A rationale for interdisciplinary elementary social studies materials produced and field tested by the Project Social Studies Curriculum Center is presented in this document. World change is taken into account in courses which focus on understanding culture, valuing human dignity, freedom of choice, and the individual. This emphasis leads to the broad program goal of citizenship education in the social studies and in the school. Inquiry teaching strategies encourage pupils to learn through the discovery process and to set up hypotheses by recalling concepts and generalizations learned by experiences and previous classes. Nine sections included in the booklet are: 1) the need for curricular change; 2) curriculum tasks undertaken by the staff in developing its program; 3) the social sciences or sources for the curriculum; 4) the philosophical considerations of the curriculum developers; 5) the role of the school in a democratic society; 6) teaching strategies; 7) eight criteria for selecting topics of study; 8) a brief framework of the elementary school program; and, 9) three general principles of curriculum organization used in grades 1 through 4. See 1971 Research in Education for some related documents. Other related documents are SO 003 146 through SO 003 153. (Author/SJM)