Social Studies Curriculum Development Research Articles

Children’s learning for sustainability in social studies education: a case study from Taiwanese elementary school

IntroductionThe primary aim of social studies education is to convey knowledge about cultural and social systems while fostering inquiry, participation, practice, reflection, and innovation. Social studies education plays a pivotal role in raising awareness about various ethnic groups, societies, localities, countries, and the world at large. Furthermore, it instills in students a sense of responsibility, leading them to embrace diversity, value human rights, and promote global sustainability. The current elementary social studies curriculum in Taiwan strongly aligns with these principles and is a vehicle for sustainable development in society.MethodsThe researcher used qualitative research methods and adopted a case study design to review the pedagogical design of the elementary social studies curriculum in Taiwan as a means of sustainability education and enriching children’s cultural learning in the context of sustainability. Children’s learning related to sustainability in an elementary school was investigated, and a social studies teaching design was developed. Finally, the developed teaching approach was implemented in a classroom setting.Results and discussionThe study yielded the following findings: (1) The social studies curriculum development in Taiwan is connected to the pulse of life, a sense of care for local communities, and cultivation of local thinking. (2) This social studies curriculum adopts a child-centered and problem-oriented approach and integrates students’ interests and the local environment into the learning process. (3) It effectively enhances students’ sustainability-related competencies and skills. These findings offer valuable insights for teachers and can enable them to shape the direction of their social studies courses and cultivate children’s concept of sustainable development for their living environment.

한국과 미국의 사회과 교육과정에 나타난 난민 교육 내용 분석

This study aims to explore the representation of refugee-related content in the social studies curricula and textbooks of South Korea and the United States and to draw implications for social studies curriculum development. The study conducted a qualitative analysis of the 2015 Revised Social Studies Curriculum, 2022 Revised Social Studies Curriculum, “Social Studies”, and “Integrated Social Studies” textbooks of South Korea. It also examined the social studies curricula of 50 states in the U.S. and high school social studies textbooks from major U.S. publishers. The findings are as follows: first, refugees are scarcely mentioned in both the Korean and the U.S. social studies curricula. Second, in South Korean curricula, refugees were predominantly addressed in the context of international problems and global population movements. In contrast, U.S. curricula covered refugees concerning U.S. security, U.S. history, and global and domestic population movements. Third, refugees were commonly depicted as a group requiring support from the international community. While there were some efforts in South Korea to incorporate learning materials depicting the lives of refugees and in the U.S. to highlight the contributions of refugees to society, there is a limited number of contents addressing the human rights and lives of refugees in both countries' curricula. Based on these findings, the study suggests increased attention to refugee education in social studies, emphasizing in-depth discussions on the content of refugee education. Furthermore, the study recommends shifting the direction of refugee-related education in social studies toward education 'with' refugees.

Analysis of the issues that emerged in the revision of the national social studies curriculum in South Korea: Text mining and semantic network analysis of the comments at the public hearing on YouTube

In South Korea, curriculum is revised, made public and implemented under a system known as a nation led curriculum. The South Korean national curriculum was completely revised 10 times between 1946 and 2015. At present, a complete revision is underway to replace the current 2015 national curriculum which is called the 2022 revised national curriculum. This study aims to analyze stakeholders’ responses to the YouTube public hearing on social studies curriculum according to the 2022 revised national curriculum in South Korea in order to understand the context and causes of the issues that emerged. Text mining, semantic network analysis and word cloud techniques were employed to identify issues. As a result, three issues were identified in the social studies curriculum: the balanced development of general elective subjects in high school; the separation of social sciences and geography and division of textbooks in middle school social studies and the separate listing of four subjects, specifically geography, social sciences, history and morals. The issues revealed in this study provide beneficial implications for future social studies curriculum development, revision as well as the development of future research.

Exploring Hilda Taba's Social Studies Curriculum Development Theory from the Perspectives of Sociology of Education

Exploring Hilda Taba's Social Studies Curriculum Development Theory from the Perspectives of Sociology of Education

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Early Pioneers of the Americas: The Role of the Olmecs in Urban Education and Social Studies Curriculum

Today’s multicultural education efforts typically use additive or supplementary approaches, which minimally adds to curricula that were not intended to educate minority students (Delpit in Teaching when the world is on fire, The New Press, New York, 2019). Thus, this paper seeks to answer the following research question: What are the educational implications of the Olmecs and their civilization, the oldest in the Americas, for Social Studies standards and curriculum development processes? The paper provides primary source documentation as it addresses the omission of the Olmecs in public school curricula. The findings expand Social Studies curriculum development and culturally responsive pedagogy (Ladson-Billings in The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1994), which could enhance instruction, engagement, and student achievement.

