Silver Spring, Md. - November 8, 2023

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) has approved a new definition of social studies.

Definition

Social studies is the study of individuals, communities, systems, and their interactions across time and place that prepares students for local, national, and global civic life.

Purpose

Using an inquiry-based approach, social studies helps students examine vast human experiences through the generation of questions, collection and analysis of evidence from credible sources, consideration of multiple perspectives, and the application of social studies knowledge and disciplinary skills. As a result of examining the past, participating in the present, and learning how to shape the future, social studies prepares learners for a lifelong practice of civil discourse and civic engagement in their communities. Social studies centers knowledge of human rights and local, national, and global responsibilities so that learners can work together to create a just world in which they want to live.

Disciplines and Courses

Disciplines and Courses

At the elementary level, social studies includes the interdisciplinary study of history, geography, economics, and government/civics and is well-integrated with the study of language arts, the visual and performing arts, and STEM.

At the secondary level, students engage in social studies through singular, disciplinary lenses as well as interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary ones.

States, districts, and schools use various names to identify the disciplines, fields, and subjects of a comprehensive social studies education. As such, creating an all-inclusive list of subject and course titles is almost impossible. Fundamentally, social studies courses include those that study the array of human experiences and the spaces in which we interact as humans.

Social studies can include but is not limited to, disciplines and courses such as:

• History, including local and state history, United States history, world history and global studies, African American history, and women’s history as well as other courses about the history of specific groups, regions, and eras; 
• Geography, including physical, environmental, cultural, and human geography as well as courses related to the application of geographic tools (i.e. GPS and GIS); 
• Economics, including general economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, and international economics; 
• Government and Citizenship, including civics, citizenship education, political science, local, state, tribal, and United States government, international relations, comparative government, and law and legal studies; 
• Social Sciences, including psychology, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, gender studies, LGBTQ+ studies, and religious studies; 
• Ethnic Studies, including African American studies, Asian American and Pacific Islander studies, Indigenous studies, and Latin American studies; 
• Human Rights and Social Justice, including human rights education, social justice issues, international organizations, and genocide studies; 
• Financial Literacy, including personal finance (NCSS recognizes financial literacy as an important course for students, but financial literacy is distinct from and is not a replacement for economics and economic education); and 
• Contemporary Issues, including courses in current events and the study of one or more social studies topics in current contexts.

This list should not be construed as a list of all courses that schools, districts, and states should offer. This list is only provided as examples of social studies courses currently found around the country. NCSS remains committed to the interdisciplinary study of multiple social studies disciplines as a best practice, but this is not a list of all the disciplines teachers should include in an interdisciplinary approach to social studies teaching and learning.

“Reimagining how we define social studies is a humbling experience. Multiple iterations and rounds of feedback from those within and out of the educational sphere produced this extraordinary result. It is an honor to continually work alongside this community of consummate professionals. I thank Past President Shannon Pugh, who led our task force, and the task force members — it was an honor to work with you all on this very important project,” said Wesley E. Hedgepeth, 2023-24 NCSS president.

“I am honored to have worked with so many dedicated social studies educators over the past several months on the review and revisions to the official definition of social studies. The expansion of the definition to include preparing students for local, national, and global civic life reflects the human role in both defending and enjoying individual and community rights as well as the responsibility for making the world a better place for all of us,” said Dr. Shannon M. Pugh, NCSS past-president and chair of the task force that revised this definition.

“The revised definition of social studies is a fresh perspective about the central role that inquiry about the human world has through multiple disciplines in the school day. Social studies learning is vibrant and more relevant than ever before. NCSS continues to advocate for high-quality social studies learning for all students every day, along with rigorous curriculum and instruction, assessments, and professional learning support for educators to ensure all learners are prepared for civic life,” said Dr. Lawrence M. Paska, NCSS executive director.

Press Contact

Joy Lindsey
Deputy Executive Director
jlindsey@ncss.org
301-850-7458