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This page contains my views of the purpose and definition of social studies, my philosophy of teaching social studies through the "5 questions" (Jorgensen, 2014), my culture as curriculum, and my philosophy of using technology in education.​

In addition, my social studies related blog posts offer additional insight into my vision of my social studies classroom.

Definition & Purpose of Social Studies

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Definition. To paraphrase historian David McCullough, social studies is about ideas, human nature, and why we behave the way we do in the best and the worst of times. It is not about recalling dates, names, and other minutiae. (Townsend, 2008). As such, information does not equal learning. In social studies, it’s about the connections one makes between pieces of information—e.g., cause and effect, correlation, sequence. And because social studies is about the actions of people, it’s at its best as stories that communicate the various perspectives of the actors, famous or unknown. These stories are important because, as Loewen (2017) noted, “[e]ven when an event seems to be new, the causes of the acts and feelings are deeply embedded in the past. Thus, to understand an event—an election, and action of terror, a policy decision about the environment, whatever—we must start in the past” (p. 11).

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My definition is consistent with NCSS's (1992) definition which I also find useful:

…the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.  (NCSS, 1992). 

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Purpose. NCSS (1992) also identifies the primary purpose of social studies: 

The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. 

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I like this definition, but Loewen (2017) has a much more succinct version when referring to U.S. history, which I really like: "[I]ts purpose is to help students prepare to do their job as Americans" (p. 11). Giving students the skills to be good democratic citizens who can think for themselves is the vital task of social studies teachers (NCSS, 2016, p. 180; Mikel, 2010; Leahy, 2014; Kahne & Westheimer, 2014). A key aspect of this purpose is to teach information literacy—teaching students to separate the wheat from the chaff by evaluating the credibility of various sources—which also requires approaching information with a skeptical eye. In this era of "fake news" and public figures insisting on the veracity of unsupported assertions, this skill cannot be more important. 

To address a possible critique, “stories” does not mean fiction. It refers to taking the facts and presenting them in a narrative, using storytelling to communicate knowledge by leveraging oral traditions that assist us in encoding information in our memories (Hammond, 2015, p. 28). Social studies must be a bastion of truth because "[t]here is a reciprocal relationship between justice in the present and honesty about the past" Loewen (2017). At the same time, we need to continue to recognize that meaning requires the interpretation of facts. Different interpretations are possible, but as has been attributed to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “you are not entitled to your own facts.” Similarly, we cannot omit facts for comfort or to marginalize others because it "impoverishes [all] students and hurts their ability to understand the present, not just the past" (Loewen, 2017, p. 17). 

My Teaching Philosophy through the Five Questions

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Given that I'm an aspiring social studies teacher, my teaching philosophy is unapologetically about teaching social studies. Thus my exploration of the Five Questions (Jorgensen, 2014) will be through social studies.

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Who is the educated person?

 

The education person in social studies is someone who knows what they don't know as much as what they do know, and they know how to find what they don't know. Integral to that is knowing how to weigh the credibility of competing sources. As Dewey (1933–1934/1989) has written, the "[e]ducated person has the capacity to grow and expand their development" (p. 96); they know how to learn,​​​This is a crucial skill because "it is impossible to prepare the child for any precise set of conditions" (Dewey, 1897, art. 1). In more modern lingo, the educated person in social studies is able to think critically for themselves, evaluate the credibility of what they are being told, and then make informed decisions, while having a sense of the historic, political, social, and geographic context of the issue and their decision. They are equipped to be informed, thinking, and democratic citizens who can impact their own future and the lives of those around them. 

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What is good teaching?

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There is no better place to start than John Dewey, when it comes to good teaching. Good social studies teaching triggers critical thinking, which is a process. As Dewey (1933–1934/1989) has stated, education "is a process of development-of growth, and the process, not merely the end result, is important" (p. 96). And it does not "impose certain ideas or . . . certain habits in the child" (Dewey, 1897, art. 2). â€‹Good teaching is "bound up with the judging and devising of the conditions, the materials, the tools-physical, moral, and social-which will, once more by interaction with existing powers and preferences, bring about the desired transformation [of the student]" (Dewey, 1933–1934/1989, p. 98). The good teacher "operates . . . as a friendly co-partner and guide in a common enterprise  (Dewey, 1933–1934/1989, p. 99).

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I could stop with Dewey, but I won't. First, it is important to be your authentic self to excel as a teacher. That is the only way you can excel and impart your enthusiasm for the subject matter. Students will see through anything less than your authentic self. Powerful social studies teaching is student centered and assists students in making connections with their contemporary world (NCSS, 2023, Pillars 1–2). Lastly, good teaching runs kicking and screaming away from the banking model detailed by Friere (1970/2000, p. 73).​

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What is good learning?

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Good learning is meaningful learning. It has relevance to the student because they can connect it their contemporary world and it occurs in an authentic setting. It is  rigorous and involves considering multiple perspectives of events. All sides of a story or event are investigated and those that are supported by evidence are given the appropriate weight as students interpret them to take a position in response to a question (Loewen, 2009, p. 3). And the questions do not have a single right answer.

 

But it is also important to say what good learning is NOT. First, foremost, and last, ​"memorization must not be the focus"; students will learn facts "because they need them to understand and complete the fascinating tasks on which they are working" (Loewen, 2009, p. 3). Students "need to be able to accept or debunk the cause-and-effect propositions that others suggest to answer [deep] issues" (Loewen, 2009, p. 3).

