Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject, students should have developed knowledge and understanding about the need for and value of social education in the primary school curriculum; the role of the social science disciplines in social education; major concepts and generalisations in social education; key elements of knowledge, skills and values as they apply to the social education curriculum; competing traditions and movements within social education, in particular the national curriculum movement and the new State Curriculum and Standards Framework series; effectiveness of different teaching strategies, particularly inquiry learning, classroom climate, cooperative groupings and evaluation strategies. Students should have developed skills which will enable them to develop a social education rationale; demonstrate understanding of social education curriculum by developing a teaching unit for a primary school grade; construct, teach and evaluate the effectiveness of a sequence of social education lessons. Students should have developed values or attitudes for social studies programs in the primary school to make understandings about their own society accessible to all students; students to participate effectively in society and the need for a defensible value system in order for students to achieve this; developing confidence in their ability to develop, teach and evaluate primary social education programs.
Synopsis This subject focuses on three broad areas - the individual, the broader society and the global society - and thereby provides opportunities for students to develop an appreciation of contemporary personal and social issues and priorities, and an understanding of appropriate skills and strategies to introduce these issues into the primary school classroom. The subject attempts to make students aware of the integrated nature of human relations and provides them with the relevant teaching strategies for developing the three key areas: the individual, the wider community, and the global community. Relevant theorists and recent research findings will be discussed. An associated school-based semester program provides students with the opportunity to increase their understanding of the lecture material by carrying out related tasks and discussing their findings with other students and teachers at the seminars.
Assessment Each component has its own assessment based on the following percentages + Assignment, fieldwork, peer teaching, journal tasks: 75% + Test: 15%