So What is This Thing Called....Social Studies?

Today I did a lot of reading on what social studies is, the curriculum standards and different types of assessments and assessment methods. From reading these papers, I have learned a great deal about
social studies in a short period of time.

Social studies promotes civic competence so students can obtain the knowledge and skills as a successful citizen. Social studies conveys the changing nature of knowledge through integrated approaches to resolve significant issues of human, as well as assists students in viewing reality. To incorporate these aspects into the social studies curriculum, NYS created ten themes to outline the social studies framework. These themes are:
                                      Culture
                                Time, Continuity, and Change
                                People, Places, and Environments
                                Individual Development and Identity
                                Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
                                Power, Authority, and Governance
                                Production, Distribution, and Consumption
                                Global Connections
                                Civic Ideals and Practices
                                Science, Technology, and Society



Understanding is the ability to think and act with what you know. Here are important vocabulary words to know about knowledge and understanding:
                 explain, apply, compare and contrast, 
                 context, generalizations, justify,
                 examples. ritual knowledge, inert
                 knowledge, and naive knowledge.

There are various ways to assess student learning and understanding. Here is a short quiz I created on the different methods and ways to assess.