So I need to teach Social Studies... what do I do?
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By Joey Jones - September 24th, 2012
As primary-junior teacher candidates, it is important to understand what responsibilities we have in teaching social studies to our students. Social studies is a unique combination of perspectives, approaches, and values based upon multiple areas of study, including anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, environmental studies, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, sociology, and even space studies. Therefore, as many of us will be teaching in primary or junior classrooms, it is our responsibility to invite our students to explore these disciplines of study in ways that are personally meaningful to them. Each child can be asked to gradually expand their view of reality and their personal role in the world by first looking at themselves, then their family, their community, their province or territory, their country, and finally their world. It is up to us as educators to facilitate this gradual expansion for children as they often have a hard time looking past themselves.
As teachers, we need to ask ourselves how we can facilitate this expansion of thinking. At first, this may appear to be a difficult task because social studies introduces a number of abstract themes. However, these concepts can successfully be communicated using creative and intriguing lessons. As stated before, the children should be invited to actively learn about their own personal environment. Children should be invited to:
1. Learn about themselves and their personal history! (eg. the day they were born, their first day of school, etc.)
2. Learn about their family (eg. a family tree, familial roles, etc.)
3. Looking at their community (eg. roles in the community, a community field trip, public speakers, a map of their community, etc.)
4. Examining their province or territory (eg. field trips to provincial or territorial monuments, provincial parks, vacations they’ve taken, animals, plants, jobs, etc.)
5. Looking at their country and how it relates to their daily lives (eg. laws, traditions, history, government, etc.)
6. Taking a look at the world (eg. locating their country on a map, world systems such as the United Nations, peace, war, similarities and differences between countries, etc.)
Upon reviewing these examples above, we have decided that social studies is best taught with creative, intriguing, practical lessons that are relative to the children in your classroom. Lessons that are personally meaningful will help children expand their horizons past their immediate
environment.
As primary-junior teacher candidates, it is important to understand what responsibilities we have in teaching social studies to our students. Social studies is a unique combination of perspectives, approaches, and values based upon multiple areas of study, including anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, environmental studies, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, sociology, and even space studies. Therefore, as many of us will be teaching in primary or junior classrooms, it is our responsibility to invite our students to explore these disciplines of study in ways that are personally meaningful to them. Each child can be asked to gradually expand their view of reality and their personal role in the world by first looking at themselves, then their family, their community, their province or territory, their country, and finally their world. It is up to us as educators to facilitate this gradual expansion for children as they often have a hard time looking past themselves.
As teachers, we need to ask ourselves how we can facilitate this expansion of thinking. At first, this may appear to be a difficult task because social studies introduces a number of abstract themes. However, these concepts can successfully be communicated using creative and intriguing lessons. As stated before, the children should be invited to actively learn about their own personal environment. Children should be invited to:
1. Learn about themselves and their personal history! (eg. the day they were born, their first day of school, etc.)
2. Learn about their family (eg. a family tree, familial roles, etc.)
3. Looking at their community (eg. roles in the community, a community field trip, public speakers, a map of their community, etc.)
4. Examining their province or territory (eg. field trips to provincial or territorial monuments, provincial parks, vacations they’ve taken, animals, plants, jobs, etc.)
5. Looking at their country and how it relates to their daily lives (eg. laws, traditions, history, government, etc.)
6. Taking a look at the world (eg. locating their country on a map, world systems such as the United Nations, peace, war, similarities and differences between countries, etc.)
Upon reviewing these examples above, we have decided that social studies is best taught with creative, intriguing, practical lessons that are relative to the children in your classroom. Lessons that are personally meaningful will help children expand their horizons past their immediate
environment.
Click here for over 100 lesson plans for Kindergarten to Grade 8 based on Canadian History, Geography, Citizenship and Government!