K-12 SOCIAL STUDIES GOALS & OBJECTIVES

Mission Statement
The mission of the K-12 Social Studies Program at the Pennridge School District is to prepare our students to be responsible, productive citizens with the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.

RATIONALE
The world is changing with trends such as:
a)    new information can be produced and gathered with increasing speed;
b)    economic interdependence is global, accelerated by new technologies;
c)    having several different occupations during one's lifetime;
d)    increased mobility in where you live, work and recreate;
e)    the tension between increased multiculturalism and nationalism;
f)     occupations requiring more integration of skills and knowledge from various disciplines
g)    technology and information as a basis of wealth and power:
h)    new personal pressures and social conflicts different from those faced in the past.

We must prepare our students to understand and be able to adapt to these trends and others, which will occur during their lifetime.

The social studies program will use the community and students' families as partners in "providing the opportunity for all students to become productive citizens with the necessary skills for life-long learning."  Thinking and research skills will be vital in the future to sort out needed knowledge, then apply it to make rational decisions for your own life and for the common good of society.  Social studies education aims to develop students who will be informed consumers, contributing producers and law-abiding citizens of a multicultural, democratic society within an interdependent world.

Social studies is about humanist history, behavior, beliefs and how they live in different environments.  Social studies must be the integrated study of the social sciences (history, geography, political science, economics, sociology, psychology and anthropology) and the humanities in order to promote civic competency.  A just and humane society can be developed if students learn how to think rationally in addressing social problems and how to be active participants for social justice in a multicultural, democratic society.  Therefore, social studies is most useful when it is taught in a meaningful, integrative, challenging and active way.

The ten themes of the National Council for the Social Studies will be used to identify and organize the key facts, concepts and generalizations which our students will be expected to learn.

K-12 Goals and Objectives
GOAL 1:	Students will acquire the basic knowledge of the social sciences in order to understand and respect the interrelationships of human events, behaviors, beliefs and accomplishments of the past and present (facts, concepts and generalizations).
1.1	Students will identify and apply the key facts, concepts and generalizations of the major events, groups and individuals in the historical development of the United States and Pennsylvania, and the themes and patterns of historical development.
1.2	Students will identify and apply the key facts, concepts and generalizations of the major geographical, economic, and cultural patterns in the United States and throughout the world.
1.3	Students will identify and apply the key facts, concepts and generalizations of the political and governmental history and structure of the United States and of comparative world systems.
1.4	Students will identify and apply the key facts, concepts and generalizations about the interdependence of individual and group dynamics, both past and present.
1.5	Students will identify and explain examples of forces that promote or impede social justice.
GOAL 2:	Students will gain the ability to research, analyze and process information about the political, economic, cultural, and environmental aspects of societies of the past, present and future.
2.1	Students will use the research skills to acquire, organize and critically evaluate information.
2.2	Students will gather information from various sources such as maps, people, electronic, on-line, audio-visual, primary sources, and reference books.
2.3	Students will use the inquiry methods and concepts of the various social sciences in order to examine and evaluate problems facing citizens in their families, communities, state, nation and world.
2.4	Students will identify and formulate meaningful research questions and devise appropriate research strategies.
2.5	Students will present information in various modes such as written, oral , role-playing, artistic/graphic, and multimedia.
GOAL 3:	Students will use a variety of thinking skills to make informed and rational decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society within the context of a global community.
3.1	Students will demonstrate the ability to utilize various thinking skills such as the Buck County I.U. and NCSS Curriculum Standards listings, and our Thinking and Research Overlap grid developed for integrated, thematic units.
3.2	Students will apply a multi-step decision-making process to questions involving social and ethical dilemmas.
3.3	Students will use metacognition skills to reflect on their own thinking, academic work and decisions, which they made.
3.4	Students will develop dialectic reasoning skills such as debating, writing position papers, and being an advocate for a worthy cause.
GOAL 4:	Students will develop, demonstrate and evaluate personal beliefs and attitudes based on their awareness of a variety of belief systems in our pluralistic, global community.  Students will demonstrate their personal beliefs and attitudes by a) acting upon them; b) showing respect and tolerance; and c) making a personal commitment.
4.1	Students will present evidence of how our nation's basic civic principles such as common good, rule of law, democratic rule, freedom and equality affect current issues facing individual citizens, their communities, nation and the world.
4.2	Students will judge how the American economic system affects their lives.
4.3	Students will analyze how the history and nature of prejudice in the United States affects American society and their own lives.
4.4	Students will demonstrate how the United States, as a multicultural society, can strive to maintain and enhance its civic principles in a rapidly changing, pluralistic, global community.
4.5	Students will develop and defend their own positions on current issues.
GOAL 5:	Students will apply the knowledge and skills necessary for responsible, active participation in our democratic society, and in social or work groups.
5.1	Students will demonstrate the ability to work effectively in social and work groups.
5.2	Students will demonstrate the skills of negotiating and cooperating with others.
5.3	Students will apply dialectic reasoning skills to actively participate in school, work and/or civic groups.
5.4	Students will communicate information, ideas and personal beliefs effectively through writing, speaking and technology as active, responsible citizens.
5.5	Students will demonstrate civic responsibility through school, community and/or global involvement.

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