Purpose of the Social Studies

The purpose of social studies is to prepare students for citizenship in a diverse democratic society and participation in an interdependent global community.

Belief Statements

The social studies curriculum:

• helps students develop an understanding of self and an appreciation for the diversity of people and cultures in the world today.
• helps students become informed, ethical, and productive members of local, national, and global communities.
• provides opportunities to reflect on current social issues and seek solutions with rational problem-solving methods.
• develops skills needed for success in the workplace, a democratic community, and an interdependent world

Social Studies in AISD

• PK-K : Self, home, family, and classroom
• Grade 1: Classroom, school, community
• Grade 2: Neighborhood and local community
• Grade 3: Communities
• Grade 4: Texas History
• Grade 5: United States History
• Grade 6: Contemporary World Studies
• Grade 7: Texas History from early times to the present
• Grade 8: United States History to 1877
• Grade 9: World Geography
• Grade 10: World History
• Grade 11: United States History Since 1877
• Grade 12: U.S. Government/Economics

Social Studies Skills

Skills important for success in social studies are closely aligned with skills in language arts and science. In fact, social studies activities and projects provide many opportunity to practice and apply skills from other disciplines.

Oral Language Skills

At the primary level, social studies provides students opportunities to improve their speaking skills as they work cooperatively to resolve academic and classroom problems and to tell stories about or describe people and events in their families and community.

As social studies students grow older, they should make formal oral presentations, participate in small and large group discussions, and defend their opinions on historical and contemporary social issues.

Writing Skills

Writing is an important social studies skill, and students should be expected to write developmentally appropriate descriptions of events, research findings, opinion papers, etc. Writing assignments in social studies should reflect the writing skills identified in the language arts curriculum. Social studies students should practice the same prewriting, drafting, reviewing, editing, and publishing steps expected in language arts classes. Similarly, the standards for grammar, mechanics, and penmanship established in language arts should be applied in social studies classes at every grade level.

Reading Skills

Reading skills are crucial to success in social studies. In the early grades, teachers should integrate social studies-related content into their daily reading lessons. They should teach cause-effect relationships, summarization, and inferencing strategies. The ability to read and use a variety of sources to obtain social studies information is an important competency that spirals through the social studies curriculum. As students progress in school, teachers should identify and provide students with an ever greater array of reading materialÑhistorical fiction, biography, non-fictional accounts of important events, descrip-tions of interesting places, newspapers and magazines, reference books, and primary source documents. Social studies teachers should help students understand the characteristics of these different sources of information and help them learn to use them efficiently.

Critical Thinking Skills

The scientific method, so crucial to science instruction, and adapted for use by social scientists-sociologists, historians, economists, political scientists, etc.-should be emphasized in social studies. From the primary grades, social studies lessons should be organized around questions to answer or problems to solve. Teachers should help students develop hypotheses, design plans for gathering information, evaluate data, and report findings or solutions. If this approach is followed consistently, students will find social studies more engaging, and they will take greater responsibility for their own learning.

Dyslexic and Learning Different Students

Students identified as dyslexic or having learning disabilities that affect their ability to read, write, listen, or process information may require individual assistance. Similarly, limited English proficient students may need the support of a bilingual or ESL teacher to master social studies content and skills.
[ Go to AISD Dyslexia Services For More Information ]

Advanced Learners (Gifted and Talented)

Instruction and assessment for students who are especially creative, enjoy studying topics in depth, or process information more quickly than their peers also can be modified. Research projects and assessments can be designed to focus on student interests and take advantage of their unique skills and creativity.
[ Go to AISD Advanced Academic Services For More Information ]