Education Commons^™

Connecting The Strands Of Wampum, Marissa Corwin

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Documents the development of the author's philosophies and strategies as she formed a methodology for teaching social studies content about Native Americans in New York State.

An Evaluative Study Of Family Guides And Subsequent Design Of A Multi-Museum Third Grade Explorer's Guide, Katherine Hillman

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The idea for this project began with the evaluative study of a cultural organization's family guide. The results of that study, garnered from interviews with and observations of families, serves as the inspiration for a newly designed family guide intended for third graders and their families. The guide incorporates several museum visits with NY State Social Studies Scope and Sequence criteria and is based on personal teaching experience, age-relevant developmental guidelines, theoretical influences, a literature review of family learning and current family guides, as well as the results of the evaluative study.

Immigration At The Core : A Curriculum For Fourth Grade, Ma'ayan Eckstein

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This curriculum provides educators with a framework for teaching fourth grade students about immigration in the United States between 1880 and 1924. It is designed to align with state-issued curricular guidelines for social studies as of 2012.

The Implementation And Modification Of Three 4th Grade Social Studies Content Lessons For English Language Learners And Students With Disabilities, Benelly Peralta

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The focus of this investigation was to take three general social studies content lessons created for a general education classroom and modify them for the particular needs of students with disabilities and English language learners.

Understanding Our Families : A Curriculum For Six-Year-Olds, Sarah Boltz

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Presents a social studies curriculum on families designed for six-year-olds in a New York City charter school. The author designed this curriculum using the "Modified Understanding by Design" format. This format requires the curriculum designer to structure the entire curriculum around a few carefully chosen learning standards. The two standards serving as the basis of this curriculum were selected from the New York State social studies standards for first grade.

Narrowing Of Curriculum: Teaching In An Age Of Accountability, Donna Kay Newberg-Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation made clear the need for increased accountability of U.S. public schools in 2002, there has been a trend toward narrowing curriculum in social studies and other core subjects to focus predominantly on what is tested through state exams. Concerns exist regarding the unintended consequences of curriculum narrowing on low, middle and high socioeconomic status (SES) students in public schools.

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) and National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) have been tracking the effects of NCLB since it took effect in 2002 and found that 71 percent of districts nationwide …

"We're Studying You": Dilemmas In, And Approaches To Social Studies Curriculum About "Other" Cultures, Joseph Bacal

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Studies of "other" cultures are a major part of many elementary school programs. This paper applies some of the recent thinking in anthropology to my own praxis as a teacher. From this standpoint, I ask a number of questions about the theory and practice of "studying" groups of people. How are representations of people created and framed for children? How do children read and interpret these representations? What are different ways that social studies materials construct versions of people? What kind of representations do I want to use in my teaching and how do I want to use them?

I …

Learning Through Meaningful Work: The Post Office Job At City & Country School, Scott Moran

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This independent study is a description of the Post Office job at City & Country School. The school runs a jobs program for children ages eight to thirteen years old (third - eight grades). The eight year old group runs the school Post Office. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to City & Country School. Chapter 2 discusses the Post Office job and its development through the course of a school year. Chapter 3 discusses the developmental orientation of the jobs program. Finally, chapter 4 raises other topics for discussion, including the possible sociopolitical implications and subject integration issues involved in …

Student Lessons To Enhance Reading Comprehension In The Social Studies Content Area, Dianne Marie Daily

All Graduate Projects

This project consists of lessons designed to increase reading comprehension of fifth grade students in the social studies content area. The lessons are developed based upon a review of research which indicates improved reading comprehension of expository text among students who are taught to use comprehension enhancing strategies. The activities include vocabulary development, text structure awareness, advance organizer usage, and study and reading guide strategy lessons. Additionally, a teacher's guide accompanies the lessons. These lessons are created specifically for use with the Civil War Unit entitled, "A Nation Divided," as found in Macmillan/Mcgraw-Hill's 5th grade social studies text entitled, United …

Whole Language Based Strategies For Teaching Reading In The Content Areas, Ingrid Annemarie Spencer

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop a thematic unit for use in a sixth grade classroom. The unit provides a whole language, integrated curriculum concentrating on ancient Greece. Fifteen lessons were developed for use with a social studies text to teach reading strategies to a class of sixth graders. The project includes a review of selected literature related to the topics of whole language instruction, thematic units, integration, and an explanation of how to utilize the project in a sixth grade classroom. A summary with conclusions and recommendations was included.

Adapting The Outcome-Based Education Instructional Process To A Fourth Grade Social Studies And Science Curriculum In The Cascade School District, Daniel J. Roche

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to utilize the Outcome-Based Education (OBE) instructional process to develop a curriculum in social studies and science for fourth grade students at Osborn Elementary School, Leavenworth, Washington. To accomplish this purpose, student learning objectives, unit objectives, lesson objectives, and lesson plans were adapted to the OBE instructional model.

Literature-Based Social Studies Learning Activities For First Grade Students In The Selah School District, Selah, Washington, Bonnie D. Isom

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop literaturebased social studies learning activities to be used with first grade students in the Selah School District. To accomplish this purpose, literature-based social studies learning activities for first grade students were gathered and developed for inclusion in a teacher resource packet. Appropriately used, children's literature can enhance learning in social studies and lead to increased teacher effectiveness.

A Model For Developing A Curriculum Database, Allan W. Pfiffner

All Graduate Projects

This paper presents a computer file of non-cataloged media for teaching Social Studies in the Franklin Pierce School District's elementary schools. The file is maintained by the use of a minicomputer database. Materials are drawn from the file by descriptors used to describe the contents of the item. The database file was used to enhance the teaching of Social Studies by first, saving the teachers time in locating materials, and second, helping point out other items they may not have known existed in the district.

The Orient In Elementary School Social Studies, Judith Rogers

All Master's Theses

It was the purpose of this investigation (1) to make a study of the Oriental Studies content suggested in textbooks, curriculum guides, and "new social studies programs" used extensively in elementary schools in the state of Washington, and (2) to develop suggested Oriental Studies content for elementary schools, with particular grade level specifications, keeping in mind the changing social structures of our society.

The Role Of Audio-Visual Materials In Third Grade Social Studies, Lu Emma Olberding

Graduate Student Research Papers

This study investigated literature in order to determine more fully the role of audio-visual materials in the third grade social studies program--their uses as well as their limitations.