
What is the college, career, and civic life (C3) Framework?
The C3 Framework, like the Common Core State Standards, emphasizes the acquisition and application of knowledge to prepare students for college, career, and civic life. It intentionally envisions social studies instruction as an inquiry arc of interlocking and mutually reinforcing elements that speak to the intersection of ideas and learners.
What are the Common Core Standards?
The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to ...
What is C3 C4 C5?
The C3, C4, and C5 vertebrae form the midsection of the cervical spine, near the base of the neck.A cervical vertebrae injury is the most severe of all spinal cord injuries because the higher up in the spine an injury occurs, the more damage that is caused to the central nervous system. Depending on the severity of the damage to the spinal cord, the injury may be noted as complete or incomplete.
What is C3 architecture?
Model-driven architecture provides the knife to cut the Gordian knot of structured programming for highly complex problems. The C3 AI Suite is designed and built with a model-driven architecture. Central to a model-driven architecture is the concept of a “model” that serves as an abstraction layer to simplify the programming problem.

How does the C3 framework work?
The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, like a number of other initiatives, calls upon social studies teachers to reexamine their instructional practices to enhance the rigor of the social studies disciplines and build critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory ...
What does the C3 framework mean by an inquiry arc?
At the heart of the C3 Framework is an inquiry arc — a set of interlocking and mutually supportive ideas that feature the four dimensions of informed inquiry in social studies: 1) developing questions and planning investigations; 2) applying disciplinary concepts and tools; 3) gathering, evaluating, and using evidence; ...
What is 3C framework in education?
A 3C - Toolbox for Effective Teachers must have Cognitive, Constructive and Cooperative components. Cognitive component for effective instruction and learning strategies. Constructive component to help students engage in knowledge construction. Cooperative component to support students' learning process.
What does C3 stands for in history?
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History.
Why is the C3 framework needed?
The primary purpose of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards is to provide guidance to states and districts on the concepts, skills and disciplinary tools necessary to prepare students for college, career, and civic life.
What are the 3 stages of inquiry?
In general, all inquiry-based teaching follows three phases.Phase 1: Formulating Questions and Initial Understandings. First, students are oriented to a problem, phenomena, or goal. ... Phase 2: Exploration & Analysis. ... Phase 3: Drawing Conclusions.
When was the C3 framework published?
The Framework, which was published online in September 2013, and will soon be available in print, is the result of a remarkable cooperation between state specialists, professional organizations, and other experts and practitioners in the social studies disciplines.
Who invented C3?
The conversion of CO2 to carbohydrate is called Calvin Cycle or C3 cycle and is named after Melvin Calvin who discovered it. The plants that undergo the Calvin cycle for carbon fixation are known as C3 plants. Calvin Cycle requires the enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase commonly called RuBisCO.
When was C3 developed?
The Chevrolet Corvette C3 was produced from 1967 to 1982 and is the third generation of the Corvette sports car. C3 Corvettes featured a new body and interior, but the chassis and engines were carried forward from the previous generation C2.
What is an inquiry arc?
1. An approach to teaching and learning that has students exploring questions relevant to their lives, engaging in research, and developing potential solutions to political, social, or economic problems within their communities.
What are the four dimensions of the inquiry arc?
The Inquiry Arc comprises four dimensions: “one focused on questioning and inquiry; another on disciplinary knowledge and concepts relating to civics, economics, geography, and history; another on evaluating and using evidence; and a final one on communicating and taking action.” The basic idea is that students ask or ...
What is framework of inquiry?
The Community of Inquiry framework "represents a process of creating a deep and meaningful learning experience through the development of three interdependent elements – social, cognitive and teaching presence." This framework has been grounded in research and proven over the last three decades to be effective.
What are the 5 stages of inquiry?
We identified five general inquiry phases: Orientation, Conceptualization, Investigation, Conclusion, and Discussion.
What is the C3 framework?
The result of a three year state-led collaborative effort, the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards was developed to serve two audiences: for states to upgrade their state social studies standards and for practitioners — local school districts, schools, teachers and curriculum writers — to strengthen their social studies programs. 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.
