The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework emphasizes the acquisition and application of knowledge to prepare students for college, career, and civic life. It envisions social studies instruction as an inquiry arc of mutually reinforcing elements that speak to the intersection of ideas and learners. The C3 Framework centers on the use of questions to spark curiosity, guide instruction, deepen investigations, acquire content, and apply knowledge in real world settings to create 21st century citizens.
The C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards serves two primary audiences:
- States: so that they may upgrade their state social studies standards and
- Practitioners: such as local school districts, schools, teachers and curriculum writers, so that they may strengthen their social studies programs.
The C3 Framework for Social Studies seeks to enhance the rigor of social studies disciplines; build critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills; and align academic programs to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies.
Project Learning Tree is committed to supporting educators in providing instruction that helps students meet social studies standards. As such, PLT’s curriculum materials are correlated and designed with the C3 Framework for Social Studies Standards in mind.
EXPLORE YOUR ENVIRONMENT: K-8 ACTIVITY GUIDE
Activities in the Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide offer learning that involves exploring the real world through learner-centered, multidisciplinary investigations that promote inquiry and problem solving. Each PLT activity displays explicit connections to practices and concepts mandated by the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies.
The example below is from the “Every Drop Counts” activity, found in the Grades 3-5 section of the Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide.
TREES & ME: ACTIVITIES FOR EXPLORING NATURE WITH YOUNG CHILDREN
Activities in Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children use trees and forests as windows on the world to increase children’s understanding and appreciation of our complex environment. Each PLT activity displays explicit connections to practices and concepts mandated by the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies.
The example below is from the “Community Explorers” activity, found in the Meeting Neighborhood Trees section of Trees & Me.
E-UNITS FOR GRADES K-2, 3-5, & 6-8
Within the e-units, alignments for national academic standards, including the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies are made explicit and displayed visually on an interactive instructional website (see demo below.)
Many state standards use the national benchmarks as a basis for their own individualized standards of learning. With an appropriate level of understanding and professional development, teachers and administrators can easily draw connections between the national standards and their state subsets.
Get Treemendous Science! for K-2!, Energy in Ecosystems for 3-5, and Carbon & Climate for 6-8.
ACTIVITY COLLECTIONS
PLT’s Activity Collections provide content in support of an identified theme for a particular grade level. Each collection offers hands-on activities for teachers and nonformal educators, youth group leaders and home schoolers, to connect youth to nature and the outdoors. Designed to be flexible, the activities that comprise each collection can be used as individual, stand-alone lessons, or all together as a cohesive unit of instruction.
The example below is from the Nothing Succeeds Like Succession activity, found in the Nature of Fire activity collection for Grades 6-8.
