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Educators build their practice on an understanding of pedagogy and curriculum content.

An understanding of content is made possible partly by familiarity with state and national

standards at any given level and the levels adjacent to the teacher’s area of focus. This eight-

week unit focuses on a multidisciplinary approach to teaching social studies in the fourth grade.

The unit covers four interdisciplinary Alaska State Standards: Science Content Standard

F, History Content Standard B, Art Content Standard A, and Math Content Standard 4.NBT.1.

Standards help teachers guide content, easing transitions from one grade to the next by

connecting grade level content over the course of a child’s education (Bolinger, 2007). Social

studies curriculum has evolved, perhaps more than any other subject area, over the last 100

years. Today’s stated goal of social studies education is to develop productive citizens (Bolinger,

2007). The standards have shifted to support a curriculum that requires students to actively

participate in creating meaning from social studies work. This unit reflects this standards-based,

hands-on approach.

In this unit’s first lesson, students build on information they are familiar with and

connect that information to unfamiliar features of the Central American region. Using this

constructivist approach (which is used throughout the unit) allows students to better access

unfamiliar content. Constructivist approaches are associated with better student learning, more

student enjoyment, and more student motivation (Kim, 2005). In addition to building on

students’ understandings and knowledge, this unit focuses on individual teacher/student

interactions. Much of the work is independent, allowing the teacher to move about the room

and work with individuals and small groups. Since constructivist teaching does not support the
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development of learning strategies, a mixed approach that allows the teacher to provide direct

instruction in a small group and individual setting best serves the students (Kim, 2005).

Student learning is also supported by pre-teaching, as in lesson two. Pre-teaching

vocabulary greatly increases students’ acquisition and retention of social studies material

(Carney, 1984). When students have a basis for understanding material through pre-teaching

strategies, they are better able to connect with content. The second lesson of this unit also

provides students with the opportunity to work in collaboration with their peers, which has

been shown to improve student academic outcomes (Bennet, 1991).

In other areas of the unit, students access content through hands on experiments and

explorations with art, math, and engineering. This demonstrates an understanding of how

students learn, how to facilitate and encourage decision making, and how to help engaged

citizens develop (Ferris, 2015). When students are given a chance to do they respond more

positively, both emotionally and academically to the material (Lesh, 2011). Social studies should

not be taught in a “traditional” lecture-based way, but rather in an engaging, cross-disciplinary,

hands-on manner that supports all learners by activating their prior knowledge and making

connections with their interests and lives. Constructivist approaches like the approach to

teaching content that this unit uses, when properly supported by direct instruction, are

beneficial for students and are preferred by students to traditional lecture-based approaches

(Kim, 2005).
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Resources:

Bennet, N. (1991). Cooperative learning in classrooms: processes and outcomes. Journal of

Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32(4), 581–594. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44960911

Bolinger, K. & Warren W. J. (2007). Methods practiced in social studies instruction: a review of

public school teachers’ strategies. International Journal of Social Education, 22 (1).

Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ779674

Carney, J. J. (1984). Preteaching vocabulary and the comprehension of social studies materials

by elementary school children. Social Education, 48 (3). 195-196. Retrieved from

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ295930

Farris, P. J. (2015). Elementary and middle school social studies: an interdisciplinary,

multicultural approach. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Kim, J. S. (2005). The effects of a constructivist teaching approach on student academic

achievement, self-concept, and learning strategies. Asia Pacific Education Review, 6

(10). 7-19.

Lesh, Bruce A. (2011). Why won’t you just tell us the answer? Teaching historical thinking in

grades 7-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.