Social Studies the Book Being

Social Studies The book being reviewed is entitled Social Studies for the Elementary and Middle Grades: A Constructivist Approach, by authors Cynthia Szymanski Sunal and Mary Elizabeth Haas. The book focuses heavily on integrating the various thematic strands of social studies within the every day curriculum and incorporating outside sources and activities in doing so. The general theory used for teaching the concepts of this book is an inquiry-based approach to concept development.

The scope of the book is a comprehensive introduction to the social studies for early learners, arranged around the thematic strands of social studies. Thus, the book covers a diverse array of social studies topics, from community to location, from culture to environment. The purpose is to give the students a general, foundational background from which to build from as they progress through their educational careers. The sequence of the book follows the thematic strands of social studies.

Thus, the first chapter begins with Culture, before moving on to People and Places and Location, and so on. Each individual chapter begins with a general study of the topic before moving towards the more specific. The book's scope and sequence pattern fits into the State of Illinois' social studies education curriculum in that the state's curriculum for early elementary is geared towards introducing the student to the various thematic strands.

Likewise, the text meets the standards of the National Council for the Social Studies in that it is based on their set seven core disciplines, or thematic strands. For example, in terms of the thematic strand of Culture, the book recommends a lesson that highlights the many cultural aspects that surround a specific holiday season, such as the winter holidays. For People, Places and Environments, the book suggest introducing the students to the many individuals who make up their community will be of a benefit.

This can be done through both guest speakers and informative community field trips. For Civic Ideals and Practices, the book recommends having the class can decide on a joint service product that will directly benefit the community. The book also contains numerous, step-by-step lessons and suggested lessons, again, all aimed at a particular thematic strand. For example, to teach Location, the book offers a lesson aimed at teaching the students the differences between a city, state, country, etc.

For Place, there's a lesson involving a school scavenger hunt, where the school is defined as the community and the students must discover its human and physical characteristics. For Human-Environmental Interactions, a lesson on recycling and doing classroom recycling. For Movement, using a field trip to a manufacturing company to see how goods are made from parts and then moved to other locations for sale. The book also approaches learning from a multitude of learning styles, from class discussions to small groups and independent learning.

For example, when reading an article or story and an issue comes up, the class can be divided into two groups with each portraying the view point of one side. The two groups can debate their points-of-view with each other. or, when teaching weather, the book suggests using small group learning stations where different groups would rotate to various weather related activities. This method works well with first graders in that it gets them actively participating yet also caters to their short attention spans.

The book does an excellent job at emphasizing the importance of incorporating various teaching strategies in order to meet every student's unique learning needs. Since every student is different and comes from different learning backgrounds (effected often by culture, gender and social-economic status) each student will learn in a unique way. In order to teach, one must adapt their teaching methods in order to work with each student's unique culture, gender and learning needs.

Likewise, the book also covers the area of evaluations and assessments, with a preference for informal evaluations. For example, in terms of informal evaluations, it suggests breaking the class into small groups and then conduct observational evaluations. For formal evaluations, the.