Dive Brief:
- Education officials in Connecticut are considering adopting a new social studies curriculum that pushes critical thinking over rote memorization.
- While the Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Framework cannot be imposed on districts, the state's Department of Education is considering adopting it as the official model.
- The new curriculum represents the biggest changes to Connecticut's social studies framework in 15 years.
Dive Insight:
The new social studies curriculum has been seen by some as an extension of the highly polarizing Common Core State Standards. Stephen Armstrong, a former social studies teacher who is now a social studies consultant at the state Department of Education, explained to the Associated Press that the changes in the curriculum represent the morphing responsibilities of social studies as a subject. “I think what’s happened in the last five, six years is that social studies teachers are not just conveyers of content but also teachers of literacy skills as well,” he said. “That’s a fundamental change.”
Many social studies teachers use stories of history as a vehicle to teach lessons on point of view, opinion versus fact, and a slew of critical thinking skills commonly associated with English Language Arts subjects.
