National Council for the Social Studies Affirms Religious Studies as Essential to Educating for Effective and Engaged Citizenship in a Diverse Nation and World Today, the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) added a supplement to its College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for the academic study of religion in K-12 social studies instruction. The “Religious Studies Companion Document for the C3 Framework” recognizes religious studies as an essential part of the social studies curriculum. The C3 Framework is widely used by state and school district curriculum experts for social…

The author contends that teachers can challenge the oversimplified narrative of Martin Luther King Jr. typically taught in elementary schools through an inquiry into the Memphis Sanitation Strike. Designed for students in grades 3–5, this inquiry includes children’s literature and a four-part primary source investigation following the C3 inquiry arc.