ELM/536-CA-ONLY - Social Studies Content and Curricular Knowledge

Course Description

This course focuses on the pedagogy and assessment strategies that enhance inquiry learning in the social studies classroom. Content knowledge, interdisciplinary teaching, curriculum, and assessment are emphasized. Teacher candidates will focus on enhancing the meaning of social studies concepts, developing critical thinking skills to include the use of social studies in other disciplinary areas, and creating real-life experiences for all learners.

This version of the course is for California residents only. If you do not reside in California click here.

This graduate course is 6 weeks.

This course has a prerequisite. Please see details in the Prerequisite section below.

PLEASE NOTE:
Attendance and participation are mandatory in all university courses, and specific requirements may differ by course. If attendance requirements are not met, a student may be removed from the course. Please review the Course Attendance Policy in the Catalog for more information.

Course Objectives

Week 1

• Describe the importance of social studies instruction at the elementary level.       
• Analyze national and state social studies standards.      
• Examine major concepts for history, geography, civics and government, and economics. 
• Analyze the nature of citizenship education and its potential impact on students. 

Week 2

• Assess the importance of active learning in social studies.          
• Evaluate the use of primary and secondary sources in social studies instruction. 
• Explore ways to create engaging lesson plans and units for achieving curricular goals.    
• Describe the use of data from formative and summative assessments in planning.

Week 3            

• Examine the influence of cultural diversity on curriculum and lesson design.        
• Investigate methods for incorporating culturally responsive instruction in social studies.   
• Analyze methods for creating student-centered social studies instruction.
• Evaluate strategies for adapting instruction to meet the needs of culturally, academically, and linguistically diverse students.          

Week 4

• Investigate strategies for teaching social studies skills and concepts.      
• Investigate strategies for using inquiry to develop reasoning skills in a social studies context.       
• Analyze the use of current events and simulations in social studies education.     
• Evaluate methods for assessing student understanding in a social studies context.          

Week 5

• Analyze the connection between literacy and social studies content learning.       
• Investigate strategies for incorporating writing strategies to a social studies context.        
• Evaluate strategies for incorporating interdisciplinary teaching in social studies.   
• Create a social studies literacy-integrated unit plan that would help students develop critical thinking skills.

Week 6

• Assess ways to research and use school and community resources for social studies instruction. 
• Analyze the technological resources and tools that enhance learning in social studies instruction. 
• Investigate methods for evaluating the quality of media resources for use in social studies instruction.

Notes

Disclaimers

The University of Phoenix reserves the right to modify courses.

Although our continuing education for teacher’s courses are accepted by some state agencies in the United States toward teacher certifications and endorsements, this may not be the case in all states or foreign jurisdictions. If you plan to use courses for certification or endorsement, please check with your own state agency and your school district for applicability. Continuing education for teachers’ courses is not eligible to apply to degree programs at University of Phoenix. These courses are not eligible for federal financial aid.

Transferability of credit is at the discretion of the receiving institution. It is the student’s responsibility to confirm whether credits earned at University of Phoenix will be accepted by another institution of the student’s choice.

While widely available, not all programs are available in all locations or in both online and on-campus formats. More information about eligibility requirements, policies, and procedures can be found in the catalog or please check with a University Enrollment Representative.