- Provide a thorough overview of the C3 Civics Framework and its Inquiry Arc.
- Provide an overview of the structure of our Government.
- Present the key features of inquiry based social studies lessons: questions, tasks, sources, and presenting arguments.
- Support participants as they design an inquiry based Civics Lesson.
Course Objectives: Participants in this course will demonstrate their ability to do the following:
- Develop an understanding of the C3 Civics Framework and its Inquiry Arc
- Develop an understanding of the roles of the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches of our government.
- Identify and understand the role of questions, tasks, sources and the presentation of strong arguments in an inquiry based Civics Lesson.
- Demonstrate an overall understanding of inquiry based Civics instruction by developing a unit that will be taught in the participant’s classroom.
Course Schedule:
Week One:
- Describe your Compelling Question Due: Oct. 19
Week Two:
- Describe the summative argument task for your compelling question. Due: Oct. 26th
Week Three:
- Describe the supporting questions for your inquiry. Due: Nov. 2nd
Week Four:
- Describe the task that you added to your inquiry and explain how you would scaffold the source for this task. Due: Nov. 9th
Week Five:
- Share a draft of your IDM Due: Nov. 16th
Week Six:
- Make revisions to your IDM based on instructor and peer feedback Due: Nov. 23rd
Required Texts
Costs of required texts, if any, are not included in the course tuition.
Wasserman and Fullmer, The Basics of American Politics: 17th Edition, 2023
https://a.co/d/jbZS9ai
Swan, Lee & Grant, Inquiry Design Model: Building Inquiries in Social Studies, 2018
https://members.socialstudies.org/store/inquiry-design-model-building-inquiries-in-social-studies/2156/
National Council for the Social Studies (2014) C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards
https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/2022/c3-framework-for-social-studies-rev0617.2.pdf
Krizan, P. (2022). So we “want” kindergarteners to argue? Developing argumentation skills in the kindergarten classroom. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 35(1), 26–31. Retrieved from https://www.socialstudies.org/social-studies-and-young-learner/35/1/so-we-want-kindergarteners-argue-developing-argumentation
Hughes, R. E., & Heckart, K. (2023). Asking their own questions: Supporting student-initiated inquiry in third grade. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 35(4), 27–32. Retrieved from https://www.socialstudies.org/social-studies-and-young-learner/35/4/asking-their-own-questions-supporting-student-initiated
Pitts, B., Pontius-Vandenberg, J., & Guido, D. (2023). A framework for using notable social studies picture books in high school. Social Education, 87(3). Retrieved from https://www.socialstudies.org/social-education/87/3/framework-using-notable-social-studies-picture-books-high-school
C3 Web Resource: http://www.c3teachers.org/
iCivics Web Resource: https://vision.icivics.org/
