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Early Social Studies
Study of history, civil government, and geography. Focused on loyalty to the country with very little room for challenge. -
Late Nineteenth Century
Rise of public education. Geared toward young men. Focus shifts to creating good, law-abiding citizens and "Americanization" of immigrants. Social studies education involves American history and civics. Citizenship grade on report cards. -
Committee of Ten
Clarified the goals for secondary education. Focus on modern history with accents of civil government and economics. Ought to be taught in an activity oriented style. Class subjects for grades 7 through 12. -
AHA Committee of Seven
This group recommended a four-year program of history to prepare students for college. No attention to subjects other than history. -
AHA Committee of Eight
Came up with a plan for K-8 that involved history through the lens of holidays, biographies, and mythology. Covered American, ancient, and medieval history, and dedicated two years to the study of government. -
NEA Committee on Social Studies
Focused on the interaction of history, civics, and social sciences in teaching students to thrive in society. This work was not widely accepted until the 1920s and 1930. Social history was emerging and this model is very similar to what we use today. -
Social Reconstructionist Thinking
Harold Bugg published "Man and His Changing Society" and his social reconstructionist thinking starts to influence social studies. At the end of World War II his work was accused of favoring socialism. Nationalist feelings return to the country and the education system. -
Dewey's Fundamental Idea
John Dewey's writing influenced education in the sense that children need to learn how to problem solve in order to take charge of their lives. This idea became widely accepted in social studies after World War I. -
After World War II
Social studies returned to the strong nationalistic view of early social studies. The media was ruthless and constantly comparing American students with those of other countries such as the Soviet Union. There was a push to go back to the "pure" disciplines. -
New Social Studies
Focused on the development of materials compared to organization. There were specific disciplines at the secondary level but the importance was central to the theories, concepts, generalizations, and modes of inquiry. This movement did not last due to the culture of schools. -
Synthesis
The Social Science Education Consortium wanted to synthesis the subject. They had three social sciences describe possibilities. Senesh proposed the “orchestration” metaphor. Kuhn came up with a “unified social science” which would be applied to an analytical tool. Boulding came up with a “total systems” approach that focused on the goal of global survival. These did not have a direct on schools at the time, but became more relevant in the future. -
Early 1980s
Social Science Education Consortium studies the pattern of social studies from present to early models. This model looks very similar to curriculum taught today. -
Nation Council for Social Studies
The council seeks to unify the field and provide direction. There is a lack of funding and cooperation with schools so this does not make a major impact. -
Geography
The National Council for Geographic Education and The Association of American Geographers published the “Guidelines for Geographic Education: Elementary and Secondary Schools” which highly influenced future textbooks. -
The Bradley Commission
The Bradley Commission published its report “Building a History Curriculum” that identified themes to be taught in the social sciences. The report is history-oriented and focuses on the need to incorporate all the disciplines. They also published a monthly newsletter called “History Matters” -
Bush Administration
The Bush Administration held an “educational summit” were they issued six national education goals. Identified history and geography as core subjects and later added civics and economics. The NCSS developed curriculum standards for social studies in response. -
Definition of Social Studies
Social studies was defined by the NCSS in a way that acknowledged civic competence as the central purpose of social studies.