Select Social Studies Themes:
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Theme of Culture
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide
for the study of culture and cultural diversity.
Human beings create, learn, and adapt culture. Culture helps
us to understand ourselves as both individuals and members of
various groups. Human cultures exhibit both similarities and differences.
We all, for example, have systems of beliefs, knowledge, values,
and traditions. Each system also is unique. In a democratic and
multicultural society, students need to understand multiple perspectives
that derive from different cultural vantage points. This understanding
will allow them to relate to people in our nation and throughout
the world.
Cultures are dynamic and ever-changing. The study of culture
prepares students to ask and answer questions such as: What are
the common characteristics of different cultures? How do belief
systems, such as religion or political ideals of the culture,
influence the other parts of the culture? How does the culture
change to accommodate different ideas and beliefs? What does language
tell us about the culture? In schools, this theme typically appears
in units and courses dealing with geography, history, and anthropology,
as well as multicultural topics across the curriculum.
In the middle grades, students begin to explore and ask questions
about the nature of culture and specific aspects of culture, such
as language and beliefs, and the influence of those aspects on
human behavior. As students progress through high school, they
can understand and use complex cultural concepts such as adaptation,
assimilation, acculturation, diffusion, and dissonance drawn from
anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines to explain how
culture and cultural systems function.
The Theme of Individual development
and Identity
Social studies programs should
include experiences that provide for the study of individual development
and identity.
Personal identity is shaped by one's culture, by groups, and
by institutional influences. How do people learn? Why do people
behave as they do? What influences how people learn, perceive,
and grow? How do people meet their basic needs in a variety of
contexts? Questions such as these are central to the study of
how individuals develop from youth to adulthood. Examination of
various forms of human behavior enhances understanding of the
relationships among social norms and emerging personal identities,
the social processes that influence identity formation, and the
ethical principles underlying individual action. In schools, this
theme typically appears in units and courses dealing with psychology
and anthropology.
Given the nature of individual development and our own cultural
context, students need to be aware of the processes of learning,
growth, and development at every level of their school experience.
In the early grades, for example, observing brothers, sisters,
and older adults, looking at family photo albums, remembering
past achievements and projecting oneself into the future, and
comparing the patterns of behavior evident in people of different
age groups are appropriate activities because young learners develop
their personal identities in the context of families, peers, schools,
and communities. Central to this development are the exploration,
identification, and analysis of how individuals relate to others.
In the middle grades, issues of personal identity are refocused
as the individual begins to explain self in relation to others
in the society and culture. At the high school level, students
need to encounter multiple opportunities to examine contemporary
patterns of human behavior, using methods from the behavioral
sciences to apply core concepts drawn from psychology, social
psychology, sociology, and anthropology as they apply to individuals,
societies, and cultures.
The Theme of global connections and Interdependence
Social studies programs should include
experiences that provide for the study of global connections and
interdependence.
The realities of global interdependence require understanding
the increasingly important and diverse global connections among
world societies. Analysis of tensions between national interests
and global priorities contributes to the development of possible
solutions to persistent and emerging global issues in many fields:
health care, economic development, environmental quality, universal
human rights, and others. Analyzing patterns and relationships
within and among world cultures, such as economic competition
and interdependence, age-old ethnic enmities, political and military
alliances, and others, helps learners carefully examine policy
alternatives that have both national and global implications.
This theme typically appears in units or courses dealing with
geography, culture, and economics, but again can draw upon the
natural and physical sciences and the humanities, including literature,
the arts, and language.
Through exposure to various media and first-hand experiences,
young learners become aware of and are affected by events on a
global scale. Within this context, students in early grades examine
and explore global connections and basic issues and concerns,
suggesting and initiating responsive action plans. In the middle
years, learners can initiate analysis of the interactions among
states and nations and their cultural complexities as they respond
to global events and changes. At the high school level, students
are able to think systematically about personal, national, and
global decisions, interactions, and consequences, including addressing
critical issues such as peace, human rights, trade, and global
ecology.
The theme of Civic ideals, principals,and practices
of citizenship
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide
for the study of the ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship
in a democratic republic.
An understanding of civic ideals and practices of citizenship
is critical to full participation in society and is a central
purpose of the social studies. All people have a stake in examining
civic ideals and practices across time and in diverse societies
as well as at home, and in determining how to close the gap between
present practices and the ideals upon which our democratic republic
is based. Learners confront such questions as: What is civic participation
and how can I be involved? How has the meaning of citizenship
evolved? What is the balance between rights and responsibilities?
What is the role of the citizen in the community and the nation,
and as a member of the world community? How can I make a positive
difference? In schools, this theme typically appears in units
or courses dealing with history, political science, cultural anthropology,
and fields such as global studies and law-related education, while
also drawing upon content from the humanities.