Dynamic Social Studies

Chapter One Key Questions What is social studies? Why is social studies important? What are the major goals of social studies instruction in the elementary school? What is dynamic social studies?

What is social studies?

Why is social studies important?

What are the major goals of social studies instruction in the elementary school?

What is dynamic social studies?

Social Studies vs. Social Science Social Science - Social Studies -

What is Social Studies? Prior to1916 the major purpose of elementary school education was to foster competencies in the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. In 1916 due to an NEA initiative, social studies took its important place in the curriculum for the primary purpose of helping prepare our nation’s youth for constructive participation in society.

This implementation was due to the influx of immigrants and a newly industrialized economy which led our nation into unprecedented social change. Content that we would associate with social studies today was drawn from three major social sciences-geography, history, and political science. These courses were taught individually with memorizing facts. In elementary school, teachers read stories from a limited supply of books that stressed such citizenship virtues as courage, honesty, fairness, and obedience. The NEA studied why it was necessary to have such emphasis on memorizing facts.

After careful reflection the NEA decided that school curriculum and teaching should be brought more in tune with contemporary society. Supported by the works of Francis Parker and John Dewey, the NEA proposed that the work of our schools was to guarantee social efficiency through educating students to understand and resolve social problems. The NEA proposed a new subject - social studies.

Nothing had been done like this before. Social studies was to be the vehicle for promoting the idea of “social efficiency” in a rapidly changing society. The subject matter for this subject was to be drawn from the social sciences for the time - history, geography and civics. The purpose was to help children understand our American heritage and acquire the skills and sensitivities basic to constructive participation in our nation’s democratic society.

Well… Educators disagreed over the decades as to how this social studies should be taught.

NCSS in the leading professional association for social studies educators helped to bring about harmony by addressing the nature of social studies. Maxim, George W.(2003).Dynamic social studies for elementary classrooms. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:Prentice Hall.

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

The primary purpose of social studies is to help 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. (Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: Expectations of Excellence, 1994, vii)

Dynamic Social Studies Functional Content Constructivist Teaching Practices Intrinsic Motivation Cross- Curricular Integration Respect for Diversity

“That is the basic premise of dynamic social studies - using the subject matter of the social sciences as a vehicle for making knowledgeable decisions in student’s daily lives and for the types of problem solving and critical thinking that may be considered the basic skills of the next generation.” Maxim, 2003

How should the social studies curriculum be designed? Expanding Environmental Approach Lucy Sprague Mitchell Self, home, school in grade 2.Neighborhood 3.Community 4.State 5.United States 6.Western Hemisphere or World

Educational Movements A Nation At Risk The National Commission on Excellence America G. Bush brought educators together to discuss policy and how schools could be improved. NCSS – a task force was set up to determine what the standards should be for Social Studies No Child Left Behind – G. Bush signed this landmark in educational reform. Howard(2003) - agrees that improved student performance is a worthy goal, but… Mattioli(2004) - “ second class ” status for social studies

In 1994 NCSS developed National Standards NCSS Standards and Position Statements: Ten Thematic Strands in Social Studies 1. Culture 2. Time Continuity and Change 3. People, Places and Environments 4. Individual Development and Identity 5. Individual, Groups and Institutions 6. Power, Authority and Governance 7. Production, Distribution and Consumption 8. Science, Technology and Society 9. Global Connections 10. Civic Ideals and Practices.

Constructivist Teaching Practices John Piaget and Vygotsky developed the theories to support constructivism over 70 years ago. John Dewey advocated an instructional system we call constuctivism at the turn of the century. Jerome Bruner did the same a few decades later.

Constructivism focuses on a child-centered approach that focuses on knowledge construction. To instruct someone in a discipline is not a matter of getting him to commit results to mind. Rather, it is to teach him to participate in the process that makes possible the establishment of knowledge. Bruner (1960)

Intrinsic Motivation Interest Pleasure Competence Self-determination

Cross-Curricular Integration Respect for Diversity

View of Teaching and Learning Social Studies at the center presents a view of teaching and learning that emphasizes meaning and understanding over coverage and facts.