Social Studies

Social Studies Program Philosophy

Avon Grove social studies teachers are passionate about empowering our students to be responsible and informed citizens with the capacity to form logical arguments based on research and reasoning. Through an inquiry-based approach, students experience a culmination of learning about the past while developing an awareness of the present world. Through our social studies curriculum, students develop the future ready skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, character, citizenship, and creativity.

We will accomplish this by ensuring that students of all backgrounds are connected, accepted, and valued:

  • Connected to themselves, their classmates, educators, and the world.
  • Accepted for their diverse viewpoints, personal experiences, and learning styles.
  • Valued because of their unique identities as learners and their authentic experiences.

 

Social Studies Beliefs

 

  • We believe that all students must seek to understand diverse perspectives and acknowledge that perceptions of events are affected by varying demographics, belief systems, environments, and personal experiences.
  • We believe in preparing students to lead with questions rather than conclusions, deeply investigate multiple perspectives rather than a single source, and apply acquired knowledge rather than memorizing it for a test.
  • We believe in preparing students to respectfully exercise their voice in democracy, to know how to engage in productive discourse, and appreciate the unique qualities of others.
  • We believe in preparing students to become independent learners and critical thinkers while building the capacity for research, reasoning, and making logical arguments as active, responsible citizens locally, nationally, and globally.
  • We believe in emphasizing continuity and change to connect social studies past with the present and the future.
  • We believe our learning environments must be places where all students feel connected, accepted, and valued.

 

Social Studies Long Term Transfer Goals

 

Students will be able to:

  1. Understand and acknowledge varied perspectives through reading, listening, discourse, and collaboration as they apply to current and historical issues.
  2. Participate as an active citizen in a democratic society to solve authentic and relevant local and world problems.
  3. Use a variety of digital tools to critically appraise claims and analyze historical and contemporary issues while verifying the credibility of a source.
  4. Recognize and analyze the relationship between geography and people (society/civilizations) and the historical significance over time.
  5. Pose and pursue questions to better understand issues, make predictions, respectfully debate, and draw conclusions.
  6. Analyze the behaviors and relationships of individuals and groups and the allocation of resources in society.