Historical Evolution Of American Elementary School Social Studies And Reflection

As we all know, the United States was the first country to open Social Studies inelementary education in the world. The history of Social Studies has been almost100years since it started in1916. In the process of its development, the Americanelementary Social Studies has been supported by a mature theoretical basis and hasformed a complete curriculum system, which has had a significant impact on manycountries and regions in the world. Marching into the new century, with thetransformation of society, advancement of education as well as the changing of theinternational environment, the American elementary Social Studies shows a variety ofchanges. American experience in proper handing related issues in the process of itsSocial Studies reform is worth learning from.In China, the Social Studies is a relatively "new" curriculum in our elementaryeducation system. National Board of Education formally set up Social Studies in1988.The local experiments of Social Studies officially launched in1992. Moral and SocialStudies Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education in2003started a new roundof elementary Social Studies reform. Thus, it is obviously that Moral and SocialStudies has been set up shortly, so teachers are confronted with many perplexities overits teaching ideal and teaching behavior. In the course of theoretical and practical level,it is extremely necessary to explore and study the Social Studies.Selecting American elementary Social Studies as the topic, the purpose of thethesis is to analysize the evolution of the American elementary Social Studies byinternational comparison. After studying the background of Social Studies reform, thebasic ideas and characteristics, contributions and limitations, it is of great importanceto explore their experiences we can learn for the construction and development ofChina’s elementary Social Studies. The thesis is divided into four parts.The first part discusses the beginning of Social Studies in American elementaryeducation. Civic education in the19th is predecessor of Social Studies. With thetransformation of American society in the early20th century, the development of capitalist industry and the need of immigrants Americanization forced the existingcivic education to reform. Meanwhile, the late19th and early20th century, the UnitedStates launched a progressive education movement, which has a significant impact onthe U.S. basic education curriculum reform. As part of the reform achievements,elementary Social Studies, designed to train students to learn how to survive andadapt to a democratic society, was born.The second part focuses on the New Social Studies Education Campaign. TheNew Social Studies Movement in the late1950s to60’s is the first Social Studiesreform since it was established in1916. In the1950s, the Sputnik launching usheredin America to train high-tech talent for American science in the race to keep up withthe Soviet Union. Under the guidance of Bruner’s structural curriculum theory, theelementary Social Studies in U.S. was no longer concentrate on current social issuesin order to help students adapt to the changing social life, but to teach rationaldisciplines to develop the students’ rational thinking ability. Pragmatism andutilitarianism dominate the Social Studies tendency in that period.The third part talks about the elementary Social Studies in curriculum standardsmovement in U.S.. In1980s, the new challenges faced by the United States were notfrom the crisis of the military or ideological differences, but from the economicpressure coming from global economic competition. The reform of American SocialStudies education in this period was impacted by economic liberalism and politicalconservatism. In effect, Essentialism education philosophy dominated Americaneducation reform, sparking a Social Studies curriculum reform movement called“back to the basic”.The fourth part gives emphasis on the reflection of American Elementary SocialStudies reform. Throughout its history, the American elementary Social Studiesexperienced a process of "social life adjustment-intellectual development-all-rounddevelopment". Due to the "pendulum" phenomenon, there are several controversialrelationships, for example, whether the curriculum value-oriented is the socialimprovement or personal development, course structure is subject-center or society-center, education philosophy is progressive curriculum paradigm oressentialism curriculum paradigm, all of which promote the development of Americanelementary Social Studies curriculum.