Introduction

Envision yourself as a student. You have come into your first class of the day to learn

about history. It is just so boring. Your teacher reads from the text and other works of literature

and sources. She suggests you make notes as she reads upon which you will be quizzed later.

You go over the notes today and she tells you to study tonight for the exam you will take

tomorrow on the materials she has covered. Hearing the same, steady voice, reading a watered-

down version of the truth that you know today’s textbooks to be has left you completely

unengaged. Needless to say, you do not score very well on the exam. At the end, you find

yourself wondering exactly what it is you were supposed to have learned.

Now, fast forward to the next year. Your social studies teacher has introduced the class

to a method and concept that is all-new to you and your classmates. You come into class with a

question posed before you - a compelling question. It is one which requires you to think. There

are no black-and-white answers, and you are engaged with your teacher, as well as your

classmates, before you even feel that you have begun to work. Next, your teacher enlightens you

to supporting questions. These can be researched, and you can begin to build some knowledge

that brings your thoughts back around to that initial compelling question. After several such

supporting questions and sources are examined, you can actively do something with what you

have learned. You can argue, convince, inform, summarize, compare, and you can ultimately

take action to make changes in the world around you, all based on the one compelling question

that started the whole process.

My Purpose for Teaching Social Studies

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I will actively engage students by providing thought-provoking questions and

enlightening experiences which will support my students as they move toward college, career,

and civic life. I will share knowledge about and experience within the topics of history,

geography, economics, political science, and sociology. I aspire to the goal of motivating

students to be inquisitive and to become active participants not only in their own learning

experiences, but also in other aspects of their everyday lives. College preparedness for my

students will provide them with basic social studies knowledge in each discipline. They will also

be enriched by the acquisition of skills such as study skills, critical thinking, and critical analysis.

For career preparedness, students will have been enlightened with a combination of core

curricular knowledge, with intellectual and interpersonal skills, and with values and attitudes that

are crucial for cooperative activity in the workforce. Finally, students will be well-prepared for

civic mindedness and proactivity based on attitudes, values, and virtues that are key to becoming

informed and active democratic citizens. In accordance with the National Council for Social

Studies (2010), “The aim of social studies is the promotion of civic competence—the

knowledge, intellectual processes, and democratic dispositions required of students to be active

and engaged participants in public life.”

Students will not only leave their educational experience with the knowledge central to

each facet of the discipline which will ultimately benefit them in college, career, and civic life,

but they will also leave with the skills and values central to success in each of the three realms of

life. Although education for the sake of knowledge and skills cannot be overlooked, civic

responsibilities are imperative for the greater good of individuals and societal citizenship.

Students will succeed because they have absorbed the knowledge of the material. However, they

will be able to apply knowledge using the skills which they have attained with an inquisitiveness
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and desire to impact their surroundings. This will be achieved through the careful integration of

democratic citizenship values and responsibilities. Values such as honesty, responsibility, and

respect are three such values to be esteemed within our education system (Celikkaya & Filoglu,

2014). My social studies instruction will focus on opportunities and experiences to allow

knowledge, skills, and values such as these to grow and prosper within the minds, hearts, and

lives of my students.

How I Will Achieve My Purpose

Preparation of students for college, career, and civic life through knowledge, skills, and

values instruction can take many forms. Reaching this goal will be best accomplished using a

combination of three separate but connected means: inquiry-based learning, interdisciplinary

instruction, and taking informed action. Inquiry-based learning will allow students to explore

meaningful and thought-provoking questions as a basis for learning. Throughout their social

studies education, they will be presented with compelling and supporting questions. They will

also delve into the subject in ways which allow them to pose their own questions. Adding to this

inquiry-based format, an interdisciplinary approach will integrate core subjects into the study and

attainment of social studies knowledge and skills. By viewing social studies education through

the lenses of English language arts, mathematics, and science, students will have diverse

opportunities to learn according to their own styles and strengths. Integration of visual arts and

music will also capitalize on diversity in learning. Finally, taking informed action will be deeply

ingrained into my instruction, giving students opportunities to apply themselves at school, at

home, and in their communities, based upon their knowledge, skills, and values.

Inquiry-Based Learning
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One of the most imperative strategies which will allow me to achieve these purposes is

using inquiry-based learning. Using inquiry-based learning actively engages students, as

opposed to such practices as passive rote memorization, end-of-chapter questions, and multiple-

choice tests. Such methods are ineffective and have largely become outdated (Ratzer, 2014).

Active engagement based upon asking questions creates deeper understanding of complex

material and allows opportunities for critical thinking and analysis. As it is applied to the social

studies, inquiry can also be referred to as historical interpretation or historical reasoning (Parker

& Beck, 2017). Naturally, humans engage in this type of reasoning daily, even as we go about

our routine lives. From toddlers who repeatedly ask “Why?” to the young adult buying her first

car, humans constantly ask questions, form hypotheses, and revise our ideas.

Capitalizing on this innate practice of inquiry is a fitting and logical means of educating

students. The natural process can be refined by asking several different types of questions. First,

compelling questions spark students’ interests. Compelling questions are open-ended and leave

room for discussion. Supporting such interaction, instruction using questions fulfills Vygotsky’s

sociocultural learning theory (Mueller, 2018). Questions allow students opportunities to engage

with their teachers, with their peers, and within themselves. One such compelling question for

students can reach the goal of values education: “Should you tell the truth?” Students will be

forced to think deeply and to use critical thinking and reasoning. Students will then be asked

supporting questions which can be researched, defined, and recorded. They will have

opportunities to view primary and secondary documents, and to compare and contrast these

forms of evidence with the hypotheses they previously formed. They will be moved to

reevaluate, extend, and possibly revise their hypotheses based on answers to supporting

questions in the inquiry-based lesson design. When students answer questions such as, “What is
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honesty?”, “Why is honesty important?”, and “What are consequences of dishonesty?”, they will

search within, learn critical thinking skills, and form effective learning habits.

