By Craig Perrier
March 2, 2015
As teachers, we’ve all faced those tough decisions about how and when to emphasis particular skills with our students. The C3 framework helps in that it addresses the literacy skills needed for inquiry. Skill matrices also help teachers to vertically align skill development for students. Of particular interest to me, and the focus of this blog, is the vertically aligned C3 pathways for the development of students’ abilities to “Gather and Evaluate resources.”
With benchmarks at Grades 2, 5, 8, and 12, Dimension 3 of the C3 Framework provides that students should demonstrate expertise in the gathering, evaluation, and use of sources to expand their knowledge base and support their research. From the C3 Framework, I have identified three guidelines that expand upon Dimension 3 and provide clarity on how to support students as the gather and evaluate sources.
- Inquiry in social studies is an inherently collaborative activity.
- t is important for students to use online and print sources.
- Students must evaluate sources and use evidence regularly when conducting inquiry.
In practice, when students gather and evaluate sources, they are often working with online sources. Below is a selection of some of my favorite podcast, video, and blog collections that can support students as they gather and evaluate sources. These resources target high school students and are dynamic. Most importantly, they encourage and support students as they search for and evaluate sources during an inquiry.
Podcasts are digital recordings, usually part of a themed series, that can be downloaded from a website to a media player or computer. Here are two collections that teachers might find interesting.
15 Minute History: A dynamic series—with supplementary materials—about World and US history. This podcast series (currently at 63 episodes, and growing) is devoted to short, accessible discussions of historical topics. The discussions are conducted by faculty and graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin. http://15minutehistory.org/
In Our Time: The BBC’s Melvynn Bragg has a plethora of podcasts organized under headings like History and Philosophy. The series includes expert guests who discuss the history of ideas, and explore subjects in culture and science. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl
Videos collections can be useful for students in the process of gathering information. Here are two of my favorite video collections.
Teacher Tube: The website’s goal is to provide an online community for sharing instructional videos. They want to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. This resource has over 30 pages of videos devoted just to History and Social Studies! http://www.teachertube.com/videos?filter=all&subject=22&sort=recent
Choices Program Scholar Videos: Brown University’s modules gives students access to scholar videos. “Scholars Online Videos” feature top scholars answering specific questions in their fields of expertise and are tailored to fit a range of learning styles and abilities. These videos can help give students and teachers obtain a clear, yet nuanced understanding of complex issues. http://www.choices.edu/resources/scholarsonline.php
Blogs are a good way for people to share their experiences, observations and opinions, and can be a useful source of information for students. Here are a couple of my favorite social studies focused blogs.
History News Network- Maintained by George Mason University, the website lists 100’s of blogs, some more active than others. The website does highlight the “premiere” blogs directly under the blog tab. http://historynewsnetwork.org/
NPR Blog List: The website maintains a range of blogs. One of them is devoted to history which explores American history. Another “Goats and Soda” which focuses on global topics. http://www.npr.org/about-npr/198341814/npr-blog-directory
Encouraging students to explore online, multi-media resources is an integral part of the inquiry process and develops their information literacy skills. Ultimately the resources that a teacher makes available to students as well as the choices students make regarding those resources, will pave the way for students to have the most success possible.