I. Course Title: Methods for Elementary Social Studies Instruction
II. Course Number: EDUC 420
III. Credit Hours: 3 credits
IV. Prerequisite: None
V. Course Description:
In this course candidates will learn to design inclusive instruction that connects
diverse elementary students with their communities, from local to global, in both
past and present. Models, theories, and methods informed by child development, disciplinary
literacy, inquiry-based learning, multicultural education, social justice, and global education
will also be studied. Candidates will create lesson plans that connect to big ideas
about the world, build upon student curiosity, include opportunities for real engagement,
and align to state, national, and international standards.
Note(s): Co-listed with EDUC 520
VI. Detailed Description of Content of the Course:
Effective teachers recognize the power of rich instruction in the content areas to
motivate elementary students to investigate the world around them, to become better
readers and writers, and to develop skills for the real world. Social studies, in
particular, should inspire students to ask questions, examine evidence, collect stories,
and discuss multiple perspectives on profoundly important concepts. Children in elementary
classrooms are eager to encounter big ideas like change, freedom, equality, tolerance,
conflict, power, resources, interdependence, sustainability, culture, identity, and
tradition, among many others. In turn, these discussions prepare students to draw
informed conclusions, empathize with others, communicate ideas orally and/or in writing,
identify and solve problems, and participate in civic action 鈥� the skills that set
them up for future success in life and career.
VII. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course:
The course format includes large and small group discussion, individual and group
presentations, journal article and textbook reading, demonstration lessons, role plays
and simulations, interactive note taking, and practical applications. Because the
course is taught as a co-requisite with EDUC 430, students will also develop, implement,
and evaluate a unit plan specifically for their early field experience placement.
VIII. Goals and Objectives of the Course:
Goals, objectives, and assignments address the Virginia Department of Education regulations
for preparing early/primary and elementary educators and the Interstate New Teacher
Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) and National Association for the Education
of Young Children (NAEYC) standards.
Candidates successfully completing this course will demonstrate their knowledge, skills,
and dispositions to:
- 1. Practice world-ready skills 鈥� perspective taking, communication, critical thinking,
and taking-action 鈥� to better understand their students and communities and to promote
and develop world-ready citizens in the multicultural and democratic classrooms necessary
for developing an effective citizenry.
- 2. Define social studies and demonstrate the requisite content knowledge in each of
the social sciences including, but not limited to:
- a. History 鈥� relationships across time among key events, ideas (documents),
and individuals in VA and US history (including connections to ancient civilizations)
- b. Geography 鈥� the shaping of environments by both human interactions and
physical processes and the tools for representing and studying such processes
- c. Civics 鈥揾ow the principles, practices, laws, and responsibilities of our
local, state, and national government impact citizens and define citizenship
in a democratic republic
- d. Economics 鈥� how the economic decisions of individuals and groups impact
the economy
- 3. Demonstrate knowledge, skills, and processes for teaching history, civics, economics,
and geography and aligning all instruction to Virginia鈥檚 Foundation Blocks for Early
Learning: Comprehensive Standards for Four-Year Olds, the Virginia Standards of Learning,
and national and global standards appropriate to the elementary school curriculum.
- 4. Study and evaluate lesson designs that focus on historical thinking, geographic
analysis, economic decision making, local to global connections, and responsible citizenship
for their cultural and/or global competence, interdisciplinary connections, and best
practices for creating inclusive instruction.
- 5. Reflect critically upon the roles of teachers, policy makers (standards), and private
enterprise (text/resource developers) in determining what voices are privileged and
what voices are marginalized by collective decisions about what to include and how.
- 6. Match task demand to varied and appropriate teaching methods, including direct
instruction (when task calls for sound intellectual routines like studying and using
historical and geographic sources, supporting an argument, practicing academic vocabulary,
engaging in dialogue, encountering difference, making decisions, and resolving conflict)
AND inquiry-based or problem-based instruction (when task calls for open-ended, creative,
and/or innovative applications and integrations of knowledge and skill).
- 7. Select, adapt and/or create appropriate instructional materials, including historical
sources, artifacts, maps, models, charts, hands-on activities, vocabulary and language
development, graphic organizers, children鈥檚 literature, art, music, technology, and
other media to enhance learning for all students (including children with disabilities,
gifted children, children who are English learners, and children with diverse cultural
backgrounds).
- 8. Use a variety of formative, summative, and self-reflective assessment techniques
to plan, differentiate, monitor and document student progress, and improve practice
in elementary social studies instruction.
- 9. Design an implementation-ready unit plan aligned with appropriate curriculum standards
in social studies (e.g. SOL) that sustains intellectual curiosity and addresses the
learning needs of all students (including children with disabilities, gifted children,
children who are English learners, and children with diverse cultural needs) by including
multiple means of engagement, representation, and student action and expression (Universal
Design for Learning).
IX. Assessment Measures:
A variety of assessments may include, but are not limited to:
- Lesson plans that reflect cultural and/or global competence, as well as considerations
for diverse learners (may include the plans developed for the unit 鈥� see below)
- An implementation-ready unit of social studies instruction aligned to appropriate
curriculum standards and with an interdisciplinary connection to be used in the candidate鈥檚
field placement (as appropriate).
- Journal entries, reading annotations, and/or other informal writings
- Presentations or micro-teaching exercises
- Quizzes, tests, or formal writing assignments
- Class participation and discussion
Review and Approval
Revised April, 2009
August 2020
March 01, 2021