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67 D A V I D S . M A R T I N The฀Social฀Studies฀Curriculum W HAT WE KNOW TODAY AS SOCIAL STUDIES in American education had at one time a different label. Until well after World War II, some aspects of this current subject area were identified only as “history” and “geography,” focusing on past events and on orienting oneself to the geographic world. The term “social studies” began to be used in earnest during the 1950s but was a term that still referred largely to the combination of history and geography. In 1957 the Russian spacecraft Sputnik was launched, however, which resulted in a shock to America and in particular to America’s educators, who were asked, “Why are we behind? It must be the curriculum.” The subsequent curriculum revolution permanently changed the face of American education. As a result of that shock, innovations soon developed in the science curriculum and subsequently in the mathematics curriculum. Not far behind, even though not related directly to the concerns that followed Sputnik, were the social studies. The term began to be broadened to include all of the social sciences—not only geography, but also economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology, with some elements of psychology and philosophy (although philosophy is not a social science). History, technically defined, is not a social science, but was included in social studies. Thus, the school subject of social studies became interdisciplinary. Significant฀Changes฀in฀Teaching฀Methods The important changes resulting from the specially funded curriculum projects of the 1960s in social studies involved a number of characteristics. These innovations were made possible by a first-time-ever combination of collaborators in the curriculum projects —a coalition of educational psychologists, teachers, and university scholars working together to produce intellectually strong curricula that represented a number of significant changes from social studies prior to the 1960s. This chapter includes a review of those changes and suggests that these criteria are still very relevant for teachers who are intent on making intelligent choices in social studies curriculum and methodology. Strong social studies curricula feature these characteristics: 1. An in-depth approach to the study of periods in the past, as opposed to super- ficial survey “coverage” of the past. 68฀ David฀S.฀Martin 2. A conceptually based rather than a factually based approach to knowledge in social studies. 3. An interdisciplinary approach to the study of social phenomena rather than a single-discipline approach, one looks at social phenomena from a cultural , sociological, economic, geographic, and political point of view instead of through only one of these disciplines. 4. Use of facsimiles of primary documents wherever possible, to supplement secondary documents—for example, they may include, in addition to what a historian has written about John Adams, some of Adams’ letters to his wife, Abigail, and her replies. This allows students to form their own opinion of what really transpired. 5. Use of visual media, such as PowerPoint, overhead transparencies, videotapes, and so forth to bring a visual reality to social studies; this dimension, of course, is particularly relevant to deaf learners who depend on the visual not only for excitement about the topic but also for primary sensory input. 6. Use of cultural artifacts wherever possible, or reproductions of such artifacts— for example, in a study of a culture that is different from the students’, curricula may include examination of kits of materials such as tools and works of art from that culture, as well as reading material. 7. Classroom debates on critical issues related to the topic of study, so that students have to take and defend their own positions on issues related directly to the topic. 8. Use of field experiences to make the topic come alive—for example, a structured visit to a local museum that has displays related to a culture being studied. 9. Community resource people who visit the classroom to make presentations on some aspect of the topic on which they have particular expertise—for example , when studying the history of seafaring in New England, an invitation to a retired sea captain to share anecdotes with students about life at sea. 10. Role play activities and simulation games that give students the experience of being an active part of some social studies phenomena; for example, different students may play the role of judge, jury, defendant, and prosecutor when reenacting scenes from the famous Scopes Trial, in which evolution was debated early...

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