating and Nurturing Collaborative Civic Spaces
by AMBER STRONG MAKAIAU
With clear learning goals and the organizing structure of an Inquiry Arc, the C3 Framework supports teachers by providing them with an instructional pathway for fostering student-citizens who can both think for themselves and collaborate with others. With a focus on building inquiry skills and key concepts—within a collaborative civic space—the C3 Framework breaths new life into John Dewey’s (1916) assertion that, in order for democracy to function as it should, teachers must provide students with opportunities to experience democracy in schools. So how do C3 social studies teachers cultivate and nurture collaborative civic spaces in their classrooms? In this Brief, I draw on my experiences teaching social studies in the K-12 setting and respond to the question by offering three strategies from the philosophy for children Hawai‘i (p4cHI) approach to deliberative pedagogy. p4cHI is part of an international movement that aims to convert traditional classrooms into intellectually safe democratic communities of inquiry by engaging students and teachers in the activity of philosophy.
Questions, Frameworks, and Classrooms
By JOHN LEE, KATHY SWAN, SG GRANT, DAN ROTHSTEIN AND LUZ SANTANA
The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards (or C3 Framework) (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013) puts forward a vision for what inquiry-based teaching and learning can look like in social studies. A vision for inquiry is one thing, actually committing to and enacting this vision is another. To that end, C3 Teachers has partnered with the Right Question Institute (RQI) to tackle what is perhaps the thorniest problem in implementing the C3 Framework—helping students become confident and proficient in asking their own questions.
