This article begins with an overview of elementary social studies, considering its purposes and goals, historical and contemporary controversies about learner readiness and curriculum content, and commonly reported problems with textbooks and time pressures. It then considers proposed reforms, first considering approaches recommended by others and…

This article provides an inside look at Barbara Knighton's classroom teaching. She uses big ideas to guide her planning and instruction and gives other teachers suggestions for adopting the big idea approach and ways for making the approach easier. This article also represents a "small slice" of a dozen years of collaborative research,…

Teaching social studies for understanding is complicated and challenging, but is rewarding when done effectively because students often exceed expectations. They construct understandings of the content, acquire a language to talk about it, and find a host of examples for applying it to their lives. Barbara Knighton, one of the authors of this…

This article provides examples of how a teacher can take childhood as a main topic of a unit of study and create interesting lessons that cover many aspects of social studies. It describes how a classroom learning community can be a place for helping students practice democratic principles while addressing academic subjects. It demonstrates that…

Explores whether lessons about cultural universals could promote self-efficacy in elementary students. Describes the three study units designed and based on a cultural universal (food, clothing, and shelter). States that five styles of teaching were observed that appear to promote self-efficacy. (CMK)

Argues that topical units on cultural universals are well suited for introducing primary grade students to social studies, although the units need to be more powerful than those in leading textbooks. Notes a study supporting the feasibility of cultural universals units in first and second grade classrooms. Suggests guidelines for lesson plans,…

This article features an elementary teacher who has worked with the authors for the past 10 years in research on building a classroom community and using cultural universals as the centerpiece for elementary social studies for all children. "Cultural universals" are basic human needs and social experiences found in all societies, past and present,…

Compares social studies transportation units for primary grades in 2 books published 71 years apart: one in 1931 the other in 2002. Includes examination of content selection, standards, literacy, view of the learner, instructional focus, and teacher direction. (Contains 22 references.)(PKP)

This article describes and defends a revision of the traditional elementary social studies curriculum rationale. It calls for retaining most of the same topics, but developing them more coherently and shifting emphasis from the expanding communities sequence to introducing students to the fundamentals of the human condition as the primary…

Presents study results of fifth graders' attitudes toward history. Includes interviews with the student subjects concerning what they know about history, what they want to know, and reasons to study history. Concludes that fifth graders are interested in history and familiar with the past but vague on the interpretive nature of history. (DK)

K-3 students were interviewed to elicit their knowledge and thinking (including misconceptions) about families, a major topic in primary social studies. Along with valid knowledge, the students displayed significant knowledge gaps and misconceptions about marriage, kinship relations, and family life in the past, in other cultures, and in urban vs.…

Finds that student knowledge about shelter is tacit rather than well-developed, frequently distorted by misconceptions, and scattered rather than gathered around big ideas. States that children typically do not acquire learning about cultural universals through everyday experience. (DAJ)

Discusses a study of the views of social education professionals and elementary social studies teachers on elementary social studies education. Reports many areas of agreement between the two groups and mostly minor points of disagreement. Concludes that social education goals would be better served by greater understanding between the two groups.…

Critiques an elementary social studies program by analyzing commercially available curriculum materials. Discusses goals, content selection, organization and sequencing, and explication in the text. Suggests that publishers should (1) shift from content coverage objectives to more general social education purposes; (2) connect information in…

Addresses the changing nature of social studies assessment and its importance as a curriculum component. Offers a brief history of social studies assessment and discusses the present stance on assessment and evaluation. Considers assessing student discourse in group settings and ensuring individual accountability. Provides guidelines for utilizing…