Middle School Social Studies and the Cognitive Revolution

Abstract

Education is said to be engaged in a Some even say that it has been going on for as long as forty years (Veenema and Gardner 1996; Johnson and Erneling 1997). There is, in fact, some truth to this assertion, though it must be qualified. It is true that the social studies curriculum is being influenced by entreaties for more thinking skill development and emphasis on problem solving, but few middle school social studies practitioners would agree that we are experiencing anything as radical as a revolution. Revolutions are characterized by impassioned groups of true believers who conspicuously hold that new, if not unique, objectives are absolutely necessary if past wrongs are to be righted and a new era of enlightenment is to follow. Most social studies teachers would be interested in giving thought to a clearly defined movement of such a magnitude, but that movement is yet in its (somewhat prolonged) infancy. Not widely understood or practiced, the cognitive revolution can be traced to the late 1950s, when evidence began pouring in that intelligence was not simply a matter of inheritance. Orphan, twin, and animal studies have shown that early sensory and perceptual stimulation contributes significantly to social, emotional, and cognitive growth. Research leading to this revelation is comprehensively reviewed in J. McV. Hunt's Intelligence and Experience (1961). Studies reported there led to acceptance of the theorizing of Jean Piaget (1970, 1977), Lev Vygotsky (1986), and more recent cognitive psychologists, who, in one way or another, support the idea that individuals discover, or construct, their own unique intelligences. From this understanding came constructivism, a concept that lies at the heart of the so-called cognitive revolution. Although the implications of constructivism have been touted for years, contributing methodology has been slow to replace conflicting practices