Social Studies for Young Children
Definition
The purpose of social studies for young children, K-6, as for all age groups, is to enable them to understand and participate effectively in their world. Social studies explains their relationship to other people, to institutions, and to the environment. It equips them with the knowledge and understanding of the past necessary for coping with the present and planning for the future. It provides them with the skills for productive problem solving and decision making, as well as for assessing issues and making thoughtful value judgments. Above all, it integrates these skills and understandings into a framework for responsible citizen participation, whether in their play group, the school. the community. or the world.
Rationale
The energy. curiosity, and imagination of young children leads them to action and interaction within their environment. Being egocentric, however, they view that environment from a narrow. unilateral perspective. They live in a family, play in a peer group, and make decisions about how they will relate to other people, what to do in their free time, whom to play with, what books to read, how to spend money. The larger social world penetrates their lives through television and other media, travel, family, and friends, but young children lack the conceptual base to integrate the new knowledge these experiences bring. They also lack the skills to account for other perspectives in solving problems or to anticipate long-range consequences when making decisions.
A planned social studies program directs and focuses these natural characteristics to help children better understand and function in their personal and social worlds. These learnings must be systematically developed from an early age, so that children move from egocentric, random observations and experiences to a broader and more structured conceptual organization.
Active, curious children need and want to learn skills. These skills are required in processing information to organize it so that generalizations can be made and new information can be integrated into a developing knowledge system.
Many of the children's attitudes and values toward society are formulated in the early years. The development of these attitudes and values occurs primarily outside the school setting. The social studies program provides an opportunity for children to acquire knowledge and to be exposed to a broad variety of opinions. This process facilitates the formulation. affirmation. or reassessment of their beliefs.
The social studies program enables children to participate effectively now, in the groups to which they belong, and not to look only to their future participation as adults. The school itself serves as a laboratory for students to learn social participation directly and not symbolically. A democratic and participatory school environment is essential to this type of real world learning.
Goals
The goals for social studies education in the primary years are not substantially different from the goals of social studies education in general. but the context within which these goals are achieved is different. It is understood that primary social studies is part of the framework of an overall social studies program. The primary years are important in that they are the ones in which a foundation is developed.
A major goal of the social studies for young children is the development of a positive self concept. They need to understand that they are unique in themselves. but that they share many of the same feelings and problems with other children. They need to understand how they can as individuals contribute to the society.
Another goal is to acquire knowledge and understanding of the multiplicity of cultures within the society and the world and to recognize the contributions of each and to explore their value systems.
The concept of time is difficult for young children. but they do need a sense of the past in order to understand how the present has come about as well as to appreciate their heritage.
Equally as difficult is the development of spatial relationships that are so necessary to understand how the location of their community relates to other areas of the world.
Understanding of the social. economic. and political institutions within the society will permit children to learn about their roles within these groups.
Children need to develop an understanding of and appreciation for the environment and to consider how resources will be allocated in the future.
The early years are the ideal time for children to understand democratic norms and values (justice. equality, etc.) in terms of smaller entities (the family. classroom, community). Applying these concepts to the nation and the world will be easier. if one understands and appreciates them on a smaller scale.
Children need to develop skills that will enhance their abilities to learn, to make decisions. and to develop as competent, self-directed citizens. Skills that are appropriate for young children include, but are not limited to, research skills such as collecting, organizing, and interpreting data; thinking skills such as hypothesizing, comparing. drawing conclusions and inferences; decision-making skills such as considering alternatives and consequences; interpersonal skills such as seeing others' points of view, accepting responsibility, and dealing with conflict; map and globe skills such as understanding and using directional terms; and reading skills such as reading pictures, books. maps, charts, and graphs.
Also, children need to develop a positive attitude toward knowledge and learning and to develop a spirit of inquiry that will enhance their understanding of the world, so that they will become rational, humane, participating effective members of a democratic society.
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National Council for the Social Studies