What is inquiry based learning in social studies?
With its roots found in John Dewey’s, among others, philosophy that students learn best while doing, inquiry-based learning seeks to build on the natural curiosity of students and engage their problem solving skills, while accessing personal experiences to make informed and well-supported opinions about the world in which they live. To quote Brazilian educator, advocate, and philosopher Paulo Freire, an inquiry education “provoke [s] the discovering of need for knowing and never to impose the knowledge whose need was not yet perceived”.* By clicking on the following names of education related groups and organizations, you will be taken to websites that provide inquiry-based and open educational resources.
When was the Religious Studies Companion Document added to the C3 Framework?
In June 2017 , a Religious Studies Companion Document was added as a Supplement to the C3 Framework. It is included in the downloadable pdf file of the Framework.
Who said inquiry education is the discovery of need for knowing?
To quote Brazilian educator, advocate, and philosopher Paulo Freire, an inquiry education “provoke [s] the discovering of need for knowing and never to impose the knowledge whose need was not yet perceived”.*.
What is C3 in social studies?
At this month's National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) Conference, where the national standards were expected to be unveiled, social studies gurus from around the USA were instead presented with the “Vision for Career, College, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Inquiry in Social Studies State Standards” (and here is a more extensive pdf version: Vision Statement College, Career, and Civic Life Framework ).
Why is the C3 framework important?
If used in the former sense, I believe the C3 Framework will promote excellence in social studies education as it defines the key results that we all desire social studies classes to produce: students who are prepared for the worlds of work, college, and civil life.
What is readiness for college?
Readiness for college, career, and civic life is as much about the experiences students have as it is about learning any particular set of content, concepts, or skills. Thus the learning environments that teachers create are critical to student success. Students will flourish to the extent that their independent and collaborative efforts are guided, supported, and honored.
What is developing questions and planning investigations?
Developing Questions and Planning Investigations: “Students will develop questions as they investigate societal issues, trends, and events.”
What is an inquiry arc?
and defining an “inquiry arc”: “a set of interlocking and mutually supportive ideas that frame the ways students learn social studies content.”
Is the C3 framework a common core?
In many ways, the C3 Framework seems poised to fit nicely with the Common Core — after all, the documents will share an author organization, and the C3 Framework project was largely undertaken in response to the CCSS — and one of those ways is in its emphasis on college and career readiness (which the Common Core usually abbreviates as CCR).
Is C3 Framework going to lay out content?
The biggest shocker to me was that the C3 Framework is not going to lay out content.
How does the C3 framework affect civics?
The C3 Framework fundamentally distorts civics instruction by defining America as a democracy rather than a republic. Civics education that omits America’s republican character omits the fundamental importance of instruction in affection towards and knowledge of our enduring institutions of free government. The C3 Framework then gives priority to “address [ing] public problems.” It only mentions maintaining and strengthening “communities and societies,” and omits what is essential in civics education: maintaining and strengthening our laws, our constitution, and our republic. At the same time, it intrudes the troubling imperative to study the means of “governing society”—when it is precisely the point of a republican government devoted to liberty that society ought to be a realm of self-governance and freedom, and that government ought not to seek to master society. The C3 Framework substitutes loyalty to “democracy,” “community,” and “society” in place of loyalty to the republic, the Constitution, and the law, and imparts an unsettlingly totalitarian impulse to the activity of government.
What do public schools teach?
Public schools teach civics in coordination with other academic content areas, including history, geography, economics, and other social sciences. Our public schools must teach each of the social sciences properly, as well as the social sciences as a whole, if they are to teach civics education properly. Unfortunately, most states cannot teach ...
Why can't we teach social studies?
Unfortunately, most states cannot teach social studies properly because during the last decade they have formally or informally adopted the National Council for the Social Studies’ College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. 1
What is the C3 framework?
The C3 Framework focuses on the concepts that underlie a rich program of social studies education. The foundational concepts in Dimension 2 outline the scope of the disciplinary knowledge and tools associated with civics, economics, geography, and history.
What is the disciplined study of the human mind?
