SOCIAL STUDIES in Early Childhood Education

Children are born into social studies. From birth, they begin exploring their world. At each stage of early development-infant, toddler, preschool, and primary-children look around and try to make sense of their social and physical environments. They gradually learn more about their expanding community and eventually come to see themselves as citizens.
Taking an Integrated Approach
Progressive educators such as John Dewey in the 1930s encouraged teachers to use social studies as the foundation for activity-based learning built on children’s interests.
Another powerful influence on the child-centered curricular and instructional approach for social studies came in the 1960s with the work of Jerome Bruner.
More recently, while preserving the developmental sequence, the NCSS organized social studies content around 10 large themes:
culture;
time continuity and change;
people, places, and environments;
individual development and identity;
individuals, groups, and institutions;
power, authority, and governance;
production, distribution, and consumption;
science, technology, and society;
global connections; and
civic ideals and practices.
Social Studies for today’s Early Childhood Setting
Using the underlying concepts from social science, teachers can draw content broadly from the 10 themes and use inquiry-based processes to foster curiosity, problem-solving skills, and appreciation of investigation.
Social Studies as Self-development
The curricular focus of self-development in a social context starts with the classroom and the people in it: children, teachers, caregivers, and families.
Choosing the Content for Social Studies
For the youngest citizens-infants and toddlers-the content is self-development in a social world.
Choosing the Processes for Social Studies
Teaching strategies in preschool and primary social studies include individual investigations in the library, in the field, and on the Internet; interviews; small-group collaboration; and large-group discussions.
Social studies as content and process is a vibrant and vital part of early childhood curricula.
REFERENCES
ocw.umb.edu/ear...

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