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Alaska Department of Education & Early Development

An Integrated Curriculum

The social studies are, by their nature, holistic and integrative, and district social studies curriculum should reflect this. Readers are encouraged to refer to earlier portions of this document for examples of integrative schemes. Specifically, refer to Chapter 3, The Content of Social Studies Education in Alaska Schools. Note also the books and resources on interdisciplinary curriculum contained in the Reference Kit that is a companion to this document.

Excellence in Social Studies

The National Council for the Social Studies has articulated six criteria for excellence in social studies curriculum. According to these criteria, an exemplary social studies program should include a social studies curriculum that:

1. Is guided by thoughtfully selected as well as clearly stated and defined goals and objectives.

2. Is based on sound scholarship from the content areas relative to the social studies.

3. Sets high expectations for students and uses a variety of systematic and valid measures to evaluate student performance.

4. Relates appropriately to the age, maturity, interests, and needs of the students for whom it is designed.

5. Incorporates effective instructional strategies and techniques that engage students directly and actively in the learning process both in and out of the classroom.

6. Provides valid evidence that the outcome of the program is consistent with the stated goals and objectives.

These criteria were referenced by Alaskan teachers when developing the Social Studies Criteria for Excellence recommended for social studies programs. See Appendix.)

The Development Process

Each Alaska school district has its own curriculum development process. Readers are encouraged to contact districts directly for information on their processes. This variation notwithstanding, all curriculum plans must be based on a planned cycle of renewal of no longer than six year's duration.

In developing social studies curriculum, the following components should be included in the curriculum develpment process.

• A philosophy for teaching the social studies
• District guidelines, benchmarks, or scope and sequence based on the Alaska Social Studies Standards
• A plan for continuing professional development in the social studies

A philosophy for teaching the social studies

Community members and educators together must develop a philosophy for teaching the social studies. Again, districts vary, but some combination of the following tasks will result in a comprehensive philosophy:

• Define the district population

Cultural background

Linguistic situation

Socio-economic factors

Size of schools and classrooms

Lifestyle of students

Resources available

• Define community values that need to be incorporated into the curriculum
• Review the district's mission statement and goals
• Determine academic requirements for graduation

What are the state standards that need to be addressed?

What subjects and information meet these requirements?

What methods can be used?

How can student performance be assessed?

• Define a well-educated student

What knowledge and perspectives should the student gain from social studies?

What skills and tools will the well-educated student possess?

What knowledge and skills should the student carry forward for the next 10 years? 20 years? A lifetime?

District guidelines, benchmarks, or scope and sequence based on the Alaska Social Studies Standards

After the district has an idea of what it hopes to accomplish through social studies instruction, committees made up of staff and community members can begin the process of coordinating the state standards to district philosophy. This process can be conceptualized as a wheel, with the philosophy and district goals at the center, the standards in a concentric circle emanating from the center, and district curriculum in the outermost circle.

The Content chapter of this document contains charts for each of the Alaska Standards for Social Studies. Each chart lists key elements for its standard and suggests activities appropriate to those key elements at four age ranges, beginning with preschool. Readers should note that these suggested activities are merely examples; they are not benchmarks or performance standards. Districts will want to devise their own benchmarks, based in large part on the educational philosophies they have fashioned.

This can best be accomplished through a series of conversations or workshops among district staff at various schools and levels and between the staff and the community. Districts will find that not only will these conversations result in the necessary curriculum decisions; they will also be invaluable team building and professional renewal experiences. For instance, district-wide discussion will allow staff to step back from the day-to-day pressures of classroom teaching and reflect on the purpose of education and the ways they are contributing to the district's overall goals for students. Further, these workshops will provide an opportunity for teachers at different levels to communicate and articulate goals and instruction. High school teachers can be reminded of the strides their students have already made and the steps they have passed through in reaching each standard; elementary teachers can grasp the long-term objectives of each standard and key element and plan future lessons accordingly.

Benchmarks and performance standards are only one part of curriculum development. They must occur within an overall organizational strategy. Different Alaska districts have adopted different strategies or, more commonly, combinations of strategies. These include:

• Scope and sequence: This is the traditional way of organizing content so that teachers know what information is to be taught at the various grade levels. The method provides continuity because each teacher knows what his or her students have studied before and what will be expected of them at the next grade level. There are two disadvantages, however: scope and sequence plans may leave little room for individual variation in the rate of learning; and the plans may result in teachers straining to cover the material rather than provide for student mastery.
• Course descriptions: Course descriptions are often an extension into secondary schools of scope and sequence documents. This method of organizing curriculum follows traditional discipline divisions and may result in content-defined - as opposed to a comprehensive content and method-based - curriculum. A disadvantage to this method is that students may not have an opportunity to learn how the various disciplines relate to each other nor understand the relevance of subject-dictated curriculum to their own lives and futures.
• Performance-based education: Educational outcomes are statements of what students should know and be able to do as they move through the system. This method ensures that students fully understand content and skills at one level before progressing to the next. Its main disadvantage is that there may be no time limit set on achieving a particular outcome, resulting in record-keeping difficulties at the district level and unnecessary delays in students' moving on to succeeding topics or skills.
• Thematic or concept-oriented study: This method allows districts or teachers to develop interdisciplinary units that integrate knowledge from a number of different subjects. The method requires of students high-level thinking skills and can prepare them for life after school, where they will find that issues are rarely limited to a single discipline. The ten social studies themes adopted by the National Council for the Social Studies serve as a good model for a thematic approach in social studies. Those themes include:

