Concept-Based Social Studies Instruction

Last week, I focused on the importance of social studies in school and why it is such a crucial subject to teach. This week I want to look at how to teach important, meaningful, worthwhile, and purposeful social studies instruction that will be useful for the students in their everyday lives. As mentioned in last week's post, facts and content-based details are to no benefit for the students; instead, concept-based instruction is the way to go.

So, what exactly is concept-based instruction? According to an interview with Cathy Gassenheimer, who wrote the book Transitioning to Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction: "Concept-based curriculum is a three-dimensional curriculum design model that frames the factual and skill content of subject areas with disciplinary concepts and generalizations." This meaning, that concept-based learning goes beyond the facts and skills and focuses on concepts and generalizations, that produce a higher, deeper level of thinking among the students.

How does concept-based instruction differ from the traditional way of learning, specifically in the study of social studies? The four main characteristics of concept-based learning distinguish the differences. Concept-based curriculum is comprised of four main components: broad/abstract, universal, timeless, and transferable. Each of these characteristics enhance deeper thinking and allow the students to learn valuable concepts that can be carried with them and applied to other subjects or issues in the world.

Now, let's look at the vast difference in the teaching of concept-based instruction versus traditional learning. Referencing an example from an article published in School Library Monthly, a traditional way of learning social studies would be to require students to find facts about a country in Latin America. These facts impose questions such as: What is the capital? What is the population? What natural resources does the country have? Or, what are the major industries? Answering these questions just merely generates simple, short answers that have no relevance or significance to the students' lives. To transfer the topic of a country in Latin America to a concept-based instruction form, a question about economic development might arise. This question requires further and deeper thought and cannot be answered simply. Economic development is an example of a concept and can be transferred to other areas of learning, while being timeless, universal, and abstract. Economic development can be applied to the students' lives as they might examine the economy in which they live in or the economies in which others live in. By examining concepts, they are using critical-thinking and the process of analyzing, a deeper and more meaningful form of learning.

Clearly, concept-based instruction is the way to go when teaching elementary students, and any students, social studies curriculum. It allows students to think critically and outside the box, and apply in-depth concepts to their lives and other subjects. This is truly learning, not merely memorizing.

Websites referenced:
To check out more information on concept-based learning, this is a great website to view! There are visuals and examples to help explain concept-based curriculum: http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/Donham2010-v27n1p8.html
Also, this website explains what concept-based learning is: http://www.bestpracticescenter.org/blog/interview-how-concept-based-teaching-can-deepen-student-learning