Episode 35: The C3 Framework from NCSS

HANDOUT LINK

REFERENCES:

National Center for Education Statistics 1997 report https://nces.ed.gov/pubs/97293.pdf 

For VA: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/ntpsdashboard/Dashboard/VA (other states can be looked up here)

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) C3 Standards https://www.socialstudies.org/standards/c3

INTRO:

The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) states, “​​The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.” Social studies should be the study of:

-how citizens make decisions,

-the lives of others,

-the environment,

-how to use this knowledge to make wise decisions.

Without social studies, we are lost as a nation. Leming, Ellington, and Schug (2006) said, “While high levels of competency in reading, math, and science are necessary for a strong nation, these alone will not guarantee national survival. Civic and historical literacy are also essential if our republic is to flourish” (p. 325). I believe we owe it to ourselves and most importantly, our children, to continue to teach social studies on a very regular basis. Keep listening for ways to make this happen for your students every day.

Today, we are going to discuss the National College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards more in depth so that if you need them, these standards are useful during your social studies unit planning. The C3 Standards will also help justify taking the time every day (or almost every day) to teach social studies. Because our kids deserve it and schools nationally aren’t doing enough teaching of social studies.

So, by the end of this episode, I promise you will have a better understanding of the C3 Standards and how to use them in your unit planning. And the next few episodes of Get Off The Dotted Line! will help you understand how to easily use the tools I am talking about to teach social studies every day in your classroom. Because even a little social studies goes a long way in reaching our goals of creating informed and reasoned decision makers.

CONTENT:

According to the National Center for Education Statistics 1997 report, in 1993–94 “public school teachers of grades 1–4 spent, on average, about 22 hours per week, or just over 4 hours per day, on core academic curriculum; private school teachers spent almost 19 hours per week, or just under 4 hours per day, on all core subjects. In other words, teachers spent about two-thirds of their time in the classroom on the core academic subjects. Of the time spent on core curriculum, public school teachers devoted almost 50 percent (2 hours per day) to English/reading/ language arts, 24 percent (1 hour per day) to mathematics, and about 13 percent (35 minutes per day) each to social studies and science” (p. 8).  https://nces.ed.gov/pubs/97293.pdf 

In my home state of Virginia, the 2017-2018 numbers for social studies instruction of the average 3rd grader was 170 minutes per week. Sounds ok, right? Let me put it into perspective- 540 minutes were spent on Reading/Language Arts instruction per week. That’s almost 3 times the amount of social studies instruction. Here’s another fact. 3rd graders were at recess for 100 minutes each week on average. I’m not knocking recess- in fact, I wish that number would increase for 3rd graders. But there are ways to get more social studies instruction into our classrooms. One of the first ways is to justify its existence. https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/ntpsdashboard/Dashboard/VA 

Much of what is taught in schools is dictated by outside stakeholders, including governmental individuals, policies, textbook companies, and politics. See Episode 33 for more information on who controls the social studies curriculum. Having said this, many teachers cite a main reason for the dearth of social studies instruction being justifying its existence in the first place. One of the main ways to justify anything you are teaching in your classroom is with the help of standards. And regardless of whether or not you have local standards for social studies, are using the CCSS, or have nothing to go by- you’re in luck, teacher friend. National standards exist for social studies. And we’re going to talk about them today.

The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) first published social studies standards in 1994. Please go to https://www.socialstudies.org/standards/c3 for more detailed information about the standards and to download your free copy of them for K-12 social studies education.

The purpose of talking about social studies instruction in general, I mentioned in the introduction of this podcast: “​​The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.” 

But for the social studies instruction in schools and standards to justify social studies instruction in specific, NCSS stated, “Its objectives are to: a) enhance the rigor of the social studies disciplines; b) build critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills to become engaged citizens; and c) align academic programs to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies.” So know that you have sound social studies instruction justification to back you up. No getting around this.

