Publication Title

Social Studies Research and Practice

K-5 Social Studies Content Standards: Investigating Critical Thinking for Informed Action

Authors

Oluseyi Matthew Odebiyi, St. Cloud State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-14-2021

Abstract

Reform efforts in social studies education such as the College Career, and Civic Life (C3) framework encourage students to consider civic engagement and action based on the understanding of real-life social issues. Few studies have, however, systematically examined the foundational documents representing the official state stance on content selection. Fewer studies have sought to understand the affordances and constraints in the depth of reasoning expected from young students in social studies elementary education. This study explored the dynamics of context-based critical thinking within the frame of states’ Kindergarten-5 social studies content standards in the U.S.A. Employing a quantitative content analysis approach, the results indicate complex variations in context-based critical thinking levels are required by the states’ content standards with an extensive orientation towards superficial contextual thinking. The study discusses the implications of the states’ K-5 standards expectations on engaging students in complex thinking. It provided a new lens to make sense of students’ context-based critical thinking as they relate to standard expectations.

Comments

This is a submitted version of a published work. The published version appeared in Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 203-217. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-05-2021-0010

Recommended Citation

Odebiyi, Oluseyi Matthew, "K-5 Social Studies Content Standards: Investigating Critical Thinking for Informed Action" (2021). Teacher Development Faculty Publications. 3.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/ed_facpubs/3

Creative Commons License

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