What Is Social Studies? Essay

Akers, R. (2006). Parental and peer influences on adolescent drug use in Korea. Asian Journal of Criminology.

Illness and disease are widespread across the world. As human bodies morph and change, management and defeat of these illnesses change as well. The cultural meaning of an illness is defining the illnesses that are stigmatized and those which are not. Culture defines whether the illness is treatable and can be defeated versus those which can’t be. Whether they are scientifically correct in this aspect, is irrelevant as society will conform to the cultural meaning of illness until consulting medical knowledge. Another common term is stigmatization of illness in culture. This is the factor that keeps the patient from seeking medical attention because they are told that the society and medical professionals will discriminate against their

In order for teachers to create a learning environment that is culturally responsive to each individual student, a teacher must learn the student’s funds of knowledge. The importance of learning the funds of knowledge of your students is crucial. A teacher can approach learning more about a student’s prior knowledge and culture in a variety of ways, including, instructing personal interviews with questions about their personal life such as what are the most important things in your life. Another way to discover your student’s funds of knowledge is by placing yourself in their shoes and doing a school and community walk through. You can also be provided with more insight into your student’s lives by conducting an adult interview from someone that also lives in the same community. In order for me to create lessons and classroom practices that are culturally responsive is by discovering my student’s funds of knowledge. I am at Blackwell Elementary School, which is located in Marietta and is apart of the Cobb County District. After having the students create heart maps and interviewing them, doing a school and community walkthrough, and talking with an adult, I was greatly impacted by all the new information and perspectives I learned. Without going through this process to obtain the information, I would have no knowledge on my students or the community surrounding Blackwell besides what meets the eye. This experience impacted my own thinking about the school I am working in for

Also, throughout curriculum development the goals and aims of the curriculum need to be taken into account. Without specific goals and aims for the curriculum, the curriculum could be unfocused with no purpose identified. Within the social studies curriculum that I analyzed, I noticed societal goals for the curriculum (Posner, 2004). Societal goals are emphasized because the curriculum supports the development of knowledgeable and engaged citizens within our country. By understanding the goal of my curriculum I am better able to understand the purpose of what I am teaching, which in turn helps me to differentiate for my students while still keeping the ultimate goal in mind. I also was able to identify the further learning aims within the curriculum (Posner, 2004). By identifying this aim I was able to see how the curriculum I was teaching tied into the curriculum that the students would experience in subsequent grades. By reflecting on the further learning aims I was able to see how my teaching was a valuable piece of a bigger puzzle

Social Studies is a very complex subject for educators to teach and for the students to be interested in learning, this is because it includes so many different disciplines. Not to mention, society is rapidly changing socially and technologically which affects what social studies content is being taught to our students( Passe,J 2002). In past years students were forced to learn at a relatively low cognitive levels, it lack the full meaning social studies that could be transferred into real life situations. It is because of this

Any student, whether in elementary or college, learns better when the subject matter is thought-provoking and appealing. Traditional and old curriculum provides a baseline for students to meet and follow. Also, traditional curriculum is based of individualism and discourages exchanges between the student and teacher. Individual work teaches the child to develop internal critical thinking skills but it may bore the student. Teachers should continually interact with their students and challenge the student to think outside the box. Great teachers in today's system should help students develop a new way of thinking about history, math, english, and science and their education in general.

The subject matter that I got to observe was the initial two “I can” statements of their social studies curriculum. Students’ “I can” statements included that “I can help create and follow our class and school rules” and “I can stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance”. I was also able to observe the principle discussing the values of respect, compassion, responsibility, honesty and self-discipline in the classroom, hallway, lunchroom, bathrooms, and riding on the bus. This subject matter is essential for both teaching and learning. The teacher needs to “plan and deliver an integrated, thoughtful, and organized” expectations/rules plan at the beginning of the year that will be effective and efficient throughout the year (Concordia, 2015, p.10). An ineffective plan could bring on a huge negative impact to the classroom and student learning. These rules and skills utilized in the classroom can also help the students’ learn by being able to reflect and understand civic values and identities which will be discussed in future lessons. This understanding can help