The C3 Framework (that’s College, Career, and Civic Life making up the 3 C’s) are divided into 4 Dimensions. According to the NCSS, these Dimensions are:

1. Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries;

2. Applying Disciplinary Tools and Concepts in the areas of History, Geography, Civics, and Economics;

3. Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence like allowing students to ability to develop claims by using said evidence; and 

4. Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action by students learning how to communicate and critique conclusions they are coming up with and subsequently taking informed action in their schools, communities, states, and nation.

That’s a lot of information to start. So here they are again:

1. Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries;

2. Applying Disciplinary Tools and Concepts in the areas of History, Geography, Civics, and Economics;

3. Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence; and 

4. Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action.

This part of the C3 Framework is purposefully broad. You’re probably thinking: How am I going to begin teaching this? Here’s how- NCSS has done some of the legwork for you again.

The C3 Framework specifically states that any tools, learning experiences, and/or assessments should land in the following specific sub-content areas of:

• History,

• Geography, 

• Civics, and 

• Economics.

Let me take a moment and break down some topics you can actually use as a guide to use in your classroom. Please note- these topics are good for K-12.

In history, think about:

• Change, continuity, and context,

• Perspectives,

• Historical sources and evidence, and 

• Causation and argumentation.

In geography, think about:

• Geographic representations as in spatial views of the world;

• Human environment interaction in places, regions,and cultures;

• Spatial patterns and movements of human populations; and

• Changing spatial patterns in global interconnections.

In civics, think about:

• Civics and political institutions;

• Teaching participation and deliberation skills by applying civic virtues and democratic principles; and

• Learning about civic processes, rules, and laws.

And finally, in economics, think about:

• Economic decision making;

• Learning about exchange and markets;

• Understanding the national economy; and

• Understanding the global economy.

Does what you are trying to teach in social studies fall under something here? I’ll bet- then go and teach it my friend! The NCSS has you covered.

Need more backup? Here’s additional proof social studies is important to teach. See if you can put whatever you are trying to teach that is marginally related to social studies into one or more of these 10 Themes. NCSS provided these in the C3 Framework too. The 10 themes are:

1. Culture;

2. Time, Continuity, and Change;

3. People, Places, and Environments;

4. Individual Development and Identity;

5. Individuals, Groups, and Institutions;

6. Power, Authority, and Governance;

7. Production, Distribution, and Consumption;

8. Science, Technology, and Society;

9. Global Connections; and

10. Civic Ideals and Practices.

Yes, I know there is some overlap here between the 10 Themes and the application of concepts in the sub-content areas of History, Geography, Civics, and Economics. That’s the brilliance of the people at NCSS- it’s all here for the adoption. No questions by administration, stakeholders, or others doubting this isn’t academic or belong as a priority in a school day. 

Before I go, I’m going to maybe say something that will blow your mind: Anything you teach is connected to social studies. If you walk away from this podcast remembering anything, remember this. My next podcast is going to be about how this works and real tips on how you can do this in your elementary classroom. But before that happens, take a moment and think about the book you are reading to your class, the story your students are studying in their basal textbook, the math problem about buying toys or tools or measuring for a project, any of the science concepts students are learning, who thought of them, where they lived in the world, and why they came about, and anything going on in your school, town, community and or state at any given moment- an election, building, memorial, rule, ruling, or anything that involves human interaction, a process, a deliberation, a rule, or a law, and, of course, anything you are already teaching in your social studies class period. And now, if you have anyone coming into your classroom asking why you are teaching something, you have back up.

There are a lot of links in this podcast that I will share with you in the show notes and on my website. If you don’t know about NCSS, please go visit their website and look around. It’s solid and helpful for you. Thank you NCSS for all of your hard work.

Whether you consider yourself a creative teacher or not, or just need a spark to re-energize your classroom atmosphere tomorrow, I hope our discussion today of the C3 Framework from NCSS will help you confidently engage your students and create an atmosphere for high-quality content, instruction, and amazing learning potential to begin.

OUTRO:

I hope you have enjoyed this podcast and want to listen to more. Please subscribe to Get Off the Dotted Line! I can’t wait to share another podcast with you.

Thank you again for joining me, Dr. Paige Hendricks in today's episode of Get Off the Dotted Line! See you next time!