The Meanings And Purpose Of Social Studies Integrating

To meet the challenge of the new 21st century and cultivate the students'qualities as citizens in the future, our country is executing a new curriculum reform. China's Education Department spreads integrated curriculum and sets up History and Society at middle schools, which is an integrated curriculum in humanities and social science focused on history education. As an integrated curriculum, curriculum structure is a crucial problem for History and Society and it dominates the function of education. Therefore, whether History and Society will succeed or not depends on its structure.But there still exist some problems in our social studies reform in middle schools. Two National History and Society Curriculum Standards with different curriculum structures have been published, but some confusion lie in the new curriculum experiment. The relation between History and Society and its neighbor curricula is in criterion disorder. Social studies in China is apparently lacking in some pattern compared with America's and Japan's. Therefore doing research on the curriculum structure in social studies will be extremely important for both the theory developing and the new curriculum reform practice in China.As an integrated curriculum in humanities and social science, History and Society comes into being with the interdisciplinarity and integration developing of humanities and social science, which must have a direct and grand influence on the curriculum structure in History and Society. What's more, History and Society is set up on the basis of philosophy, psychology and sociology. Their study of curriculum integration and such curriculum patterns as discipline-centered, student-centered and society-centered also have brought about an important influence on the curriculum structure in History and Society.We must penetrate the appearance to perceive the essence on the curriculum structure in History and Society. Not only the curriculum structure in History and Society but also the whole structure in social studies should be taken into account. So there are three types of basic characteristics such as integrity, hierarchy and diversity on the curriculum structure in social studies. Moreover there is a close relation between curriculum structure, curriculum goal and curriculum's function. As an integrated curriculum, we may sum up three curriculum patterns such as discipline-centered, student-centered and society-centered in social studies. If the curriculum structure in History and Society is based on these patterns, we will deepen the study on curriculum structure and promote the new curriculum implement.The surveys on the curriculum structure in History and Society include questionnaires, interviews by scheme design, implement, result discussion and conclusion. To sum up, we have had an obvious improvement on our reform in social studies since 1990s. At the same time some problems exist on the curriculum structure in History and Society. We make the surveys, searching for the successful experience and shortcoming, and then we will put forward reform and optimizing strategies on the curriculum structure in History and Society. In this way, we will combine the theory and the new curriculum implement.America is the first country in the world to set social studies curriculum in elementary and middle schools. In our view, there exist three curriculum patterns such as discipline-centered (History-Social science), student-centered (Thematic Strands) and society-centered (Social Science) in social studies in America. We have constructed two curriculum patterns since 1990s. The new curriculum project in social studies in Shanghai is of society-centered and the National History and Society Curriculum Standards made by National Educational Department in China are of discipline-centered. We will widen and deepen the study on the curriculum structure in History and Society comparing our curriculum structure in social studies with America's. To solve the curriculum structure problems in History and Society, We should not only optimize curriculum elements and curriculum organization in History and Society, but also optimize the relation between History and Society and its neighbor subjects in social studies. The optimizing strategies are as follows: establishing the core concepts in History and Society, combining the two National History and Society Curriculum Standards, making curriculum integration in social studies, making Grade 1-12 Curriculums in social studies. There are three ensured strategies: setting up a national institution in social studies in China, building curriculum evaluation system in social studies, linking our successful experience with advanced theory abroad.