Psychology . Psychology is the disciplined study of the human mind, emphasizing needs, desires, motivations, capacities, emotions, maturation, sensory perception, and personal integration. Psychologists pay attention to both conscious and subconscious states and seek patterns in human variation.
What is the disciplined study of the human relation to the natural and artificial features of the physical landscape?
Geography. Geography is the disciplined study of the human relation to the natural and artificial features of the physical landscape, and of the constraints imposed on that relation by the varying availability of resources and technology. Geographical analysis requires study of maps and globes.
What is the disciplined study of human commonalities and differences at the level of groups?
Anthropology is the disciplined study of human commonalities and differences at the level of groups. Anthropologists describe cultures and societies and analyze how they function, persist, and interact.
An Introduction to the C3 Framework
This webinar series has been designed to introduce you to the C3 Framework. The series includes four webinars videos presented below along with a self-paced exercise to extend your understanding of the C3. The webinars focus on the four dimensions of the C3 Framework’s Inquiry Arc.
An Introduction to the Inquiry Design Model
This webinar series has been designed to introduce you to the Inquiry Design Model (IDM). The series includes the five webinar videos presented below and an INQUIRY GENERATOR EXERCISE to extend your understanding of the Inquiry Design Model.
The Inquiry Design Model
The Inquiry Design Model (IDM) is a distinctive approach to creating curriculum and instructional materials that honors teachers’ knowledge and expertise, avoids overprescription, and focuses on the main elements of the instructional design process as envisioned in the Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for State Social Studies Standards (2013).
Building Community through Inquiry
As I recently waited to pick up my child from school, I noticed a plaque that said the school was built in 1939 as part of the New Deal Works Progress Administration. I had walked by this sign several times and never noticed. Putting on my teacher hat, I thought about the many questions this […]
A Revolution in Inquiry: The C3 Framework and the Inquiry Design Model
The following interview with Kathy Swan, SG Grant, and John Lee by Rozella Clyde was previously published in the 2021 November/December edition of Social Education Q. What were your original goals when you began working on the C3 Framework? A. When we first started working on the C3 Framework 10 years ago, we were responding […]
Hope for Elementary Inquiry
As a social studies educator I have heard all the excuses as to why social studies is not a priority within our elementary school classrooms. “There isn’t enough time.” “We need to focus on reading and math skills.” “Social Studies isn’t tested so it really doesn’t matter.” These excuses are gut wrenching and disheartening, because […]
Join Us
C3Teachers.org facilitates open collaborative conversations among teachers as they tinker with their own instructional practice as it relates to the C3 Framework.

A Familiar Author
- An author of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is behind the C3 Framework as well — the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). According to the documents, the C3 Framework was developed in response to state requests for further clarity on what college and career preparation (a key principle in the development of the Common Core) would...
Skills, Not Content
- The biggest shocker to me was that the C3 Framework is not going to lay out content. In other words, social studies content will be left up to individual states, and thus the politically charged hot potato of “what to teach” is effectively passed on. Instead, the C3 Framework will aim at: 1. describing discipline-specific structures and tools in the areas of civics, economics, geography, …
Adding “Civic Life” to The Foci of College and Work
- In many ways, the C3 Framework seems poised to fit nicely with the Common Core — after all, the documents will share an author organization, and the C3 Framework project was largely undertaken in response to the CCSS — and one of those ways is in its emphasis on college and career readiness(which the Common Core usually abbreviates as CCR). But one thing I'm excite…
What Is The Inquiry Arc?
- Finally, though the C3 Framework Vision statement is not the full draft conference attendees expected, it does go into some detail about the “Inquiry Arc” mentioned earlier in this post. The Inquiry Arc has four dimensions: 1. Developing Questions and Planning Investigations: “Students will develop questions as they investigate societal issues, trends, and events.” 2. Applying Discip…
Closing Thoughts
- Though the vision statement wasn't the completed draft we were looking for, it does give a clear idea of what that draft will look like when released next spring. Standards can be helpful devices for teachers striving for excellence alongside their students if used more as a suggestion and an ideal rather than a whipping stick. If used in the former sense, I believe the C3 Framework will pr…