Components of an Outstanding Social Studies Lesson

Having majored in history in my undergraduate schooling, I have looked forward to the day that I would learn to teach social studies and the social sciences in my own classroom. According to a 2006 Jennings and Rentner report, mentioned in our text 'Dynamic Social Studies for Constructivist Classrooms, ' "To find additional time for reading and math,...71% of districts are reducing time spent on other subjects in elementary schools...The subject most affected is social studies." Unfortunately, many teachers have joined the migration away from meaningful social studies instruction in the name of standardized testing of math and language arts skills. On a brighter note, there is a way that social studies can still be integrated while focusing on language arts and math. According to our text, "referred to as integrated learning, the practice of joining together elementary school subjects is based on the idea that the real world doesn't compartmentalize life into subject matter categories: life demands that we all must use a complex network of entwined skills and information to take on real issues." The practice of integrating social studies prevents the discipline from being ignored in the elementary school classroom.

We can integrate social studies into language arts by having our students read and write biographies and historical fiction, for example. There are also several ways that science can be integrated into math, such as interpreting graphs and data that show social statistics, measuring distances between places on a map, or creating a time line, among many other activities. Social studies can be integrated into science through activities such as environmental awareness projects and how the environment affects society. Of course, social studies goes hand in hand with the arts, since interpreting and exploring the arts give students a first-hand look into cultures they are learning about. So, an integrated social studies lesson is key in making sure that social studies exists in the classroom. In addition to integration, there are several other components that make up a good social studies lesson, such as:

1. Incorporating as much culture and art as possible, such as music, creative movement and dance, and drama;

2. Making sure that students have access to several types of literature; not only text books, but different types of trade books such as informational books, historical fiction, biographies, and folk literature;

3. Providing a hook to draw students into the subject matter and pique their interest;

4. Ensuring that your lesson coincides with national and state standards and objectives;

5. Ensuring that students' individual levels of development are addressed;

6. Providing hands-on learning experiences for children such as allowing them to manipulate maps, globes, compasses, computers, timelines, charts, graphs, timing devices, cameras, calculators and realia of cultural objects that the students are learning about;

7. Creating opportunities for children to extend their learning from the classroom into the community through field trips where they can speak with and listen to historians, artists, scientists and experts on many different topics;

8. Allowing students to use computer based multimedia such as the internet to supplement their learning in the classroom (the internet provides students with opportunities to conduct research on any topic of interest related to social studies);

9. Allowing students access to hypermedia and other presentation software to create presentations;

10. Implementing effective projects that engage students in social studies for long periods of time throughout the school year;

11. Presenting the material in a meaningful way that engages students and allows them to make connections to their own lives.

These eleven items should be components of a successful and well-planned social studies lesson. Social studies should be hands-on and meaningful for students in order for them to enjoy it (and not think of it as boring!). Knowing how to teach meaningful social studies lessons that incorporate other disciplines is key in being able to implement this subject in the classroom.