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Social Studies in Today’s Early Childhood Curricula
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Children are born into social studies. From birth, they begin exploring their world. At each stage of early development—infant, toddler, preschool, and primary—children look around and try to make sense of their social and physical environments. They gradually learn more about their expanding community and eventually come to see themselves as citizens. What is relevant social studies subject matter and what is a useful approach for early childhood educators teaching social studies today? The answers to these questions depend of course on children’s ages and stages of develop- ment as well as their child care or school setting. Social studies currently and historically is a field designed to meet the educational needs of society. It emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century as a holistic approach to citizenship education using the techniques of social science: raising questions and gathering, analyzing, discussing, and displaying data. Elementary schools at that time focused on basic education— reading, writing, arithmetic. To help immigrant children understand the history and social mores of their new country, teachers read stories about the early formation of the United States and focused on children’s development of the virtues exemplified in moralistic stories (such as those in the McGuffey Read- ers). A debate emerged between educators who sought to teach the facts of history and those who sought to develop students’ appreciation and under- standing of the unique aspects of U.S. history. After several study commissions of the National Education Association (NEA) had grappled with the issues of an increasingly complex society, schools began in 1916 to integrate history, geography, and political science—teaching students how to think about social issues and content—so that graduates could be effective employees in a democratic society. The NEA saw social studies as “the subject matter related directly to the organization and develop- ment of human society, and to individuals as members of social groups” (1916, 5). “The ‘subject matter’ for this new school subject was to be drawn from the most influential social sciences of the time—history, geography, and civics— and blended together as one school subject for the purpose of helping children understand our American heritage and acquire the skills and sensitivities basic to constructive participation in our nation’s democratic society” (Maxim 2006, 13)
Gayle Mindes, EdD - Personal Name
NONE
Social Science
English
September 2005
1-8
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