ERDG 617: Teaching Social Studies, B-6
Program Requirements and Prerequisites: This course is required for the MS in Childhood Education and MS in Early Childhood Education
programs. It is an elective for the MS in Literacy B-6 and MS in Reading degrees.
Course Description: This course focuses on history, culture, economics, government, and geography, for teachers to learn the theoretical and
practical applications of historical and current concepts. Drawing on national and state standards, the course will emphasize materials, instruction,
and assessment to promote conceptual understandings, including a diverse range of perspectives on social studies content.
Attributes
 Literacy as Social Practice**
 Equity
 Generate Productive Learning Communities**
 Engagement*
 Reciprocal Relationships Across Modes of Communication*
 Strategic Teaching to Promote Self-Extending Learning*
 Assessment of Literacies and Their Development*
 Research Based Professional Learning*
Core Content
What children and teachers need to know to
develop historical and literate competencies:
Historical inquiry
Literary inquiry
Historical debate
Multiple Perspectives
Specific content knowledge: civics, government,
history, citizenship, geography, economics.
Multicultural understandings
Social and cultural traditions, beliefs, and values
Sense of historical themes across time and
cultures
Attributes (continued)
 Respectful Representation of Students, Families and Communities**
 Critical Literacies**
 Disciplinary Literacy/Knowledge Building**
 Data Based Decision Making
 Technologies and Digital Media*
 Materials and Resources**
 Prevention and Intervention
 Standards**
Possible Assignments
Powerful Idea Project
Students will design a project to implement in
preschool and/or elementary settings. They will
be developing a "powerful idea", including
connections to standards, gathering primary
sources, using literature selections, and writing a
unit description.
Primary Source Collection and Analysis
In this project, students will collect primary
sources, discuss the process of collecting the
sources, evaluate the sources using the NARA
evaluation sheets, and discuss how they might use
the sources within their classroom. This includes
sources from families and communities.
Possible Readings
Levstik, L. & Barton, K. (2010).
Doing History: Investigating with Children
in Elementary and Middle Schools.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 4th
edition.
Edinger, M. (2000). Seeking History:
Teaching with Primary Sources in Grades 46. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Grant, S. G., & VanSledright, B.
(2005). Elementary Social
Studies: Constructing a Powerful Approach
to Teaching and Learning. Houghton
Mifflin.
Evaluating texts for historical validity, reliability,
and significance
Instructional and
Assessment Materials
Choosing appropriate literature
NYS standards, curriculum guides, assessment
Common Core Standards
Variety of Primary Sources, Secondary sources
Moving beyond historical fiction
Use historical evidence and analysis it for
reliability, significance, and validity.
Contexts of Learning
Develop Interdisciplinary practices
Use instruction situated around "powerful ideas"
to guide conceptual understandings
Developing Pedagogical Knowledge
Develop a sense of what students know, the basis
for their idea/understandings, and methods to
move the thinking forward
Collaborating for problem solving and examining
assumptions
Engaging in reflective teaching
Developing a culture that promotes selfextending learning
Accessing and evaluating technology related
resources
Final Exam
Students may have a final exam requiring them to
synthesize content from across the course in
response to questions/issues.
Selected Children’s Literature
Museum Centers
Students gather primary source and educational
information/materials from a local museum,
historical center, or state park and interview a
staff member. Then, produce a written project
connecting these sources to standards and
curriculum guides.
NYS Common Core Learning Standards for
ELA & Literacy (2011)
NYS Social Studies Core Curriculum with
Resource Guide (1999)
Ereserves with articles primarily from:
Social Studies and the Young Learner
Social Education
Educational Leadership
Language Arts
Reading Teacher
Sample Articles:
Potter, L.A. (2009). Teaching with
documents, documents, and more
documents.: The National Archives Digital
Partnerships. Social Education 73(3), 109112.
Risinger, C.F. (2010). Using online field
trips and tours in social studies. Social
Education, 74 (3), 137-138.
Berson, I.E. (2009). Here’s what we have to
say! Podcasting in the early childhood
classroom. Social Studies and the Young
Learner, 21 (4), 8-11.
Barnes, M.K., Johnson, E.C., Neff, L.
(2010). Learning through process drama in
the first grade. Social Studies and the Young
Learner, 22 (4), 19-24.
White, W.E. (2010). Historic sites and your
students. Social Education 74 (2), 74-75.
Williams, T. (2009). A closer look: The
representation of slavery in the Dear
America series. Social Studies and the
Young Learner, 21 (3), 26-29.
Meyers, L.E., Holbrook, T., May, L.A.
(2009). Beyond heroes and role models:
Using biographies to develop young change
agents. Social Studies and the Young
Learner, 21 (3), 10-14.
Oldendor, S. B., Calloway, A. (2008).
Connecting children to the bigger world:
Reading newspapers in second grade. Social
Studies and the Young
Learner, 21 (2), 17-19.