Assessment is usually considered as an afterthought in the instructional design process. Given the many challenges of assessment design--and the lack of ready solutions--teachers may fall back on familiar forms of assessments and hope for the best. As a result, the problem is not a lack of will on the part of teachers. Instead, it is the lack of…

In 2019, Kentucky unanimously adopted new social studies standards featuring a version of the C3 Framework's inquiry arc, joining dozens of other states with inquiry practices embedded in their standards. The state legislature revised them in 2022 by passing the "Teaching American Principles Act." The Kentucky law requires teachers to…

When the pandemic shut schools down in the spring, teachers mobilized the educational home front and taught themselves how to navigate familiar and unfamiliar instructional challenges in the virtual classroom using the online platform Zoom. Now, teachers and students are in a new school year, amidst a raging pandemic, and witnessing some of the…

In this article, the authors examine one approach to teaching hard history using an Inquiry Design Model (IDM) curricular loop. A curricular loop allows students to build a deeper understanding of a complex idea and develop a greater facility with the tools of inquiry over a course of study by regularly engaging in an inquiry. The curricular loop…

This article examines three examples of inquiry-based curricular loops, each of which focuses on a particular social studies concept. The article begins with a civics teacher (Andrew Danner) who uses a series of structured inquiries highlighting the concept of power as it relates to the three branches of government and the role of citizens in a…

The number one question educators ask about inquiry is how many time a year should it be done. One of the inescapable challenges to inquiry is its lack of efficiency in "covering" content. Inquiry necessarily takes longer than direct instruction and this can be problematic for teachers struggling to find time to cover the breadth of…

On Constitution Day 2013, the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) published the "College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards." The document was written by a team of academics with specialties in social studies education and its disciplines in consultation with state education agencies,…

Successful inquiries using the C3 Framework depend on compelling questions that structure an inquiry and supporting questions that allow the inquiry to unfold coherently. The Inquiry Design Model (IDM) reflects the three elements common in inquiry teaching and learning. Those elements--questions, tasks, and sources--are represented in a one-page…

Change comes when individuals transform themselves first and then move outward into the world. The C3 Framework lays out a vision for civic action within Dimension 4 of the Inquiry Arc in a section titled "Taking Informed Action." The Framework emphasizes that "It is important to note that taking informed action … should be grounded…

In this article, the authors tackle the tension between a fact-based civics test and inquiry-based teaching and learning. The authors begin with a short history on the civics test and the new standards in Kentucky before turning their attention to one approach to the civics test using an Inquiry Design Model (IDM) inquiry--"Does the civics…

Students are taught about the foundations of inquiry--questions, tasks, and sources--and how to build inquiry-based curriculum and instructional strategies for social studies. They begin their student teaching experiences knowing the difference between a compelling and supporting question, the role of a formative and summative performance task,…

This article discusses a new set of inquiries based on the C3 Framework that provides questions, tasks, and sources to launch classroom examinations of the Korean War and its many aftershocks. Compelling and supporting questions, formative and summative performance tasks, and disciplinary sources provide teachers and their students with the…

This article describes in detail, the New York State (NYS) Social Studies Toolkit, a curriculum and instructional resource that builds out from the recently released New York State K-12 Social Studies Framework, which reflects the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. The Toolkit has been developed by…

The implementation of the C3 Framework has unfolded unlike any previous standards project. A grassroots movement rather than a top-down mandate, the C3 effort calls on teachers to be at the forefront of social studies reform. In New York State, the C3 Framework provided context and inspiration for the New York Social Studies Toolkit Project.…

The Uncle Tom's Cabin inquiry illustrates the Inquiry Design Model structure as students examine Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel to explore how words can affect public opinion.