24 September 2018

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.

Programme

• • 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.

  • Since the last report classes Social Sciences has been incorporated into learning programmes. For example Literacy programmes, discovery, clubs programmes.

Programme - 2018

• • Term 1 : Whanaungatanga- Identity/ Pepeha, developing class culture

  • Term 2 : Manaakitanga/ Kaitiakitanga

  • Term 3 : Hauora/ Kotahitanga

  • Term 4 : Community Involvement including Tanga cards

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.

Assessment Procedures

• • We do not have standardized assessment of this curriculum area. In terms of assessment, we use more informal assessments such as observations, conversations and classroom documentation to gauge and document the student’s learning. This is so that teachers can be guided by what the students interests are.

Trend Analysis

• • It is difficult to determine a trend analysis with no formal assessment being collected however we know that when social science is woven into Literacy/Numeracy programmes that it creates more authentic contexts for learning that the children relate to and respond to.

Students and Groups of Students at risk

• • In general terms it tends to be the students who become disengaged and have tendency to at times distract others that are at risk.  This can be overcome by careful choice of learning contexts.

Teaching and learning strategies to address the above

• • Teachers are always seeking strategies to engage, interest and allow lessons to flow by following children’s interests, cultural background and choice of texts and contexts for learning.  Taking learning outside is often a good strategy, pair share learning, small group activities, personalised programmes and excited teachers all help.

Looking Ahead

• • Teachers will continue to seek opportunity to connect Social Science with children’s interests,  outdoors, cultural background, Literacy and Numeracy programmes. We will seek new ways of teaching boys in particular who enjoy the outdoors and find ways to weave Social Science into their daily learning programmes as appropriate.