Teaching social studies to young children (birth through age 8)

Teaching social studies to young children (birth through age 8)

Introduction

Research shows that study of social sciences in young children has a significant effect on the cognitive skills and has affective participatory results (Claire, 2012). Children develop a sense of identity and it has an influence on the ways they understand different communities they are connected with. Early childhood development has three major parts, physical, cognitive and emotional growth (Berk, 2000). The cognitive development is about the mental process such as problem solving, language and memory. There are three age categories in which a child's development is divided in. The first stage is between birth till 3 of infants and toddlers, next comes the preschoolers between the ages of 3 to 5 and the last one is about the children that go in junior grades aged 6 till 8. At each of these stages the requirements are different of the children and they should be dealt with accordingly (Jennifer, 2009).

Literature Review

2 toys around the world

The book “Social Studies in Today's Early Childhood Curricula” uses concept of using toys for the development of children. This book emphasizes the use of toys in the development of children. The practice of increasing the development of children is influenced by many child development theories. The theories and concept in this book describes an orderly way of statements that describe and predict behavior . The four broad perspectives that act as a guide for the early childhood development with the use of toys may be the behaviorism, cognitive, socio-cultural and ecological systems theory. They are able to help children learn about their culture and family, the cultures around the world, geography, history and a lot more. Further, to develop an understanding as to how people create and change structures of power and governance. A small number of books that are present according to age appropriateness are as follows: Adelita: A Mexican Cinderalla Story by Tomie dePaola. 2002,Building a House by Byron Barton. 1990 Age's 3-6, Castles, Caves, and Honeycombs by Linda Ashman, illus. by Lauren Stringer. 2001. Ages 3-8. Therefore, it is important to demonstrate what the appropriate teaching styles are for these children in the early years. The answer to this question depends on the ages of children and their stage of development. The main advantage of the social studies is to fulfill the educational needs of the society. The main focus of the elementary schools is reading, writing and arithmetic.

2 alphabets books

The alphabet books “Alphabet Books Can Be Used With Fluent Readers and Writers” and “John Agard's The Calypso Alphabet” show the civics and demography and help children to grow by understanding the concepts of alphabets. Both books are showing different cultures and help in the development of the children. The first book is reflecting the English group and second book is reflecting the Hispanics groups of children. The incorporation of children's literature which may include both fiction and non-fiction will provide ...