High-quality educational materials (HQIM) are educational resources designed to effectively support student learning. These include textbooks, lesson plans, digital resources, and other materials. Meeting the needs of diverse learners Facilitate meaningful learning experiences. With HQIM, educators can: Improve the quality of instruction, Support differentiated learning and Improve overall learning outcomes.
Although the HQIM concept is well established and has been adopted by other major academic disciplines, applying this concept to social research is more complex. Unlike math and science content standards, which are highly uniform across states, Social studies standards can vary widely by state. This variation reflects the diverse historical and cultural priorities of different states. Furthermore, social studies includes a wide range of fields such as history, geography, civics, and economics, each of which has its own discipline. This diversity makes it difficult to create materials that are widely recognized as being of high quality across all aspects of social studies.
EdSurge recently spoke with: kathy swan, a veteran social studies professor with 20 years of experience at the University of Kentucky. Swann worked as a bank examiner for the FDIC before transitioning into teaching, a position he held both domestically and internationally for about 10 years. She then completed her Ph.D. She earned her PhD at the University of Virginia and then joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky.
Throughout her career, Swann has drawn on her experience as a teacher and an interest in inquiry-based pedagogy. Despite her initial concerns about standards, she College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework, a set of national standards for social studies education. Swann views the C3 framework and inquiry-based learning as guideposts for teachers to create and implement effective and engaging social studies classrooms. She has used her expertise to contribute to: imagine learningwhere she served as lead consultant for development. traverseits new social studies program.
EdSurge: What is inquiry learning and why is it considered an effective teaching strategy?
swan: Exploration is life. Our lives in nature are driven by a series of existential questions. Supplementary questions (or just-in-time questions) to help you navigate every moment. Just today I asked myself, “Should I eat it?” What do you think about the current state of trade unions? Should I go for a walk or go straight to work? ? ”
Inquiry-based learning is a framework for learning through questions rather than answers, and students drive those questions in the classroom with guidance from the teacher. Especially in social studies education, we have focused on answering questions such as when something happened or who someone was, and learning the molecular parts of the content. Inquiry seeks to translate that into questions that students can think about, providing greater agency over the questions that facilitate learning. In other words, it’s not just memorizing the answers.
That is the power of inquiry. It unites us beyond education. In a book I recently co-authored, I suggested: Inquiry is as important to education as freedom is to democracy – it’s baked into the cake. We didn’t just discover exploration. As educators, it’s really encouraging because we’re in this field where there can be an outbreak every week. The fact that we’ve been talking about inquiry in education for over 100 years, ever since John Dewey codified it, helps me believe in it and dedicate my time and energy to it. We’re just having old conversations with new tricks.
How does the C3 Framework differ from traditional standards sets, and what factors have contributed to its widespread adoption in social studies education?
The C3 framework is equivalent to a national standard document; do not have A set of standards. The Common Core for ELA and Mathematics is a set of standards intended for near-universal adoption by states, and overnight it was adopted by nearly 90% of states.science [standards] I followed that idea.
We knew that it was difficult to set standards in social studies because of the names, dates, places, and events that people fought over. There can be backlash, especially when it comes to content people are passionate about, so we took a different approach. Instead, we created a framework that outlines these aspects and indicators. did it Used to inform social studies standards. We want our social studies standards to be flexible enough to accommodate culturally responsive pedagogies, while also allowing the federal government to dictate to local and state governments how they should develop their curricula. I wanted to prevent that from happening.
The C3 framework was released in 2013. We really waited for the phone to ring the day it came out. We joke about that in the book we just wrote. Revolution of Ideas: A Decade of C3 Research. C3 fell like a feather. no one seemed to care [laughs]. Then, over time, C3 gained momentum in the right way. It has become a social studies cliché, the north star.
One of the reasons the C3 Framework ended up being widely adopted is because it is a flexible document that gives states more power. But more importantly, this framework provides good ideas that will resonate with practicing teachers and policy makers. The foundations are very firmly established. Who can dispute the investigation? C3 won on the strength of its ideas.
Inquiry-based education prepares students for college, careers, and civic life – C3! The most important thing we do in social studies education is to prepare our citizens for living in a diverse democracy. It’s about being prepared. Inquiry is a way to build a democratic laboratory experience where students can practice living in a deliberative and diverse democracy.
How is inquiry-based learning integrated into the development of HQIM for social studies?
The acronym HQIM may be fairly new, but the concept behind it is not. HQIM is standards-based, inquiry-based, and enables differentiation. The C3 framework is built on persuasive questions: Questions designed with multiple perspectives and multiple answers in mind. HQIM’s social studies practices are directly related to C3’s disciplinary practices. And inquiry as a practice relies on examining diverse perspectives to understand human phenomena.
The C3 framework and HQIM complement each other. Both support the equity perspective necessary for social research through inquiry. The sources we use in student inquiry must be able to bring those perspectives to the surface. The inquiry process not only considers a variety of past and present perspectives, but also emphasizes the perspectives students use to use evidence and their own reasoning to answer persuasive questions. It is important to unpack these layers of perspective within the research experience.
What further insights can we glean from the C3 framework when defining HQIM for social research?
As educators, it is important that we teach the whole thing. inquiry arc — all four dimensions. Dimension One is about developing questions to drive research. It provides a “so what?” For social studies practice. However, teachers may want to jump to the second dimension, where content concepts and disciplinary practices reside. Dimension 3 focuses on evaluating sources and using evidence. Dimension 4 is important because it encourages students to express their conclusions and take informed action. This can also be a difficult area for teachers. While Dimension 2 and Dimension 3 are already in most teachers’ classrooms, Dimension 1 and Dimension 4 can feel like the Chronicles of Narnia. But those tricky spaces are the ones that make a difference. They speak to the vibrancy of the social studies curriculum.
When I look at social studies curriculum, I’m not just thinking, “Will my students be able to construct evidence-based arguments after answering questions and reading material?” I’m thinking, where is the life? Where is the energy? Where does the energy come from in the classroom? The energy comes from important questions that make students want to learn more, and ultimately allow them to express themselves and take action. There are many curriculums that check the boxes, but will they come to life in the classroom?