Community Resources for the Development of Social Studies Curriculum in Nigeria

The practice of any school curriculum entails the embracing of every available resource that can enhance teaching and learning effectively. Social Studies Education by its nature of having contact with the physical, social and economic environment stands a better opportunity of tapping into the resources found around schools and their immediate communities. Be that as it may, it has been observed that this quest has not been fully actualized by those concerned thereby, contributing to the failure of meeting set goals in this area of study. This study however, takes a look at the role of community resources in teaching and learning and the underlying challenges in the effective application of these community resources in the development of Social Studies curriculum. For a better description of how these community resources can enhance effective understanding of Social Studies curriculum content, the work also gives illustrations on how these community resources can be incorporated in the teaching and learning of Social Studies concepts.

社会科カリキュラム開発における"構造"概念について : E.フェントンの所論を手がかりにして

社会科カリキュラム開発における"構造"概念について : E.フェントンの所論を手がかりにして

A Critical Review on the Decision Making Structure of the 2015 Revised National Middle School Social Studies Curriculum Development

A Critical Review on the Decision Making Structure of the 2015 Revised National Middle School Social Studies Curriculum Development

Becoming a craftsman in the process of school-based social studies curriculum development

Using an autoethnographic approach, this paper reviews and examines how I went through my professional development journey to develop as a curriculum planner and manager by engaging in critical reflective practices to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in the era of Curriculum Reform in Hong Kong. A series of carefully selected critical incidents relating to school-based curriculum development were examined to witness how I approached a brand new primary Social Studies area of study and developed it as a distinct multi-disciplinary school-based curriculum. The curriculum documents, learning and teaching materials, students’ work, personal reflective writings as well as personal communications with parents and students were collected for thematic analyses. By reflecting on the critical curriculum development and implementation incidents, a school-based curriculum development model evolved. This helps shed light on how school practitioners, irrespective of their positions or teaching experiences, to engage fruitfully and continually in the professional development process to develop as an effective curriculum developer and manager in schools. The experiences also inform teacher educators as well as school practitioners the salient characteristics and needs for a teacher to grow up as a reflective practitioner.

New Curricular Approaches to Teaching About the Middle East and North Africa

This paper explores the possibilities of engaging in cross-disciplinary research to generate social studies curricula that disrupt singular historical constructions about the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), specifically for US high school teachers and students. As part of a larger multi-sited study that investigated and analyzed the common categories used to describe and teach MENA in US World History textbooks, the team engaged in multidisciplinary scholarship on the region to (1) review and analyze the five most widely adopted high school World History textbooks in the US; (2) share analyses with researchers and experts in the fields of MENA studies, history, and religion; (3) synthesize and integrate innovative scholarship on the region for potential curricula; and (4) generate robust alternative curricula for Grades 9-12 teachers. The authors, consequently, consider how educational research spurs innovative and culturally relevant curricular interventions for high school teachers. We argue thorough analysis of existing textbooks, informed by deep understandings of contested versions of historical events, should undergird social studies curriculum development. We suggest multidisciplinary and transnational collaboration can inform curricula in order to respond critically to singular narrations of peoples, cultures, and histories of a region.

A Study on the Problems and Improvement Directions of Needs Analysis in Social Studies Curriculum Development

A Study on the Problems and Improvement Directions of Needs Analysis in Social Studies Curriculum Development

Reinventing Social Studies: By All Means!