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Good learning creates Ross's (2022) dangerous democratic citizen who thinks for themselves and thus threatens the status quo (pp. 209–210). This learning will allow students to imagine a better world that they can use their critical thinking skills—learned and honed in social studies—to realize.

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What knowledge is of most worth?

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​Knowing how to learn is more important than any particular content knowledge because we can only "imperfectly" predict tomorrow's issues today (Loewen, 2009, p. 5). And in today's world where we are inundated with information, knowing how to separate the wheat from the chaff is paramount. This includes being able to evaluate the credibility of information sources (Loewen, 2009, p. 3), but also how to find the information you need in the ocean of data. 

 

While I cannot stress enough that the social studies knowledge of most worth is learning the "concepts that will help [students] to survive in the rapidly changing world of the present and future" (Postman & Weingartner, 1971, p. 1), the actual content is important, too. Students need to leave the social studies classroom with a sense of the historic, political, social, and geographic context the world they live in. This will give them a place to start when the seek the information they need to make decisions and take a position on an issue.

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What is the purpose of school in society?

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​The purpose of school from a social studies perspective is to create Ross's (2022, pp. 209–210) dangerous democratic citizens who are equipped to aspire for a better world for themselves and others. More generally, as Dewey (1933–1934/1989) has noted, school is where students incubate as they are becoming: "School provides the environment that is the indispensable means for the raw material of the student to develop. While the raw material and the starting-point of growth are found in native capacities, the environing conditions to be furnished by the educator are the indispensable means of their development" (p. 98). In other words, their cocoon as they transform. 

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For me there are two other related important purposes for school. First. schools need to be truthful. We cannot continue to erase people from our socials studies teaching. It does disservice to every student. As Au (unknown) has pointed out, this requires teaching from a multicultural perspective, which is also "inherently more interesting" (p. 88). Second, â€‹in today's world, school must also "[r]espond to fascism" as Dewey (1933–1934, p. 101) noted 90 years ago. (I probably would not have included responding to fascism if I had written this before the election when I was more optimistic.)​​

References

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  • Au, W. (unknown). Decolonizing the classroom: Lessons in multicultural education. In W. Au (Ed.), Rethinking multicultural education: Teaching for racial and cultural justice (unknown ed., pp. 83–89). Rethinking Schools.

    • Pagination is as it appears i the PDF assigned.​

  • Dewey, J. (1897). My Pedagogic Creed. School Journal, 54(January 1897), 77–80.

  • Dewey, J. (1933–1934/1989). The need for a philosophy of education.

    • Pagination is as it appears in the PDF assigned, which is a pulled the text from Dewey, J. (1933–1934/1989). The later works, 1925–1953: Vol. 9. 1933–1934 (J. A. Boydston, Ed., pp. 194–204). Southern Illinois University Press.

  • Friere, P. (1970/2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M.B. Ramos, Trans., 30th anniversary ed.). Continuum International Publishing Group.

  • Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin.

  • Jorgensen, C. G. (2014). Social studies curriculum migration: Confronting challenges in the 21st century. In E. W. Ross (Ed.) The social studies curriculum: Purposes, problems, and possibilities (4th ed., pp. 1–23). SUNY Press.

  • Kahne, J., & Westheimer, J. (2014). Teaching democracy: What schools need to do.  In. E.W. Ross (Ed.), The social studies curriculum: Purposes, problems and possibilities (4th ed., pp. 353–371). SUNY Press.

  • Leahey, C. (2014). Creating democratic spaces for democratic social studies education. In. E.W. Ross (Ed.), The social studies curriculum: Purposes, problems and possibilities (4th ed., pp. 51–69). SUNY Press.

  • Loewen, J. W. (2009). The tyranny of coverage. In J. W. Loewen, Teaching what really happened: How to avoid the tyranny of textbooks and get students excited about doing history. Teachers College Press.

    • Pagination is as it appears in the PDF assigned.

  • Loewen, J. W. (2017). Introduction: History as Weapon. In J. W. Loewen, Teaching what really happened: How to avoid the tyranny of textbooks and get students excited about Doing history (2nd ed.) (pp. 1–22). Teachers College Press.

  • Mikel, E. R. (2010). Deliberating democracy. In P. B. Joseph (Ed.), Cultures of curriculum (pp. 196–218). Taylor & Frances Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203837276

  • National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). (1992). National curriculum standards for social studies: Executive summary. https://www.socialstudies.org/standards/national-curriculum-standards-social-studies-executive-summary  

  • National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). (2016). NCSS position statement: A vision of powerful teaching and learning in the social studies. Social Education, 80(3), pp. 180–182.

  • National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). (2023, April). Powerful teaching and learning in social studies: A position statement of the National Council for the Social Studies. https://www.socialstudies.org/position-statements/powerful-teaching-and-learning-social-studies

  • Postman, N., & Weingartner, C. (1971). Chapter 5: What's worth knowing? In N. Postman & C. Weingartner, Teaching as a subversive activity (pp. 59–81). Delta, Dell Publishing.

    • Pagination is as it appears in the PDF assigned.

  • Ross, E. W. (2022). Afterword.  In N. H. Merchant, S. B. Shear & W. Au (Eds.), Insurgent social studies: Scholar-educators disrupting erasure and marginality (pp.  207−211). Myers Education Press.

  • Townsend, E. (2008, October 23). David McCullough: "History is about ideas." Today at Elon, Elon University. https://www.elon.edu/u/news/2008/10/23/

© 2024 by Matthew Hammond. All rights reserved.

© 2024 by Matthew Hammond. All rights reserved.

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