Interdisciplinary Instruction

The second strategy which I will employ is to integrate social studies education with

other content areas. Integrating within the other contents will allow more students to learn based

on their individual learning strengths. Visual, hands-on, and audible options will be interwoven

throughout my instruction. Specifically, students will be given much freedom and choice in the

means in which they display their learning. They will have opportunities to reach into the

multiple intelligences which Howard Gardner first introduced in 1983 and which are still

recognized today. Integrating Language Arts, Visual Arts, Music, Science, Health, and

Mathematics into the social studies will give students with strengths in each of the intelligences

means of achieving and expressing their utmost (Bas, 2016). Those who are strong in musical-

rhythmic, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic,

interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic intelligences will each succeed.

Research shows that reading and writing are effective means of instruction across all

content areas, therefore the integration of language arts into social studies instruction will benefit

my students (Richardson, Morgan & Fleener, 2012). One such example is using a RAFT

activity, or Role, Audience, Format, Topic activity. A student could choose to write as a

newspaper reporter, a musician, or even from the perspective of a famous figure from history.

The student could write an essay, an article, a song, or a dialogue, choosing to write for sharing

with the class, the school newsletter, or the school website. The number of topics chosen by the

teacher or the students themselves is nearly endless. Allowing freedom of choice to students,

whether using a RAFT, creation of a work of art, formation of a hypothesis, or using

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mathematics to expand on an economics lesson, enhances students’ abilities to learn through

differentiation (Tompkins, 2009).

Taking Informed Action

Finally, the ultimate test of students’ knowledge will come in the form of taking informed

action. Students will not only be expected to apply social studies inquiry-based lessons into real-

world scenarios. They will also be authentically assessed based on whether and how they can

use the knowledge they have gained to improve the greater good in school, in their homes, and in

society. Some examples of action-based projects that students will have opportunities to

participate in and learn by doing are writing civic letters, adopting a part of the school,

establishing a good neighbor club, and getting out the vote (Parker & Beck, 2017). Because one

of the primary goals for social studies instruction is taking part in civic life, it is the ideal arena in

which to enlighten students to taking informed action. Students must first learn to inquire about

problems in public issues, deliberate with others, work in cooperative groups, and take

collaborative and independent action (National Council for the Social Studies, 2017). Using the

knowledge, skills, and perspectives which students have gained during their educations in the

disciplines in social studies are what prepares them for active involvement in civic life.

Although many students would state that being an active participant in society is

constituted with voting, there is much more involved in being an active democratic citizen.

There is no better place in which to learn how to become active in the civic realm than in social

studies education. And there is no better means of experiencing this process than in taking

informed action. According to Muetterties (2016), participation in elections is only one facet of

acting as citizens. Muetterties (2016) had the opportunity to enrich her students’ learning

experience with a lesson containing the compelling question, “What goes into your water?”
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They were presented with the opportunity to meet with Kentucky’s Attorney General. I plan to

share experiences with my students in similar fashion. Whether writing our congressman,

speaking at our town council, presenting an idea to our school principal, or sponsoring a local

food drive, I will give my students many opportunities to take informed action.

Conclusion

Falling into the habits of “traditional” classroom practices does not do justice to the

education of today’s students. Students must be actively engaged participants and contributors to

their own educations. Through inquiry-based instruction, interdisciplinary instruction, and

taking informed action, students will achieve college, career, and civic readiness. They will

command the disciplinary knowledge, essential skills, and civic values imperative to becoming

active and informed citizens.

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References

Bas, G. (2016). The effect of multiple intelligences theory-based education on academic

achievement: A meta-analytic review. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice 16(6),

1833-1864.

Celikkaya, T. & Filoglu, Simge (2014). Attitudes of social studies teachers toward value and

values education. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 14(4), 1551-1556.

National Council for the Social Studies (2017). The college, career, and civic life (C3)

framework for social studies state standards: Guidance for enhancing the rigor of k-12

civics, economics, geography, and history. Retrieved from

https://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/2017/Jun/c3-framework-for-social-

studies-rev0617.pdf

Mueller, R.G.W. (2018). From potential to practice: Compelling questions as an impetus for

curricular and instructional change. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 42(3), 249-

260.

Muetterties, Carly (2013) Practicing citizenship: Taking informed action. C3 Teachers: College,

Career, and Civic Life. Retrieved from http://www.c3teachers.org/practicing-citizenship-

taking-informed-action/

Parker, W.C. & Beck, T.A. (2017). Social Studies in Elementary Education (15th ed.). Boston,

MA: Pearson.

Ratzer, M.B. (2014). Opportunity knocks! Inquiry, the new national social studies and science

standards, and you. Knowledge Quest, 43(2), 64-70.

Richardson, J.S., Morgan, R.F., & Fleener, C.E. (2012). Reading to Learn in the Content Areas

(8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

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Tompkins, G.E. (2009). Language Arts: Patterns of Practice (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Pearson.