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Meaningful Social Studies

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1. Describe the characteristics of powerful social studies.

2. Explain the model for meaningful social studies instruction.

3. Describe participatory citizenship in a democracy.

4. Define social studies as an integrated school subject with the goal of promoting civic competency.

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5. Describe how the structure for social studies instruction demonstrates the use of best practices by teachers who have social studies pedagogical content knowledge.

6. Evaluate a social studies lesson plan by identifying the degree to which it applies social studies pedagogical content knowledge

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Social studies is about our social world It is about people

◦ What they do◦ How they interact with each other and with the

world.◦ Social Studies happens every time a child figures

out a short cut to take home◦ Asks a question about whether the classroom

rules should be changed

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Powerful social studies is meaningful, integrative, value based, challenging and active (National Council for Social Studies, 1994).

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Social Studies leaning is personal

◦ Students take information they get through their senses and from interacting with others and interpret it in terms of their prior knowledge of the social world.

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Students reconstruct their prior knowledge, so it becomes more powerful in helping them to make decisions (Scheurman & Newman, 1998; Sunal, Sunal, & Haas, 1996).

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Powerful Social Studies

Is Integrated

Is Challenging

Is value Based

Is meaningful

Is Active

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The view that students construct their own knowledge has great implications for social studies education.◦ Students must have information to act on:

evidence developed through their own experience that they can be related to the ideas and skills being taught.

◦ Students collect this evidence by making observations of, and interacting with, people, educational materials, and objects.

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Students think about information, relating it to their prior experiences and knowledge.

They consider the information they acquire using familiar ways of thinking.

They make predictions and encounter challenges.

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It is through such challenges to our present way of thinking that we come to understand new ideas (Sunal, Sunal, & Haas, 1996)

Students need to classify and describe the materials, experiences, and information they observe

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Student are in a safe and

supportive learning community, rich with experiences

and materials

Students brings everyday experiences with the social world into the

classroom

Students reflect on everyday objects and events - exploration

Students gathers evidence,

discovering patterns and relationships

New meanings for everyday experiences result in meaningful

learning

Students reflects on experiences in a new way, deciding what is really important to

the student, the family and the

community

With new skills and knowledge, student sees experiences in

a different way

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Many teachers understand that classroom instructions take place along a continuum instructional activities.

Greater Student Control Greater Teacher control

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Greater Student Control Greater Teacher control

At one end of the continuum are instructional activities with greater teacher control that allow students little opportunity for input.

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Greater Teacher control

At the other end of the continuum are instructional activities with greater student control that involve students as active participants who decide what issues they will and how they will collect data on questions they have regarding those issues.

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As teachers, we need ◦ content knowledge specific to social studies and

the general pedagogical knowledge used in teaching all subject areas, such as classroom management skills.

◦ To be working to build our pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), the knowledge of how to teach social studies (Shulman, 1987 Pajaras, 1992).

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To teach social studies well

◦ We must have PCK that helps us to select appropriate instructional strategies that will best help our students learn social studies content and inquiry skills.

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Greater

Teacher

Control

Greater

Student

control

Students respond to the initial question and ask some

questions

Students present initial

questions

Students answer all questions

Teacher helps students generate

questions and adds additional questions and

resources

Teacher presents the

initial question

stimulus and accepts some

student suggestions

Teacher asks all

questions

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A general goal for school curriculum should be facilitating students’ development of an awareness, appreciation, and understanding of key social studies concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity (National Council for Social Studies, 1994b, National Research Council, 1996

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Social studies content

General Pedagogical knowledge

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

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Citizenship ◦ Active participation in community and national

decision making (Barr, Barth, & Shermis, 1977; Goodman & Adler 1985)

Being an active, participatory citizen means◦ students ask questions◦ decide on answers to questions based on related

information◦ act to bring about changes in their everyday

social world.

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Making thoughtful decisions requires citizens to have content knowledge in many areas and to know how to use and evaluate the evidence their knowledge gives them.

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Individual educators place a greater emphasis on any one of the following six view points.

1.Teaching history and geography2.Understanding social science3.Facilitating cultural transmission4.Supporting personal development5.Developing reflective thinking skills6.Encouraging rational problem solving,

decision making, and social action.

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Social studies has been called “the great connection” by Goodman and Adler (1985).

It is the core to which all parts of the elementary and middle school curriculum can be tied.

Social studies can integrate mathematics, science, art, music, physical education, health, reading, language arts, and all the other content areas.

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Social studies is an interdisciplinary approach that relies heavily on the content of social science and history to achieve its goal of preparing people to be active citizen of a democracy.

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Social studies is the integrated study of social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.

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The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.

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SOCIAL STUDIES

Anthropology

Economics

geographic

History

Archeology

Law

ReligionPhilosophy

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Illustrate your ideas about primary school social studies teaching.

Include social studies knowledge, meaningful learning, exploration, social studies and students, gathering evidence, and everyday experience. Group and order your ideas, indicating relationships with arrow

Discuss: the similarities and differences between your webs.

Do you think differences in the grade level you are teaching, or anticipate teaching, might be a contributor to the differences?

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