1. Social Studies Curriculum
TCH 347
Social Studies in the Elementary School
Department of Education
Shippensburg University
Han Liu, Ph. D.

2. Curriculum Definition #1
What a student should know and be able to do, which is defined by the state standards linked to high-stake tests.

3. Curriculum Definition #2 What a student should know and be able to do
Grade-level content expectations
Instructional methods
Any classroom learning materials

4. Curriculum for Social Studies
Curriculum Content
Curriculum Organization
Curriculum Delivery
Conceptual Structure
Curriculum Scope & Sequence
Social Studies Skills

5. Social Studies Content (Basic Disciplines)
Sociology
Anthropology
Psychology
Philosophy
Culture
History
Geography
Economics
Civics
Current Affaires

6. Social Studies Curriculum Organization
Interdisciplinary Approach is applied in Elementary and middle schools, such as family life, cultural diversity, improve the environment…
Separate Subject Approach is applied in high schools, such as U.S History, American Government, Economics…
Multidisciplinary Approach is applied in teaching units, such as U.S. state, Latin America, middle east…
Special topics, such as globalization, the Middle East, etc.

7. Approaches to Deliver Social Studies Curriculum
Conceptual Approach
Emphasizing the mastery of social studies concepts
Topical Approach
Focus on topics, such as WW II, civil rights movement, etc.
Inquiry Approach
Generating questions
Making Hypothesis to address the questions
Testing the hypothesis

8. Conceptual Structure for Social Studies
Facts
Vocabulary
Concepts
Concept Clusters
Themes
Generalizations
Descriptive Generalizations
Prescriptive Generalizations

9. Scope and Sequence Scope: Sample. Textbook p.10, Figure 1.1
Basic Contents defined by state standards
Comparative Studies & Global Perspective
Special Topics: Peace Studies, Environmental Issues…
Sequence: Sample. Textbook p.20, Units of Instruction in the K-8 Curriculum
Basic sequence defined by state standards based on knowledge acquisition theory and grade levels
School’s decisions
Teacher’s decisions

10. Skills for Social Studies
Thinking Skills
Language & Communication Skills
Vocabulary Building Skills
Research Skills
Data Processing Skills
Technology Skills

11. Thinking Skills Inductive Thinking Problem Solving Deductive Thinking
Critical Thinking
Creative Thinking
Analogical Thinking
Problem Solving
Decision-Making
Generalizing
Particularizing
Metacognition

12. Language and Communication Skills
Receptive Skills
Reading
Listening
Expressive Skills
Speaking
Writing
Presenting
Comprehensive Communication Skills
Debating

13. Vocabulary Building Skills
Semantic map (relationship between/among concept clusters)
Clusters
Pairs
Mnemonics

14. Research Skills Problem Identifying Predicting/Hypothesizing
Inquiry Method Selecting
Data processing
Analyzing
Synthesizing
Interpreting
Inferring
Evaluating/Appraising

15. Data Processing Skills
Data Source Identifying
Data collection
Data Tabulation
Data Organizing
Data Aggregation
Data Analysis
Data Presentation

16. Technology Skills Searching Classifying Organizing Tabulating
Communicating
Transmitting
Presenting
Graphing
Multimedia integrating
Teaching aids developing