Middle school education is often deemed a period of transition from childhood into young adulthood where social outlets and influence are of increasing importance. It is a unique age group, one that often invokes statements from adults of: “You teach in middle school? How can you do that?” It is a difficult age, one with numerous challenges for the individual as the child tries to find his or her place in the upcoming adult world. According to the National Council for the Social Studies or NCSS, almost 50% of 10 through 17 year olds are at risk for behaviors such as failure, drugs and violence (NCSS, 1991). A student’s experiences during this time will shape and mold the adult that they will become. Children spend more time in school at this age than they do at home and so the type of education that is offered to these young men and women is of the utmost importance. Will these future leaders come out of our school systems as educated, active participants of society or will we create adults who can recite numerous facts but cannot apply that information to make a difference? In a school setting, the job of citizenship education is often given to social studies teachers. It is during this class that connections with the past, present, and future are created and where students begin to understand their roles in society (Parker, 2001). Are we, as educators, doing enough to prepare our students for a global society? In today’s standards-based society can a global education component be successfully integrated into middle school social studies classes to prepare our students for the ever changing international experience? If not, what prevents educators from creating a global educational experience?
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In Joel L. Swerdlow’s 2001 essay, “Changing America,” he writes about the current cultural differences among kids in high school. He goes on to talk about how you can gather a large variety of kids, coming from all over the world, yet they still somehow manage to develop the same “American Teenager” attitude toward life. The essay talks about how people used to view America as a “melting pot” of nations, and how over time that view is starting to change.
This paper is a critique of an article written by McKinney and Jones (1993) entitled: “Effects of a Children’s Book and a Traditional Textbook on Fifth-grade Students’ Achievement and Attitudes toward Social Studies”. In their research the authors examined the effects of a children’s book and a traditional social studies textbook on knowledge acquisition and attitudes toward social studies and the textbook in a sample of 57 fifth-graders. It is the intention of the present paper to develop analytical discussion and the holistic interpretation of the McKinney and Jones’s quantitative study (1993).
Blakely, G., Bromley, S., Clarke, J., Raghuram, P., Silva, E., and Taylor, S. (2012) DD131 Introducing the Social Sciences – Part 1, ‘ Learning Companion 1’, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
School systems have become the domain of learning about our own cultures; it prescribes what we know and how we engage within the global sphere. By students attending School it is a way to intersect knowledge to the new generations to come. We use textbooks in schools to help facilitate the information that has been passed down through the years of progression. In order to understand ones heritage one needs to understand what occurred and how one came to be. Education has become a fundamental process in which all youths must obtain too in order to develop into a valued functioning member of society. Educators strive to educate youth in the history of their culture but the reality of the truth is that history is a false perception derived from years and year of colonization, white hierarchy. “Textbooks are very influential message senders in the formal kindergarten through 12th grade school systems in the United States. The realities of students reading these textbooks are shaped by the information printed, especially of things that are unfamiliar and unavailable to them” (Clark & Moore, 2004). Textbooks have in turn brought upon a false history and claims to what the truth really is, but whose truth is it, whose truth is dominant, colonial truth is dominant and textbooks within the school system provide false truths of history to back up colonial ways. Colonization is a continuing process within the school system by means of history textbooks; it is this book that claims to speak the truth but only one truth.
Babbie, E. (2007) The Practice of Social Research. Thomson Higher Education. Belmont. (USA) Eleven Edition.
In an increasingly global society, countries are having more intense interactions than ever before. As a result, in order to know enough to be effectively involved in such complex interactions, a well-rounded and ongoing education is key. Calvin Coolidge understood
Westheimer, Joel. "Politics and Patriotism in Education." Phi Delta Kappan 8(2006):608. eLibrary. Web. 19 May 2014.
With reference to the secondary curriculum in England, emphasis is placed upon the aims, values and purposes of education. With the implementation of the curriculum, pupils should be given the foundations to develop and apply the knowledge, skills and understanding that will help them become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens; regardless of social background, culture, race, gender, differences in ability and disabilities (QCDA, 2010). In doing so, children will become more aware of, and engaged with, their local, national and international communities; and effectively widen their po...
This paper emphasizes the importance of cultural diversity and the impact that it has on Elementary school students (Burt, 2013). Attending a school with a diverse student population can help prepare children for citizenship in a multicultural democracy (Morrissey, 2014). America is known as the melting pot because of the immigration of people who entered the country in search for a more stable life. Immigrants brought their own unique cultures with them. Census Bureau predicts that by 2100, the minority population will be the majority.
Numerous students who have told me that they did not spend much time learning social studies in their elementary school, so to close some of the gap, I have added a unit on basic geography skills. Once they have completed the geography unit, I begin to compare and contrast the ancient world advances in education, religion, politics, and economics with our world today. As we go through each subtopic, we discuss how those achievements have evolved over time and continue to influence our world today.
In this paper I will be writing about Why we teach social studies. I will also go over why and how we teach social studies. I will also go what makes me a good candidate to teach social studies. I will go through these in good detail and try to provide good information to use in this essay.
Though it can be prevented, students at a primary school level are known to less likely to see race and gender as something inferior. Students also accept what is being taught without formulating personal opinions or political views. According to the Census Bureau, “by the year 2100, the U.S. minority population will become the majority with non-Hispanic whites making up only 40% of the U.S. population” (“How important is cultural diversity at your school?”). It is crucial for students to develop cultural awareness and are engaging in the acts of citizenship, not only within schools and surrounding areas but as active members of the global community. Students being culturally aware comes central when interacting with individuals out of the norm. Also, influencing global awareness leading to a better perspective and relations towards one another generating tranquility
This report goes into detail about the reasons social studies is a core subject in the New Zealand curriculum, how social studies has a unique role in preparing children to be active and critical participants in a changing society, defines and explains what ‘powerful social studies’ is and lastly it will explain what qualities are required of a successful Social Studies teacher. For the purpose of this report “social studies is the systematic study of an integrated body of content from the social sciences and humanities to develop socially informed and effective citizens who are empowered with knowledge and skills in a changing society” (Barr, H., Graham, J., Hunter, P., Keown, P., & McGee, J. 1997, p. 5).
The concept of best practices in teaching is not a new one, and the discussion of how to implement the most effective strategies in social studies education is ongoing. By definition, social studies is a curriculum design focused on the relationships among multiple disciplines such as history, geography, philosophy, and the humanities, and its purpose is to help students develop the ability to make informed decisions with a world perspective. However, due to the ever increasing pressure from high-stakes testing, teachers feel the need to focus instead on memorization of names, dates, and other facts as the primary method for teaching social studies concepts (Au, 2011). For social studies instruction to be powerful, it must be meaningful, integrative, challenging, and active (NCSS, 1993), and as teachers begin to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction, they will need to weave in strategies that promote critical thinking, a skill that is inherently challenging for many adolescents.
Social Studies education is a subject in today’s schools that is undervalued. The study of social studies in schools help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world (Seefeldt, Castle, & Falconer, 2010). When participating in social studies class children are learning so much about who they are, where they came from, how to succeed in the world, and more. Most of what we teach daily includes an aspect of social studies. But, since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 de-emphasis or nonexistence of elementary social studies is the national focus because of high stakes testing (Sunal, & Sunal, 2008). Social studies