Philosophy of Education & SS Teaching.

Each teacher of social studies needs to possess a philosophy of teaching and learning.
Philosophy provides guidance and direction in choosing objectives, learning activities, and
assessment procedures. Each philosophy to be discussed will possess differences in meaning and
implementation. It is salient to understand relevant philosophical schools of thought in order to
make full use of each.

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The prospective social studies teacher must be proficient in a number of disciplines, the Social
Studies Education curriculum requires a depth of understanding from a broad panorama of social
and cultural experience.

Social studies is at the center of a good school curriculum because it is where students learn to
see and interpret the world. Future social studies educators must be prepared to think deeply,
critically, and adapt instruction to promote students’ understanding in a complex and ever-
changing world.

Generally, “social studies” is considered an amalgamation of disciplines in history, government,

economics, geography, and behavioral sciences. As such, pre-service teachers must be prepared
to teach the unique literacies of each discipline and work to promote understanding within
(depth) and across (breadth) disciplines. This is no small task as social studies teachers accept the
awesome responsibility to help young people develop as enlightened and engaged democratic
citizens in a culturally diverse society, and to make informed and reasoned decisions for the
public good.

Social Studies Education will have developed the knowledge, disposition, and ability to:

Create learning opportunities at the appropriate school levels that support learners’ intellectual,
social, and personal development.

Create learning experiences that fit the different approaches to learning of diverse learners.

Develop a variety of instructional strategies to encourage student development of critical

thinking, problem-solving, and performance skills.
Develop appropriate school level learning environments that encourage social interaction, active
engagement in learning, and self-motivation.

Employ verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques that foster active inquiry,
collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.

Plan instruction for the appropriate school levels, based on understanding of subject matter,
students, the community, and curriculum goals.

Create and evaluate student learning using various formats including performance-based,
discussion, traditional testing techniques, and portfolio assessments.

Create formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous
intellectual, social, and physical development of learners.

Foster cross-subject matter collaboration and other positive associations with parents and others
in the larger community to support student learning and well-being.

Demonstrate the responsibility of being reflective practitioners and continuous learners.

Project methods emphasize a hands-on approach to learning. Active involvement of the learner is
necessary to choose a project within an ongoing social studies unit of study. Interest is inherent
in choosing the project. Careful consideration is given to interest factors, Learner purpose is
important also. Thus, there are reasons for choosing and working on a project. Projects may
stress individual or committee endeavors, depending upon the learning style of the students.
After the selection has been made, the student with teacher guidance develops a plan to follow in
doing the project. The plans made follow a definite sequence. Included in the plans are needed
materials, which will be necessary to complete the project. There are a plethora of
developmentally appropriate projects to be made such as a model farm, a solar collector, an
urban scene, soil conservation scenes, and/ or a housing development. Depending upon the social
unit being studied, the choices for materials to be used in the project are endless. Modifications
are made as needed.

Following the completion of the plans, the student is ready for implementation. Quality work is
desired. Work habits of punctuality, creativity, and care are salient. These processes as well as
neatness and accuracy in the final product are important. Each of the following parts of the
project method need to be assessed in terms of learner progress:

* Purposeful choice made in selecting the project. Here, the learner needs to perceive value in the
ongoing activity. Motivation accrues when value is accepted in doing a project. Active
engagement in learning becomes an inherent part of learning.
* Planning the ensuing project places responsibility upon the student to solve difficulties
involved in flexible, sequential steps of doing things. There is teacher oversight and supervision,
but the learner must assume ownership of the project.

* Implementing the plans involves the actual doing of a hands-on approach in learning. Eye hand
coordination as well as cognition is being harmonized to achieve, grow, and develop. The
ultimate goal is to complete a project that may be assessed favorably.

* Evaluation of the projects stresses using quality criteria to notice how well the project was
completed in its final form. A comprehensive rubric makes for increased objectivity in
evaluation (Ediger and Rao, 2000).

A project method emphasizes an activity-centered procedure in learning. The basics of reading to

gather information, writing the plan for doing construction work, as well as arithmetic useful in
measuring dimensions for the project, are brought into developing a project.

Subjects Centered Approaches in Teaching Social Studies

Subject matter will be learned in any procedure of teaching social studies.

However, when subject matter, not activity centered procedures, are stressed, the focal point of
instruction will be for students to achieve vital facts, concepts, and generalizations in a more
direct manner. A carefully selected basal textbook is used to determine the structure of content to
be taught. Additional reference sources may be used as needed. For each lesson and unit taught,
the teacher

* Has learners view the related illustrations in the basal

* Assists students to develop background information for the ensuing reading activity

* Prints the new words to be read on the chalkboard. By seeing and discussing these words,
students are aided to recognize them when reading silently. …