Social studies
In many countries' curricula, social studies is the combined study of humanities, the arts, and social sciences, mainly including history, economics, and civics. The term was coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as a catch-all for these subjects, as well as others which did not fit into the models of lower education in the United States such as philosophy and psychology. One of the purposes of social studies, particularly at the level of higher education, is to integrate several disciplines, with their unique methodologies and special focuses of concentration, into a coherent field of subject areas that communicate with each other by sharing different academic "tools" and perspectives for deeper analysis of social problems and issues. Social studies aims to train students for informed, responsible participation in a diverse democratic society. It provides the necessary background knowledge in order to develop values and reasoned opinions, and the objective of the field is civic competence. A related term is humanities, arts, and social sciences, abbreviated HASS.
Branches of social studies
Social studies is not a subject unto itself; instead, it functions as a field of study that incorporates many different subjects. It primarily includes the subjects of history, economics, and civics. Through all of that, the elements of geography, sociology, ethics, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, art and literature are incorporated into the subject field itself. The field of study itself focuses on human beings and their respective relationships. With that, many of these subjects include some form of social utility that is beneficial to the subject field itself. The whole field is rarely taught; typically, a few subjects combined are taught. Recognition of the field has, arguably, lessened the significance of history, with the exception of U.S. History. Initially, only History and Civics were significant parts of the high school curriculum; eventually, Economics became a significant part of the high school curriculum, as well. While History and Civics were already established, the significance of Economics in the high school curriculum is more recent. History and Civics are similar in many ways, though they differ in class activity. There was some division between scholars on the topic of merging the subjects, though it was agreed that presenting a full picture of the world to students was extremely important.College level
Social studies as a college major or concentration remains uncommon, although such a degree is offered at Harvard University. Harvard first introduced social studies as a formal field of study in 1960, through the work of a committee led by Stanley Hoffman, and today known as the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies. Those that concentrated in social studies during their time at Harvard include Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and theater director Diana Paulus, as well as journalist Sewell Chan.Australia
Humanities and Social Sciences is taught in Australian schools and divided into 4 categories: history, civics and citizenship, economics and geography. Human Society and Its Environment is a similar term previously used in the education system of the Australian state of New South Wales.United States
The subject was introduced to promote social welfare and its development in countries like the United States and others.An early concept of social studies is found in John Dewey's philosophy of elementary and secondary education. Dewey valued the subject field of geography for uniting the study of human occupations with the study of the earth. He valued inquiry as a process of learning, as opposed to the absorption and recitation of facts, and he advocated for greater inquiry in elementary and secondary education, to mirror the kind of learning that takes place in higher education. His ideas are manifested to a large degree in the practice of inquiry-based learning and student-directed investigations implemented in contemporary social studies classrooms. Dewey valued the study of history for its social processes and application to contemporary social problems, rather than a mere narrative of human events. In this view, the study of history is made relevant to the modern student and is aimed at the improvement of society.
In the United States through the 1900s, social studies revolved around the study of geography, government, and history. In 1912, the Bureau of Education was tasked by then Secretary of the Interior Franklin Knight Lane with completely restructuring the American education system for the twentieth century. In response, the Bureau of Education, together with the National Education Association, created the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education. The commission was made up of 16 committees, each one tasked with the reform of a specific aspect of the American Education system. Among these was the Committee on Social Studies, which was created to consolidate and standardize subjects that did not fit within normal school curricula into a new subject, to be called "the social studies".
The work done by the Committee on Social Studies culminated in the publication of Bulletin No. 28, which was entitled The Social Studies in Secondary Education. The 66-page bulletin, published and distributed by the Bureau of Education, is believed to be the first work dedicated entirely to the subject. It was designed to introduce the concept to American educators and serve as a guide for the creation of nationwide curricula based around social studies. The bulletin proposed many ideas that were considered radical at the time, and it is regarded by many educators as one of the most controversial educational resources of the early twentieth century. Early proponents of the field of social studies include Harold O. Rugg and David Saville Muzzey.
In the years after its release, the bulletin received criticism from educators on its vagueness, especially in regards to the definition of social studies itself. Critics often point to Section 1 of the report, which vaguely defines social studies as "understood to be those whose subject matter relates directly to the organization and development of human society, and to man as a member of social groups."
The changes to the field of study didn't fully materialize until the 1950s, when changes occurred at the state and national levels that dictated the curriculum and the preparation standards of its teachers. This led to a decrease in the amount of factual knowledge being delivered, and instead focused on key concepts, generalizations, and intellectual skills. By the 1980s and 1990s, the development of computer technologies helped grow the publishing industry. Textbooks were created around the curriculum of each state and that, coupled with the increase in political factors from globalization and growing economies, lead to changes in the public and private education systems. Now came the influx of national curriculum standards, from the increase of testing to the accountability of teachers and school districts shifting the social study education system to what it has become.