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Social Studies
The focus of social studies is to help students understand themselves as citizens within a global society. Students will learn the principles and relationships of the social sciences including political science, economics, history, geography, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. The knowledge and understanding gained is applied to evaluate differing perspectives on historical, political, geographic, or social issues.
Recently approved by the State of Illinois, new learning standards that are aligned with the national College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework will become part of the Social Studies curriculum. The C3 framework focuses on practices that allow students to engage more deeply in Social Studies learning through having teachers provide opportunities for students to craft own questions that matter, to establish a collaborative and individual context for inquiry, to integrate content and skills meaningfully, to articulate disciplinary literacy practices and outcomes, and to provide tangible opportunities for taking informed action.
District #37 teachers learn about the new practices and new standards so students can continue to see topics and content through the eyes of a political scientist, a historian, an economist, and a geographer.
Grades 5-8 units have been aligned to the Illinois Learning Standards during the 2019-2020 school year while grades K-4 are focusing on the best practices in inquiry-oriented approaches during the 2020-2021 school year.