WHEN I was asked to respond to Reinventing Social Studies, I began by considering many points Kevin St. Jarre raises about beginnings of social studies, place of history and other social science disciplines in social studies education, characterization of secondary social studies teaching, and how best to reinvent social studies and put subject area squarely on path of our students to live in a globalized world. While I initially selected my involvement in teacher education programs as primary lens for my analysis, on further reflection, I decided to take a wider view and include my many other experiences in education community. I want to use Mr. St. Jarre's commitment to secondary education and his passion for social studies as a springboard to elaborate on main issues he raises and to describe why reinventing social studies is no easy task. Thus it is unnecessary to devote much space to discussing role of history and other social science disciplines in development of a social studies curriculum. There is no question that in 1916 National Education Association (NEA) viewed history as discipline that should play major role in early development of a social studies curriculum. At turn of 20th century, history was well positioned in schools and universities, and, along with content from geography and political science, was viewed as core subject area in a social studies curriculum for K-12 schools. American historians believed in the value of historical knowledge to strengthen individual, sharpen mind, broaden horizon, and give depth to soul. (1) Social studies proponents also viewed history as providing framework (i.e., chronology) by which to examine events, issues, trends, and personalities in social science contexts. While other social scientists were forming separate organizations (e.g., American Anthropological Association, American Psychological Association) and accurately perceived advantages of playing a role in development of social studies curriculum, they were too inexperienced to counter influence of American Historical Association. As a result, well into late 1900s, social studies/history was one of core subject areas in K-12 curriculum, with few of social science organizations challenging its primacy. After reading Reinventing Social Studies, I believe Mr. St. Jarre and I agree on what is meant by social studies and its intended purpose in curriculum. The definition he quotes, adopted by NEA Committee on Social Studies in 1916, may seem vague--those [disciplines] whose subject matter relates directly to organization and development of human society, and to man as a member of social groups--but it is quite similar to one National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) developed and continues to use: the integrated study of social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. (2) In NCSS position statements on social studies education, promotion of civic competence refers to nurturing an awareness and understanding of students' immediate communities and many others to which they belong. What I find surprising is that Mr. St. Jarre makes no mention of NCSS, but his notions about creating competent citizens and preparing students to live in a globalized society seem to echo organization's definition and stated purpose for social studies education. However, unlike Mr. St. Jarre, I do not see history as merely a record, not an analysis. In House of War, James Carroll eloquently describes what history means to historians: [it] is not a catalogue of events, not just a knowledge of their chronology .... History is, rather, appreciation of how events relate to each other, if not causally, then mythically. Objectively but also personally .... Our concern is not only with what happened but how it felt, and how it set other things moving in public realm and in human heart. …

Creating and Sustaining Peaceable School Communities

Richards, H., & Swanger, J. (2006). The dilemmas of social democracies: Overcoming obstacles to a more just world. Oxford, England: Lexington Books. Schneier, L. (2001). Apprehending poetry. In E. Duckworth (Ed.), “Tell me more”: Listening to learners explain (pp. 42–78). New York: Teachers College Press. Shorr, W. (2006). Coordinating conceptions of peace: A critical exploration in social studies curriculum development. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.

The new social studies, textbooks, and reform in social studies

The New Social Studies curriculum development movement was short-lived, in part because project staff were not sensitive to the realities of the educational context within which their materials and methods would be used. Although textbook-based recitation persists in social studies classrooms, textbooks are not a ready mechanism for reform. Among the reasons are the institutional constraints on publishers and the difficulty in effecting curricular change without appropriate teacher preparation and modifications in the educational environment.

Constraints on the Handling of Controversial Issues in Northern Ireland Post‐Primary Schools

AbstractThe purpose of the study was to discover the extent to which Catholic (N=125) and Protestant (N=77) post‐primary school teachers participating in a social studies curriculum development project in Northern Ireland were constrained from teaching controversial issues of a social, religious or political nature. A method for ranking teacher, school and community constraints is presented, and the results of a survey of 202 teachers are reported. The results suggest that there is widespread support for handling controversial issues in the curriculum, although Catholic teachers are more favourable to such teaching than Protestant teachers. A high degree of concordance (rho=0.94) was found in ranking constraints when communal groups of teachers are compared. The most important constraints are ‘teacher factors' such as ‘lack of knowledge or skills', and ‘teacher's own prejudices'. Teachers regarded communal constraints such as ‘fear of paramilitary groups' and ‘disapproval of the church’ as having least importance. Controlling for religion, teachers differed significantly in the ranking of three constraints. Catholics believed their ‘own personal identity’ more important than Protestants (P<0.05); as well as ‘disapproval of the church’ (P<0.001). Protestants felt that ‘disapproval of fellow teachers' was more important as a barrier to success in dealing with controversial issues than Catholics (P<0.001). The implications for curriculum development, particularly in political and social education are discussed.

Selected Materials for Teaching About Africa South of the Sahara

Teaching about Africa south of the Sahara in American secondary schools is often severely limited or ignored altogether because most teachers believe there is an inadequate number of instructional materials available for use in the classroom. Fortunately, this belief is erroneous. Project Africa, a U.S.O.E. -funded social studies curriculum development center at The Ohio State University, has recently completed an examination of commercially prepared materials currently available for instructional use at the secondary level. In so doing, the Project has located and identified a number of up-to-date, well-structured and generally accurate materials which have the potential for easy adaptation to virtually any type of study about this region as well as to any teaching style.