Teaching Social Studies

If the fine arts are considered as part of the humanities, then music, painting, sculpture and the interpretive dance form a segment of man's knowledge, and therefore enter the historical record. They are part of his total experience, and are of interest in any social study. If there is a relationship directly from social studies to social science, thence to natural science, then the fine arts owe much to biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, history, psychology and other fields. At the same time such responsibility is mutual, and in teaching social studies to students the instructor can no more afford to overlook the contributions of great painters, sculptors, musicians and dancers than he can disregard the great physicists, historians, sociologists and philosophers.

Social studies at the secondary level represent the reflection of the integrated social science results of study at a higher level of scholarship. It is the assumption here that the social sciences have a common goal which has almost been forgotten in concern with immediate problems and methodologies. This common goal is an attempt to formulate generalizations or laws concerning the nature of man and society. There are, of course, secondary functions of more practical use, such as teaching social studies; but as the end of teaching social studies in schools is to produce adequate citizenship, so is it the concern of the social sciences to produce the vital formulations upon which the social studies are based.

In general there are three types of study guides that may prove especially useful in teaching social studies. The first type consists of individual and class project assignments, described in outline with appropriate suggestions as to source materials, time limits for completion of the various parts of the project and general methodology to be used. Second, there is the outline of a specified period of time in class, showing the main topics to be covered, the time to be consumed and the references to be used. Third, there is the bibliographical guide which may be separate from either of the above or attached to them.

Although not a certain method of instruction, such as the unit method or the socialized recitation, the particular setting and equipment used in the process of instruction has an unmistakable effect on the way in which learning takes place. Just as the peculiarity of the teacher's mental orientation bears on the specific learning process, so does the setting in which it takes place. Truly, the great teacher can teach anywhere, but he will be more effective, get more and better results, if the situation in which he finds himself is physically conducive to the task. Teaching social studies needs some equipment: books, maps, pictures and other audio-visual aids. It seems a simple truism that if the teacher has an interesting and important body of knowledge and a satisfactory method of presenting it, he also ought to have a pleasant, adaptable and well equipped place in which to practice his art.

The second group of printed materials should include the periodicals of interest and usefulness in teaching social studies. The range here is even wider than in the field of books. There are numerous periodicals devoted to the field, in all degrees of difficulty and interest. No attempt can be made to enumerate them, but certain outstanding examples come readily to mind.