Promising+Practices

= for Elementary Social Studies = = 15 guideposts to keep in mind = = =

** 1. Plan active learning experiences in which students “do” social studies **. Kids often say that social studies is a boring subject. Why? In large part, because they’re not given the opportunity to //do// much besides read aloud from a dry, lifeless textbook. “Doing” social studies means having opportunities to actively acquire information, work with data, construct meaning, explore controversies, investigate problems, make hypotheses--in short, to do the sorts of things social scientists do.
 * 2. Emphasize depth over breadth ** . “Coverage” of material--what is sometimes referred to as “getting through the book”--should not be the goal. Better to delve into selected themes or questions deeply and meaningfully than to “cover” more material in a superficial way.
 * 3. Make your curriculum “a window and a mirror” ** **for your students**. Quality social studies instruction will expose students to ideas, experiences, and realities that are unfamiliar to them. But students should also see their own lives, experiences, and backgrounds reflected in the curriculum. While social studies should certainly open windows to unknown worlds for students, it should also help them see their own experiences with new eyes.
 * 4. Help students to view things from multiple perspectives ** . Students should understand that history--and all of the social sciences--involve looking at questions and problems from different viewpoints. Teachers should provide alternative interpretations for students to consider, and students should be encouraged to always ask, “Whose story is this? From whose point of view is it being told? Whose point of view is being left out?”
 * 5. Work toward an anti-bias, multicultural curriculum. ** Include the histories and experiences of diverse (and especially underrepresented) groups. But don’t just aim to be inclusive--it’s equally important to delve into the dynamics of unequal power relationships in society, and to examine social inequalities based on race, class, gender, religion, culture, language, etc.
 * 6. Integrate current events and social issues ** . Bring the outside world into the classroom by making current events and social issues a regular part of your social studies experience. Have newspapers delivered to your classroom once a week, research and debate controversial issues, compare what’s shown on various TV newscasts, investigate community issues. Too often social studies becomes stuck in the past, but it doesn’t need to be that way.
 * 7. Give students opportunities to be heard ** . Make room in your lessons for students’ voices. This might include debates, skits, mock newscasts, real or mock interviews, dialogue poems, video productions, digital storytelling, oral presentations, and informal large- and small-group discussions. Students construct meaning, in part, through their conversations with others, so it’s crucial that we give them opportunities to speak and hear one another in class.
 * 8. Provide opportunities for student choice ** . Rather than prescribing everything students will study during the year, structure ways for them to make responsible choices about what topics or issues they will explore (and how they will explore them).
 * 9. Organize learning experiences around themes, “essential questions,” or “big ideas”. ** Help students make sense of what they’re learning by providing a framework that helps them organize new ideas, concepts, and information. Avoid the “parade of facts” that is all too common in social studies classrooms.
 * 10. ** **Seek out and use alternative resources such as artifacts, primary source documents, photographs, videos, and cartoons/graphic novels.** The textbook can be a helpful resource, but it shouldn’t be the main (or only) attraction.
 * 11. Use quality children’s literature to bring social studies topics to life ** . A multitude of wonderful children’s books are available which personalize historical events, geographical locations, various cultures, and social/political concepts. Such books can serve as powerful introductions to (or supplements to) comprehensive thematic units.
 * 12. Remember that social studies is about more than history ** . Make connections among a range of social studies disciplines: civic and political education, geography, economics, cultural studies, anthropology.
 * 13. Plan for and organize “peak experiences” ** . Conclude units or extended studies with group projects, productions, performances, exhibitions, trips, artistic experiences, or other culminating activities that your students are likely to remember long after the school year has ended.
 * 14. Take students’ learning outside the classroom ** . Make connections between in-class learning and the world outside by organizing meaningful, well-planned field trips, community service projects, and other opportunities for taking action.
 * 15. Utilize “authentic” assessments to gauge students’ learning ** . There’s nothing wrong with using quizzes and/or tests as //one// way to assess your students’ learning, but strive to create assessment opportunities that allow students to demonstrate what they’ve learned in varied ways.