Designing Effective Instruction for Secondary Social Studies

According to Aristotle, Mankind are by no means agreed about the things to be taught, whether we look to virtue or to the best life . . . Should the useful in life, or virtue, or the higher knowledge be the aim of training'. . . and. . . about the means of education there is no agreement. We believe, however, that proven means do exist to provide the foundation for instruction. In this third edition ofDesigning Effective Instruction for Secondary Social Studies,we have updated and reorganized the content so that it can better serve both as a basic methods text for teacher candidates and as a curriculum and instruction resource for social studies teachers who want to improve their planning and teaching skills. To enhance the value of the text, we have included substantive issues pertaining to curriculum, current trends in technology, and instructional design principles and models that can be easily followed in the development and execution of instruction. Our purpose is to provide social studies teachers with a simple process they can use to organize their instructional planning for social studies in a more systematic way. Subsequently, this text is based on the following premises: Premise 1:Teaching social studies can be improved when teachers learn how to organize for effective instruction. This text, therefore, is formatted according to a seven-part sequential pattern for the presentation of the "social studies." This presentation attempts to (1) provide basic information about the social studies as a field of instruction and (2) present this information in a manner that can be used to improve the social studies curricula and methodology through the application of certain design principles, recommendations, and a model for planning and executing instruction. Premise 2:The best organizational pattern for designing social studies curriculum and instruction begins with some of the historical and philosophical foundations of the field and its disciplines followed by specific ideas for planning lessons, units, and courses. Premise 3:A social studies text devoted to curriculum and methods should focus on various approaches for organizing subject matter and the structure (content and methodologies) of the disciplines that are characteristic of the field. More often than not, neophytes are not familiar with the variety of effective social studies approaches that are characteristic of the field. Therefore, it is important that a social studies methods textbook review these approaches and characteristics and their use in the social studies classroom. Premise 4:Social studies teacher education should emphasize the elements of content--concepts, skills, and values--that are characteristic of the field. This premise rests on our belief that one of the most critical aspects of social studies instruction is the teacher's ability to plan and present key concepts, target skills, and core values to students. Premise 5:A study of social studies teaching methods should emphasize the components of instruction to promote a more systematic understanding Of the interrelationships between objectives, motivation, strategies, activities, materials, and evaluation. These components of instruction should be used to help focus the teacher's classroom presentations and learning activities, which center on the most important objectives that have been formulated prior to instruction. Premise 6:Books on social studies curriculum and instruction methods should contain a specific model for design-based instruction that can be used as a guideline for designing, developing, and executing courses, units, and lessons. As evidenced by these premises, we are convinced that successful classroom teaching depends on the organizational structure of instruction, which should be based on a stDynneson, Thomas L. is the author of 'Designing Effective Instruction for Secondary Social Studies', published 2002 under ISBN 9780130994110 and ISBN 0130994111.