1509 Social Sciences - 16 September 2015

16 September 2015

Curriculum Report – Social Sciences

Focus

The Social Sciences is about how people in a society work and contribute to the world.  It considers the roles and responsibilities of members of a society.  Study in this area gives students an understanding of their role in society and how their actions can affect and impact on the world.  Students engage with societal issues through active reflection and evaluation as they explore social, economic, political and environmental practices.  In order to understand themselves, students need to understand their place in society and how society impacts on their own lives.

The study of the Social Sciences at our school involves an understanding of yourself, your place in your community and your culture.  It provides opportunities to study topics related to the local community and encourages students to respectfully utilise traditional and contemporary Maori contexts. Students will be encouraged to draw on their own cultural experiences to make connections with the context being studied. Our unique school environment should provide for rich authentic contexts for learning in social sciences.  The social science programme gives the students rich, meaningful and relevant experiences to develop and enhance their view of the world.

Thinking


Relating To Others

Using Language, Symbols and Texts

Managing Self

Participating and Contributing

Programme

Above are the overarching themes our teachers have been guided by. Teachers provide experiences to provoke curiosity within but not limited to these themes. Learning is based on student interest and questions that they have.

Some of the areas covered in classes have been:

Pepeha, whanaungatanga, Kindness to others, managing self, whanau, all about me. Places that are special to us, Who we are- Pepeha, Our community - what we like about it and people who help us/look after it. Matariki - old vs new, what it meant for people a long time ago and what it means to us now.

Students will understand how cultural practices reflect and express people’s customs, traditions and values. This was an integral part of our Manaakitanga, Kaitiakitanga focus in term 2. Zero waste, Kaitiakitangi and looking after our surrounding environments e.g classroom, school, town etc

Marae protocol, kapa haka and waiata, patterning and design, then moving into carving in term 3. Using traditional patterning in our art work culminating in designing and carving our class tokotoko. Class participation and group participation in the school kapa haka group for the cultural festival.

Selected reading texts and follow up activities that relate to social justice or different cultures and times.

Assessment Procedures

Looking Ahead