Authentic Inquiry
Recently, the NCSS published their vision for the future of social studies education, Social Studies For the Next Generation: Purposes, Practices, and Implications of the College, Career, and Cvic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. Dr. Gus Nollmeyer recommends that you download your own PDF copy. After doing so, stick around the C3 resource page and do a bit of exploring. You will find that the new vision for social studies aligns well with the vision for science education seen in the NGSS. The C3 framework is presented as an inquiry arc consisting of 4 dimensions. Understanding these dimensions and how to assure that they are present in your classroom lessons is critical to successful and authentic inquiry. The C3 Blog for Teachers is a great resource for learning more about the framework and seeing some examples of inquiry.
Civic Engagement
The fourth dimension of the C3 Inquiry Arc is taking informed action. One way for students to take action is by engaging them in service learning. Vocabulary Gus uses to marry these two ideas is to simply refer to it as Civic Engagement. Each quarter ins Gus’ elementary social studies methods class, preservice teachers add to an ever-growing collection of organizations you may find helpful as you attempt to engage your students in civic action. It is called the Civic Engagement Clearinghouse. If you find an organizational partner there, please add a comment on the page to encourage others!