I. Culture. The study of culture prepares students to answer questions such as: What are the common characteristics of different cultures? How do belief systems, such as religion or political ideals, influence other parts of the culture? How does the culture change to accommodate different ideas and beliefs? What does language tell us about the culture.

II. Time, Continuity, and Change. Knowing how to read and reconstruct the past allows one to develop a historical perspective and to answer questions such as: Who am I? What happened in the past? How am I connected to those in the past? How has the world changed and how might it change in the future? Why does our personal sense of relatedness to the past change?

III. People, Places, and Environments. The study of people, places, and human-environment interactions helps students answer such questions as: Where are things located? Why are they located where they are? What do we mean by "region"? How do land forms change? What implications do these changes have for people?

IV. Individual Development and Identity. Students should consider such questions as: 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? How do individuals develop from youth to adulthood?

V. Individuals, Groups, and Institutions. Students may address questions such as: What is the role of institutions in this and other societies? How am I influenced by institutions? How do institutions change? What is my role in institutional change?

VI. Power, Authority, and Governance. In exploring this theme, students confront questions such as: What is power? What forms does it take? Who holds it? How is it gained, used, and justified? What is legitimate authority? How are governments created, structured, maintained, and changed? How can individual rights be protected within the context of majority rule?

VII. Production, Distribution, and Consumption. Students seek answers to these questions: What is to be produced? How is production to be organized? How are goods and services to be distributed? What is the most effective allocation of the factors of production (land, labor, capital, and management)?

VIII. Science, Technology, and Society. Technology brings with it many questions: Is new technology always better than old? What can we learn from the past about how new technologies result in broader social change, some of which is unanticipated? How can we cope with the ever-increasing pace of change? How can we manage technology so that the greatest number of people benefit from it? How can we preserve our fundamental values and beliefs in the midst of technological change?

IX. Global Connections. Students will need to be able to address such international issues as health care, the environment, human rights, economic competition and interdependence, age-old ethnic enmities, and political and military alliances.

X. Civic Ideals and Practices. Students 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?

The major disadvantage of theme-based curriculum is its uneasy fit with traditional school structure, particularly with one-hour class periods at the secondary level.

• Site-based curriculum: This method allows individual schools a great deal of latitude in determining focus or climate. Examples are magnet schools, optional schools, or focus (e.g., arts and sciences) schools. Generally, the district writes the curriculum and each school determines how to implement it. Disadvantages of this method are lack of articulation between schools, possible isolation of faculties from each other, and the fact that parents must take the primary responsibility of matching their children to the school that best suits them.
• Social action approach: Some districts or individual schools design curriculum around social problems relevant to students' lives. Like thematic study, this strategy allows students to experience the relationships among disciplines while it convinces them of the relevance of education to their own lives. A disadvantage is that the approach may leave gaps in students' knowledge in areas not applicable to a particular issue or problem.

A plan for continuing professional development in the social studies

Because political and social situations throughout the world are continually changing, new interpretations of old documents or doctrines emerge each year, and technology develops ever more rapidly, teachers need periodic renewal of skills and information. In addition, since teachers generally work alone in isolated classrooms, they need opportunities for professional interaction through computer networks, membership in professional organizations, periodic in-service opportunities, conferences, and current subscriptions to pertinent journals. These needs are particularly acute when districts implement new curriculum. Every curriculum implementation plan should include a component whereby teachers are introduced to and instructed in the new curriculum model and materials. Teachers must have time to work in groups and develop new materials and refine existing ones based on the curriculum and state standards.

A district professional development program in social studies should be driven by three goals, articulated by the National Council for the Social Studies:

• The teacher should evidence both scholarship and expertise in the curriculum
• The teacher should evidence participation in all aspects of the development of the curriculum, including setting goals and objectives as well as program development, implementation, evaluation, and revision
• The teacher should apply sound instructional theory and practice in the implementation of the program.

These goals translate into four levels of involvement with the social studies curriculum which can be achieved through professional development:

• Awareness (What is the vision? What is the plan? What is the timeline? What is the purpose and relevance of the plan? What materials are needed?)
• Skill development (How will it work in the classroom? What skills are necessary for immediate use? How is the vision retained in the day-to-day lessons?)
• Transfer (Practice toward mastery; What refinements can be made? How well does it work? In what situations will it work?)
• Ownership (Collaborative problem-solving; recognition and support; comfort with the materials; encouragement of risk-taking; advocacy).