Social studies ultimately about civic education, or civic competence. The idea being that all students need to have a certain amount of knowledge, skills, and democratic dispositions to be an active participant in their community (Chapin, 2013). The Arizona standards are quiet complex and thorough when it comes to social studies in the fourth grade, but only in some areas. Asking Mr. Aleman a few questions regarding his personal feelings on social studies as a content area, I was ill-prepared for the honesty of his responses. First, was the question of whether or not social studies was a subject that students needed. This teacher felt that social studies was extremely important because it was a way to connect students with their past and cultural identity. I think that this is reflective of the Arizona state standards, which emphasis learning about the history of civilizations in Arizona and the Southwest. While the focus is on Arizona, it stresses the

Students come to the classroom with their own ideas and pre-conceived notions. As a future educator it is important for me to understand what students know and where there are misunderstandings. These incorrect ideas about our world and history translate into misconceptions, gaps in knowledge, and stereotypes that will be taken as fact until otherwise taught. To better understand the missing pieces in social studies education and to find ways to address these gaps, I delved into the minds of two third-graders, one male, Sawyer, and one female, Brooke. After conducting my interview I have a better understanding of topics that students are not clear on and would benefit from more instruction. One topic students have missing information about is knowledge of famous women in history. A second topic students seem to be confusing is basic geography understanding.

As an idea social pedagogy first started being used around the middle of the nineteenth century in Germany as a way of describing alternatives to the dominant models of schooling. However, by the second half of the twentieth century social pedagogy became increasingly associated with social work and notions of social education in a number of European countries.

The social construction theory describes race as an aspect of life constructed by humans, which affects our lives as social beings. How people are viewed in life, whether it is judged upon their gender, race, or even the style of clothing they wear, has an affect on various aspects of their life. Their education, career, salary, where they live, and their friends are all dictated by at least one aspect of social construction. Race has one of the strongest impacts in life, since there is an overbearing subconscious racial lens in the minds of most people. As social beings, these racial ideologies are embedded into our brains. Some people choose to ignore them, some act on them negatively against others, and some decide to challenge them head

In addition, Ms. Preston-Grimes, discusses how the integration of social studies should be “to create children who will be able to use the disciplines to advance democratic thought and life.” The author goes on to explain that is about creating different ways of thinking and not just focusing on bits of information. In addition, social studies should not simply be about learning small pieces during a reading lesson. Ms. Preston-Grimes stresses that true integration of social studies allows students develop thought process which are applicable outside the classroom. It allows students to develop inquiry skills which lend themselves to excelling in other areas and real-world experiences. The disciplines, the author writes about, help students understand their world and investigating ways of solving problems. The term stealthy integration is mentioned in the article and defined in a way that is remarkably similar to what is often happening in the classroom. This stealthy approach sends the message that social studies is secondary to reading or writing and carries less value. Additionally, this stealthy approach is not effective and not healthy. Healthy integration involves the students gaining greater insight and developing an understanding of the world around. This type of integration involves primary and secondary sources, connections, reading and writing as part of the inquiry. Finally, the article reiterates the point that all areas of study are important and teachers must find a way of teaching social studies without fracturing the subject

The aim of Social Studies is the promotion of civic competence the knowledge, intellectual processes, and democratic dispositions required of students to be active and engaged participants in public life. Proverbs 19:2 (ESV) states," Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way."For example it is essential for there to be commonalities across the grade levels so that there is a scaffolding of concepts to build from one grade level to the next.

In my classroom, students will bring their authentic stories to share and connect with the lessons being taught. There’s often a detachment from the curriculum to students lives in all subjects, but particularly in social studies. “Many students found social studies content boring, citing that the information is too far removed from their experience…” (Mark, p.11). This is the result of instruction that is not multifaceted. Students are not given the opportunity to interact with their studies and

First, I will start out by talking about the importance of a socially just education. As our world becomes more diverse every day, as teachers we need to understand how to be mindful of every student’s beliefs and culture. In order to give every student, the education they deserve, teachers need to teach as if everyone is the same, not to treat one culture better than the other. It is in human nature to divide up into groups of people that are like you, so naturally this would happen in a classroom. I hope that in the new age of teaching, that myself and other teachers will break this notion apart. Cultures should be brought together in order to understand one another and their views. Teaching is not always about curriculum, but rather an introspective look on bringing groups of students together to learn as a whole.