Social Studies
The Purpose of Social Studies
The purpose of social studies is to promote the knowledge, skills, intellectual processes, and dispositions require dof people to be actively engaged in fulfilling their responsibility of civic participation. As members of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world, young people need to learn how to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good. Social studies fosters a renewed and reinvigorated commitment to the ideal, "government of the people, by the people, and for the people," as expressed by President Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address.
The Instructional Shifts of Inquiry Based Learning in Social Studies
The C3 Framework represents a substantial shift in the way that social studies was most commonly taught in the past. To meet the changing needs of students in the Information Age, and to prepare them for the challenges of a dynamic world environment, the following instructional shifts are necessary:
Inquiry should be a primary form of instruction in all social studies classes.
Students (and teachers) should craft investigative questions that matter.
Teachers should establish a collaborative context to support student inquiry.
Teachers should integrate content and skills meaningfully and in a rigorous manner.
Teachers should help students articulate disciplinary literacy practices and outcomes (thinking, reading, writing, speaking like a historian, like a geographer, like an economist, etc.).
Teachers should provide, and help students develop, tangible opportunities to take informed action.
Inquiry can be a powerful tool for teaching the content outlined in Michigan’s Grade Level Content Expectations. As humans, we are naturally prone to questioning as we try to make sense of the world around us. While the C3 Framework is not assessed on state-level assessments, such as the M-STEP, it provides guidance for teachers and students on how to practice structured inquiry at the classroom level. It is set up around an instructional arc outlined below, with more information available by downloading the full document from the National Council for the Social Studies. A full copy of the C3 Framework can be found online.
WMISD provides the following social studies support services to our local districts:
Curriculum work centerd around social studies content expectations.
Assessments: Developing standards-aligned assessments, including PASST, to measure and enhance student learning.
Inquiry-Based Learning: Supporting the C3 Framework to promote critical thinking and problem-solving through inquiry-based learning.
Support in secondary disciplinary literacy implementation.
Professional Learning:
Check the WMISD Professional Learning Catalog here, and the statewide PD calendar available at the Michigan Social Studies Hub.
Research, Practice, and Resources:
Visit the Michigan Social Studies Hub for the current version of Michigan's Social Studies Standards, C3 inquiries designed by Michigan educators and organizations, statewide professional learning opportunities and more.
The Michigan Open Book Project is a statewide initiative to develop, refine, and revise free, open source textbooks for social studies.
The GIANTS curriculum is a freely available K-8 social studies curriculum currently maintained by the Michigan Council for the Social Studies.
The Michigan Council for the Social Studies is a statewide affiliate of the National Council for the Social Studies which provides curriculum, guidance, and support to educators in a variety of positions within the field.
The 6-12 Disciplinary Literacy Essentials outline ways to apprentice students in the types of reading and writing that make up the various subfields in social studies.
Social Studies Contact
Dave Johnson
Email Dave Johnson