In collaboration with over 20 states and 15 social studies content organizations, including the AHA, the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) has released a guide to help states strengthen their social studies standards. The “College Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies” encourages states to upgrade their social studies standards by offering robust guidelines to promote inquiry-based learning in civics, economics, geography, and history. AHA members and staff, joined by representatives of the Teaching Division, worked closely with the NCSS, state representatives, educators, and scholars to ensure that the standards demonstrate best practices in the discipline of history. The C3 Framework offers a pedagogical platform for all educators to reconsider how to teach history by creating a vision of K–12 learning that focuses on change, continuity, and context; causation and argumentation; perspectives of historical observers, actors, and historians; and the development and use of historical evidence. The improved social studies standards envisioned in the C3 framework will enhance the teaching and learning of history by offering college and university teachers exciting opportunities to build upon those basic skills with innovative pedagogies, projects, and collaborations. For more details, please visit the AHA’s C3 page. The C3 Framework can be downloaded at www.socialstudies.org/C3.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.