BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes

BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes: The status of social studies in BEd Pedagogy of Social Science is an important part of the core curriculum, In this Blog, A2zNotes.com Provide you with the Best Definition of What are the reasons which point to the importance of social studies in modern India.

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The Status of Social Studies

An important part of the core curriculum, Social studies is taught as a part of the study of the environment in classes I and II and as the independent subject of social studies in subsequent classes. Environmental studies include both natural and social environments in classes I and II. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)

The term social studies rather than the social sciences will be used at the primary stage. To be taught up to primary classes Social Studies represents a broad and composite instructional area drawing the information from different social sciences such as History, Geography, Civics, etc. to unfold the total environment of the child

Gradually with reference to the physical, social and cultural elements. It uses an integrated approach. It builds on the experiences of the child before he comes to school Social studies branches out to ever-expanding horizons to include the id For classes VI to VIII, the Social studies program is composed of separate courses in Indian History, the Geography of India, and the world, and Elementary cs. In classes IX and X various subjects will be taught as independent disciplines, followed by the integrated approach.

Systematic learning of the middle stage will be made use of recognizing the ability of the older children at This stage to relate ideas to meaningful concepts and then to make generalizations, to act “courageously and with integrity….consistent with democratic ideals and processes.” (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)

Why not Separate Subjects At the Secondary School Stage?

For the past several years there has been a steady movement against the separate teaching of social subjects like history, geography, civics, economics, etc. at the secondary school stage, instead, a unified course of social studies is recommended to be introduced through the fusion of elements from various social sciences. The Social Studies course is built around a series of broad topics intended to introduce the young child to his physical and social environment.

Following are the reasons why should we not teach history, geography, civics, and economics separately at the secondary stage:

1. Same Social Concepts and Skills. As these subjects have the same social concepts and skills any knowledge given to school children in isolation cannot be easily understood and grasped by them. As children are not interested in disconnected ideas, offered by a number of subjects, it is better to give only a few important ideas, with all possible combinations. This will not over-burden the child with so many subjects. Therefore, a unified course of social studies is preferable to separate subjects.
2. General or Liberal Education. Up to secondary school, the stage is to give only general or liberal education. As this is the final or conclusive stage of education for the majority of children, therefore, the teacher should widen their vision and outlook on life as a whole, so that they may play an effective part as democratic citizens. This is possible only through an integrated course of social studies which includes the knowledge of physical, cultural, economic, social, and civic experiences of a man as well as the development of attitudes and skills. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
3. Need of Total Education. In former times the small communities provided the child with rich activities enabling him to learn the interpersonal relationships of the group. Through the daily experiences of his life, he became fully aware of the relationship that existed between himself and his environment. His family and his community gave him all the social education that he required.
   Today, our community has become larger and more complex due to various scientific inventions, developed means of communication and transport, and various other reasons. Family alone cannot provide that awareness of relationships that was done in the past. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
   Now the school has to provide what home and community provided in the past. “It has to provide total education-education for knowledge, for background, for standards, for awareness, for skills, for understanding, for culture, for making a contribution, for a sense of belonging, attitudes and for a proper orientation to the modern world.” All of this can be achieved through an integrated course in Social Studies (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
4. Need of Changed Outlook. When taught in isolation separate sciences like history, geography, civics, economics, and sociology fail to integrate the knowledge of the social problems of everyday life. The stud, hard-pressed under the burden of so many subjects and books, without me their utility in their daily life. They cannot acquaint themselves with the immediate problems of the nation, society, or the world which influence their life in one way or the other. Social sciences when taught separately, pro-only partial and limited knowledge. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
   History emphasizes only the performances of certain individuals in different periods. Geography, when taught in isolation describes only boundaries, locations, and names of important cities, mountains, oceans, and rivers without explaining their effect on human life. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
   Civics deal only with the structure and functions of government and not the Activities and functions of various social groups like the school, the family, the local community the village community, and the nation. Economics emphasizes only abstract theories and definitions and the ethics of earning and using wealth, not the social nature of the economic activity.
   The complexity of modern industrial economic and social life demands that the entire outlook must be changed. Starting with the present-day life of the man we must see how far he has learned to control or be controlled by the physical environment, and how far he has been successful in adapting himself to various occupations and various social situations. This is possible only through a unified course of Social Studies. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
5. Need of Enlightened Citizenship. More enlightened citizenship is the crying need of today. Our schools are called upon to build up a widespread interest in current affairs in pupils. It is not possible to give this knowledge only by means of isolated subjects. The content of today’s teaching must reflect current thought. It must be integrated with the actual problems of everyday life. This can be done by the unified course of Social Studies and not by separate subjects like history or geography.
6. Training of Practical Attitudes and Skills. Happold has rightly said, “Much of the literature, our students read, much of history and geography they learn, they will soon forget, what of value will remain? The ability to read with sense, the ability to speak and write sensitively and precisely, the ability to collect, sift and arrange various sorts of material, the ability to use books as a source both of information and of aesthetic pleasure, and the habit to think clearly and logically, in short, the acquisition of certain tools of learning and of certain skills are essential for every child today.”
   The unified course of Social Studies, through its content and methods, can alone emphasize and train such attitudes and skills. It cannot be done by the formal disciplines of history, geography, civics, etc.
7. Foundation of Later Specialisation. Only a unified course of Social Studies, at the secondary school stage, can make specialization in different subjects easy, at a later stage. It serves as a sure foundation on which the superstructure of specialization can be built. Therefore, a composite course of Social Studies, at the secondary school stage, is more useful than separate teaching of history, geography, civics, and economics.

