NISD vs. Turksh Elementary Grade Social Studies Curriculum Guide by Ruben C. Rodriguez Muhammed Ozturk Hana Alturki Eyup Bayram Guzel

Our group compared a scope & sequence curriculum guide that was taken from NISD’s website and compared it along side one that was taken from Cankaya Ilkogretim Okulu (Cankaya Elementary School) located in Ankara, Turkey.

NISD’s scope & sequence NISD’s elementary social studies curriculum was developed by an in-house curriculum & instruction department that design for the entire school district tayloring it to TAKS standards. NISD’s underlying philosophy utilizes perenialism and social efficiency, which ties this document directly to what’s on the test (The Great Books).

Turkish Curriculum The Turkish fifth grade social studies curriculum has been implemented in all of the Turkish elementary schools since 2005, as where the NISD social studies guide only outlines the current school year. The Turkish curriculum was designed around the topics of cognition and constructivist philosophy along with new teaching materials that were developed by the Minister of National Education in During the time of this curricular development, all elementary fifth grade social studies curriculums were compared with a large of number of international curriculums from around the world. Turkish philosophy includes program, teaching how to learn, active learning, child-centered teaching, lifelong learning, democratic culture and economic sensitivity, which are all based on an integrated approach.

Design format Both are very different visually. The Turkish guide is in a nine-month format, as where NISD’s is broken up into four quarters. NISD’s is in chart form and the Turkish guide is in a document form. They do show some similarities in the way they categorized their content standards.

Clarity and Usability Both curriculum guides are pretty clear on displaying their subject content and in laying out the exact sequential order that the content should be taught in. The Turkish guide is designed more flexible and provides greater detail than NISD’s scope and sequence. The Turkish guide is very user friendly especially for new teachers, because it clearly presents every step in great detail. NISD’s provides only content standards with bulleted teks and provides no explanations for the teachers.

Coverage of standards and learning objectives and their relevance The fifth grade portion of the NISD elementary social studies scope & sequence guide breaks up its curriculum into four quarters covering the following in each. 1 st Quarter: Americans. 2 nd Quarter: We The People. 3 rd Quarter: the American Civil War, Expansion & Change. 4 th Quarter: Science, Technology, and Big Business

The Turkish fifth grade social studies scope & sequence document, which was developed by the Turkish National Minister of Education, breaks up its curriculum focuses into a monthly basis. Month 1: regions, resources, and neighbors Month 2: geography and climate Month 3: natural disasters and their preventions Month 4: economic activities Month 5: technology and the sciences Month 6: rules (cultural & moral) of living in society Month 7: World War I Month 8: the revolutionary history, Ataturk Month 9: democracy and civil rights

After comparing the two curriculum guides it was quiet clear that the only two of the seven philosophies that were evidently present within them both were perenialism and social efficiency.

References Cankaya Ilkogretim Okulu elementary social studies curriculum guide, was provided by Erdal Guzel on May 18 th, Hlebowitsh, P. S. (2005). Designing the school curriculum. Boston, MA: Pearson. NISD elementary social studies scope & sequence guide, taken from retrieved on May 17 th, 2011.