In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, it’s more important than ever for students to develop the skills and mindset necessary to navigate complex social and historical issues. The C.O.R.E. framework—Critical Thinking, Openness, Respect, and Engagement—serves as a guiding principle for educators aiming to foster these essential qualities in their students, particularly in social studies classrooms. By embedding these values into our teaching practices, we can help students not only understand the past but also actively participate in shaping a more thoughtful and inclusive future.
Critical Thinking is at the heart of the C.O.R.E. framework. It encourages students to analyze issues from all angles, challenging them to question assumptions and consider multiple perspectives. In the context of social studies, this means simulating historical events, examining economic outcomes, and envisioning different futures. By engaging with history as a dynamic process rather than a static set of facts, students learn to think critically about the world around them and their place within it. To promote critical thinking:
- Simulate historical events to understand different viewpoints
- Examine economic outcomes to evaluate cause-and-effect relationships
- Envision different futures to develop problem-solving skills
Openness is about embracing diverse perspectives and narratives. In a world where information is increasingly globalized, it’s crucial that students have access to a wide range of historical documents, multimedia resources, and cultural viewpoints. This openness not only broadens their understanding of history but also fosters empathy and appreciation for different experiences and backgrounds. To foster openness:
- Incorporate diverse historical documents, multimedia resources, and cultural viewpoints into lessons
- Encourage students to explore different experiences and backgrounds
- Use technology to access global resources and facilitate discussions
Respect within the C.O.R.E. framework emphasizes the importance of valuing differences of opinion. Social studies classrooms should be spaces where debate and discussion are encouraged, and where students can learn to respect and understand viewpoints different from their own. AI-enabled platforms can play a significant role in facilitating these discussions, allowing students to explore diverse ideas in a structured and supportive environment. To promote respect:
- Create spaces for debate and discussion in the classroom
- Encourage students to respect and understand viewpoints different from their own
- You can use AI-enabled platforms to facilitate structured and supportive discussions if it is pedagogically useful
Engagement is the final pillar of the C.O.R.E. framework, focusing on active participation and relationship-building. Interactive AI tools can bring history to life through role-playing, problem-solving, and immersive learning experiences. These tools help students connect with historical events on a deeper level, engaging with the past to better understand the present and influence the future. To build engagement:
- Use interactive AI tools for role-playing, problem-solving, and immersive learning experiences
- Encourage students to connect with historical events on a deeper level
- Foster relationships between students, teachers, and the community
The C.O.R.E. framework is an acronym of teaching strategies to help create a philosophy for cultivating civic-minded, critically aware students. By strategically finding areas in instruction for using Critical Thinking, Openness, Respect, and Engagement into our classrooms, we can prepare students to be informed citizens and active participants in the democratic process. When teachers teach Social studies, digital citizenship, reading, science, computer science, or other content areas, when grounded in these values, it can become a great reference for fostering a more just, equitable, and thoughtful society that thinks through current and emerging technologies or topics in ways that promote critical thinking and disagreeing without being disagreeable.