Fundamental Postulates for Social Studies Course

1. Inter-disciplinary. As an interdisciplinary course, it draws its contents selectively from several other branches of knowledge and human experience. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
2. Applied. Social Studies is the applied form of Social Sciences, placed in the school curriculum to develop proper attitudes, sensibilities, and skills among future citizens. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
3. Scope. The scope of Social Studies is continuously growing, as the social W process and problems are changing from time to time. Its content must be revised de periodically. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
4. Pragmatic Approach. The approach of Social Studies in teaching is based on a pragmatic philosophy to serve the present needs of a particular society s and to help pupils to have a social adjustment in their future lives.
5. Field. The field of Social Studies covers the study of communities at a levels-local, regional, national and international, focusing on man and his social y, environment. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
6. Emphasis. The emphasis of Social Studies lies more on contemporary human life and its problems than on the past history of man. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
7. Materials. The materials of Social Studies are useful as a medium for general education at the school level so that pupils may learn them with sufficient ease and interest. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)

Social Studies provides situations in which school children may use related learnings in a functional and natural setting for the application and use of knowledge and basic skills in solving human problems. Thus, it may be used as a means of integrating various school activities and experiences. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)

The breadth, comprehensiveness, variety, and extension of learning experiences, provided through the teaching of Social Studies, make its scope as wide as the world and as long as the history of man on this earth. This may be seen in the following diagram and points.

1. Study of Human Relationship. Human relationships form the nucleus of social studies. These relationships may be studied under four main heads; (i) People and People, (ii) People and institutions, (iii) People and Earth, and (iv) People and Goods. Thus, Social Studies includes the study of those social sciences and humanities which can be applied for practical relationships. These are history, geography, and economics. civics literature, religion, and psychology.
   But Social Studies views as a compact whole. Their limitations are the process of synthesizing these subjects into a new field, blending them together, and making coordinated whole removes. While humanities tend to mal-humanize him. They describe the entire range of human history from time down to the latest moment and the widest reaches of contemporary society.

2. Functional Study of Natural Sciences. Social sciences and nature are interrelated. Recent advances in the fields of physical sciences, industry, and technology have revolutionized social life in all parts of These have extended man’s vision from family to neighbor neighborhood to town, from town to region, from region to nation beyond expanding the area of human relationship from local re, national level to international level. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
   Therefore, the functional study and physical sciences like physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, physiology, etc. are an important part of the social studies program. For example, while chemistry has helped to eradicate various diseases, history has helped chemists in providing past human experiences dealing with those diseases.
3. Functional Study of Fine Arts. The instructional program of Social Studies also includes the functional study of line arts like drawing, constructing painting, music, dance, and dramatization. These provide the content needed for a better understanding of people and the world. The functional approach of studies means that whatever factual material is obtained from various fields should have an immediate relationship to the needs and interests of children. Soda Studies includes something happening to pupils and teachers and not something studied by them.
4. Study of Current Affairs, Current affairs include those events we deal with the present problems and issues. As every current affair background in the past, it provides a great source of both his geographical learning. As important elements of social studies current make our historical and social learning concrete. They make us think about the social structure of the community and the effects of social forces in their making. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
   “Current affairs are of great significance in Social Studies as the curriculum.” value to represent an extension and exemplification of the major topic of the curriculum.”

5. International Understanding. Social Studies seek an international understanding of man. Narrow sectional, communal national claims should be discouraged. Its special purpose in spread a clear understanding of democracy and to secure the acceptance of the values on which it is based. Through united Studies Indian children must learn “Brotherhood of the individual has to act, react and interact in a social group, and according to social practices.
   Therefore, a child must be me his own needs, the needs of his society and the part he is es must be familiar with the significant problems of living together world. These problems range from the student’s inter-pers inter-group, inter-provincial and international relationships. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
6. Practical Study of Different Resources. The Social Studies instructional program also includes new elements like character education, civil rights, co-operatives, social behavior, intercultural relations, and planning. For this purpose, Social Studies must provide excursions and visits to different towns and places of historical, economic, geographical, cultural, scientific, and educational importance, utilization of library and community resources, art, and social service activities, debates, and dramatization, etc. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)
   Thus, the field of Social Studies includes the period prior to recorded history and also the foreseeable future. It draws its material from all social sciences and related disciplines as well as from literature, physical sciences, fine arts, and religion.

Thus, Social Studies provides a wide range of materials involving many skills and leading to generalizations. In the words of Nicholson and Wright, “Its scope is really very wide and its theme is the present social life of man, the world over.” But Social Studies course is not a limitless and fathomless ocean. It provides only an overall integrated outline of essential common knowledge so it draws only the functional knowledge from various subjects avoiding the material which has no bearing on social context. Its subject matter consists only of very simple and reorganized items of information and experience from various fields having a practical value in the daily lives of children. (BEd Pedagogy Status of Social Studies Study Material Notes)