Toddlers, Educational, Games

The Evidence Base for Social Studies: Social Studies in Elementary Education What We Know According to Seif, there has never been a greater need for social studies programs to prepare students for the future (2003). At a time when a meaningful social studies program is crucial at every level, Seif finds data indicating a reduced emphasis on social studies during the elementary school years (2003). Evangelina Jones, Valerie Ooka and James Rodriquez go as far as to state that social studies is an invisible subject in many elementary classrooms (2001). William Galston’s research provides hard evidence for these statements: between 1988 and 1998 the proportion of fourth-grade students who reported taking social studies daily fell from 49% to 39% (2003, p. 9). Seixas adds that social studies is not seen as a serious or challenging subject by many elementary school teachers and students (2001, p. 550). Elementary social studies education is important as it provides students the ability to: Two goals of social studies programs are identified in Sunal’s research.