A Study On Values Education In Social Studies Curriculum Of The United States

In modern times,all kinds of thoughts and cultures emerge,exchange and encounter around the world,and the values and concepts of our citizens plural,diverse,and changeable.How to build values consensus of the citizens in the complex international environment and pluralistic ethos is a great challenge that needs urgent resolution.As John Dewey points out,the school is the primary tool for values education.In the past or present,being the specialized social institution,the school bears the principal function of propagating the mainstream values of a society and is the site for educating values in a systematical and planned way.In K-12 period in American shcools,social studies work as the main curriculum for values education with the trinity system of standards,contents and teaching strategies,which is worth for us learning and researching upon.Based on the Marxist standpoint,viewpoint and approach and guided by dialectical materialism and historical materialism,this dissertation focuses on how K-12 schools in the US make use of social studies curriculum to explore key educational elements,permeate educational thoughts,and implement educational activities in its values education system;analyzes the teaching strategies and approaches of values education in a multi-dimensional way;summarizes the characteristics and grasps the laws;reveals and criticizes the class nature embedded in it;and explores the enlightenment of core socialist values integrating into fundamental education.According to the overall thinking above,the dissertation contains 5 chapters as follows:Chapter one studies on some basic notions and relationship of social studies curriculum and values education in order to clarify the premise and theoretical issues related to the topic.Firstly,define the connotations of values and American values education in this study,understand and grasp the “existence and consciousness” of values education,state the inner and essential link between social studies curriculum and values education,and interpret that social studies curriculum is the main channel and important carrier to conduct values education and propagate the mainstream values of the US during K-12 period.Secondly,review and retrospect the four historical periods in the social studies development,and present the current situation of social studies curriculum in the US based on some data.Chapter two researches on the social studies standards in the US,in order to grasp the blueprint of social studies education from a broader view.Firstly,explore the educational laws,acts,policies and reports to understand the requirements and top-level design from the federal government,and reveal that the top-level and overall design for values education in the legislative,judicial and executive system in the US.Secondly,analyze the social studies standards in different level,including the national standard,state standards,and standards issued by professional organizations.For national standard,interpret The College,Career,and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics,Economics,Geography,and History(C3 Framework).For state standards,conduct a case study of standards in California,New York,Illinois and try to analyze how different states make use of the national standards considering their local conditions.For standards issued by professional organizations,take National Standards for History by National Center for History in the Schools and National Standards for Civics and Government by Center for Civic Education,so as to explain the educational goal of different subjects among social studies.Finally,understand the ideological nature and values orientation of social studies curriculum based on the analysis of the standards.Chapter three focuses on the contents of social studies curriculum based on the analysis of textbooks.Firstly,state some relevant systems of textbook publication and selection in the US,and reveal that textbooks reflect and embody the ideology of a society.Secondly,select six textbooks currently used in middle and high schools to make a text analysis,and then summarize the contents of social studies as follows,political values education focusing on freedom and equality;social values education focusing on fairness and justice;personal values education focusing on responsibility and strenuousness;and cultural values education national identity and pluralistic culture.Additionally,make a literature review of theoretical research on values orientation of curriculum contents from the perspective of sociology,and try to understand the essential and inevitable connection between curriculum and ideology and mainstream values proposed by the government and society.By presenting the specific contents in the textbooks,dig out the ideology embedded within.Chapter four studies on the teaching strategies of social studies in practice.Firstly,combine the literature review and filed study of teaching practices of socials studies,and explore the following popular approaches: inquiry,controversial issue discussion,simulation and service learning,analyze the participatory,democratic,reflexivity,and collaborative values and spirit,which is consistent with the educational goals of values education.Secondly,research on how social studies teachers,the leaders of values education,convey values through their own behaviors and conduct.Analyze the professional ethics described in National Standards for Social Studies Teachers,namely,convey values,promote civic consciousness and engagement,cultivate reflection,critical thinking and collaboration of students,and create respecting,inclusive,and real teaching environment,so as to explain the leading role played by social studies teachers in values education.Chapter five studies on the characteristics and enlightenment of values education embedded in social studies.Firstly,summarize the main features of social studies education.For curriculum structure,the vertical and horizontal dimension forms a comparatively complete and comprehensive system.For teaching strategies,classroom teaching combines with extracurricular activities;for the nature of the curriculum,it deeply reflects the ideology preferred by the government and mainstream values advocated by the society,briefly,it is based on the value judgment of the US and highlighten the values of western culture.Finally,try to grasp the laws of social studies education and present enlightenments to ideoligcal and political education in China,that is,to strengthen the ideological dominance,reinforce the coherence of curriculum in primary,middle,secondary and higher education,explore and emphasize hidden curriculum in teaching practice,and construct professional ethics specially for teachers in ideological and political education.