Embedded Files
What is Social Studies?
What is Social Studies?
The mission statement for history, government, and social studies is as follows: "The Kansas Standards for History, Government and Social Studies (HGSS) prepare students to be informed, thoughtful, engaged citizens as they enrich their communities, state, nation, world and themselves." (Kansas State Department of Education, 2020, pg. 5). Social Studies is split into History, Civics/Government, Geography, and Economics. Social Studies is taught as a boring, endless, wordy subject when it should instead be considered Social Science which encourages the idea of exploration.
Standards, Scope/Sequence, Benchmarks
Standards, Scope/Sequence, Benchmarks
>Grades K-12 Social Studies standards all fall under these 5 "big ideas":
Choices have consequences.
Individuals have rights and responsibilities.
Societies are shaped by identities, beliefs and practices of individuals and groups.
Societies experience continuity and change over time.
Relationships among people, places, ideas and environments are dynamic.
>Under each standard there are four benchmarks which represent skills and actions that should be taken by students. The four benchmarks are:
Recognize and Evaluate
Analyze the Context and Draw Conclusions
Investigate and Connect
Make a Claim or advance a thesis using Evidence and Argument
>Scope and Sequence is what is taught and when. Scope involves what is taught and sequence describes the when. Vertical and horizontal alignment also fall under scope and sequence. Vertical alignment ensures content is not repeated between different grade levels and horizontal alignment looks at other content areas such as ELA, math, and science for interdisciplinary connections.
Personal Beliefs
Personal Beliefs
My personal beliefs about Social Studies is that even though we might not have much time as classroom teachers to teach specifically social studies we should make it a point to integrate social studies into other subjects. We can use historical books or books with historical characters or events to incorporate ELA with social studies. As a classroom teacher I want my students to think of Social Studies as a fun subject rather than a boring one.
science-and-social-studies-integration-n.jpg (720×540) (slideserve.com)
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse