Page 182 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

154 Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students
(2002) as part of a three-volume series, Social Studies Excursions. Discussions of their involvements with these groups and institutions can help them begin to appreciate ideas such as roles and tensions that exist among individuals, groups, and institutions (e.g., time demands and conflicting schedules can create role conflicts for children trying to simultaneously keep up with their schoolwork, play on both soccer and hockey teams in youth sports leagues, take piano lessons and keep up with practice expectations, and complete the chores expected of them at home).
Children also can understand and profit from discussion of certain aspects of macro- level social phenomena that come up in history or current events (e.g., discrimination and equity issues as they relate to women and minorities; conflict over laws or political policies between groups representing different economic or value positions). Learning basic information about conflicts over issues such as minimum wage laws or environ- mentally sensitive mining or forestry operations can help students to appreciate the fact that different people have conflicting vested interests in these issues and tend to join organizations that lobby in support of their interests. Classroom debates about such issues can be valuable learning experiences, especially if they are scaffolded to ensure that all students become well informed about both sides of the issue.
The NCSS (2010) Curriculum Standards identify several recommended activities relat- ing to individuals, groups, and institutions. In one, second graders working in small groups brainstorm issues of concern within their community, identify organizations in the community that address that concern, and then develop ideas about how they can become personally involved with these efforts. In another, an early elementary teacher addresses community concerns during a class meeting. The class decides to collect school supplies and fill donated backpacks for students living in the shelter designated by their school’s “Giving Tree” project. In another, the teacher introduces her third graders to the concept of role through studies of an ant farm and bee hive, then has them apply the concept through analyzing the roles (and related behavioral expectations) played out by themselves and others in situations they experience in and out of school.
To teach about tensions between individuals and social or governmental institutions, a fourth grade teacher used biographical readings and research to acquaint students with civil rights and social acceptance groundbreakers such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie Robinson, Amelia Earhart, and Cesar Chavez, calling attention to the obstacles they had to overcome and the approaches they used in doing so. Recommended activities for the middle grades included learning about and then creating political cartoons to represent group or institutional conflict and researching historically noteworthy groups involved in such conflict (e.g., the labor movement, the Ku Klux Klan).
We believe that instruction about social and political organizations and institutions should occur within a context of emphasis on values basic to preserving a healthy democratic society. Although it is understandable and appropriate for different groups to pursue the agendas of most importance to them, conflicts need to be bounded by concern for the common good and protection of everyone’s rights. A related principle is that, where possible, leaders should develop negotiated solutions that are acceptable to as many stakeholders as possible rather than thinking in terms of battles in which winners will impose their will on losers. Finally, it is worth helping students to recognize that although voluntary group membership usually brings many benefits to participants, it also can create conflicts when the leadership or the majority of group members favor a policy that differs with one’s interests or values. In these cases, one must decide whether to “go along to get along” or to opt out of that activity or even from a group. Most children experience these conflicts periodically, outside if not inside school (as when their friendship group is contemplating doing something immoral, illegal, or dangerous).
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