Powerful Social Studies: Concepts That Count. Elementary Subjects Center Series No. 88

This report examines cases of students learning from their experiences in a fifth grade classroom as they studied a U.S. history curriculum organized around concepts that would not only help students understand history but also be powerful in their lives, concepts that planners hoped would make stud...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author Hasbach, Corinna
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published Center for the Learning and Teaching of Elementary Subjects, Institute for Research on Teaching 01.03.1993
Subjects
Elementary School Students
Grade 5
History Instruction
Humanistic Education
Intermediate Grades
Literacy in Science and Social Science Project
Self Actualization
Social Studies
Student Development
United States History
Online AccessGet full text

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Summary:This report examines cases of students learning from their experiences in a fifth grade classroom as they studied a U.S. history curriculum organized around concepts that would not only help students understand history but also be powerful in their lives, concepts that planners hoped would make students more human. The teacher-researchers also considered themselves as learners through the collaborative work done within the Literacy in Science and Social Science Project. This report explores how social studies in this particular context was powerful or not for these particular fifth grade students, powerful in understanding U.S. history, powerful in text analysis, and powerful in analyzing their own lives. The report is not an attempt to show exemplary practice. Instead, it is an attempt to open up dialogue surrounding the teaching and learning of social issues and social justice in the context of social studies. The study seeks to address such questions as: What is powerful social studies? Whose history is being taught in the schools? For whom is it powerful, those who dominate or those who are dominated? For what purposes is it powerful? and Powerful to dominate or to liberate? Contains 57 references and 4 appendices.) (Author/SG)