My social studies philosophy

The curriculum of social studies in the elementary years is very important in the overall evolution of beliefs and character of our citizens. Studying things like relationships, forms of governments, and why one should vote are good reasons that children need to be informed of these events at such an early age. Social studies for the constructivist teacher is an active process. Children need to spend time out of the textbook and in use and application of real life. The relationship of events from the past predict and explain events currently happening and things that may occur in the future. Meaningful experiences in this curriculum help the students take ownership of their world’s history and understand how to apply it to their own life.
Teachers need to facilitate concepts, generalizations, higher level thinking, and dispositions in order to be an effective constructivist teacher. Teachers are not here to transmit information, but to facilitate the aforementioned experiences that cultivate learning. Students do learn facts and information through these experiences, but ultimately they learn to form their own beliefs and change their personal concepts about events, cultures, and theories. In order for these realizations to occur for students, teachers need to understand the learning cycle in order to adapt learning experiences to better suit it. The learning cycle consists of three stages. First, prior knowledge needs to be assessed, contrast this to the current curriculum material, construct new concepts, and then lastly apply them through application and activities. The introductory stage is when the teacher sets the tone for learning and application activities. During the development stage, teachers need to supply the primary information, but allow children to construct their own concepts. Children need to be encouraged to think through their beliefs and explain them, whether they are correct or not. The expansion stage is when students learn to apply previously learned social studies ideas or skills into different situations. Here, teachers need to provide additional scaffolding in order to broaden the range of application. In the elementary school years, children are learning to see others’ perspectives. This is why it is more important for them to have hands on experiences rather than just read stories and facts out of a textbook. Learning is an active process; one cannot simply learn by being told and expected to regurgitate information for a test. Following these three steps allows the children to develop the dispositions, concepts, and higher level thinking that is the overall goal.
It is important for students to have first hand experiences with these concepts in order to form their own beliefs and to personalize the ideas learned. As the social studies curriculum has evolved, this teaching technique has taught teachers the most influential and effective way to devise a curriculum. Using the learning cycle with the ten strands of standards for social studies will lead the class to reach the goals of the formation of personal concepts and dispositions.