Why You Should Be Using Themes to Teach Social Studies in the Elementary Classroom
Have you ever thought about using themes to teach Social Studies?
Do you already use a thematic approach to planning your instruction?
For many years (and possibly still presently for some teachers), standards for Social Studies have been written chronologically. They’ve been fact-focused and history-heavy. We’ve taught units named things like “Civil War” or “American Revolution”. Sound familiar?
My students struggled to find relevance in these units at times. Many struggled to see how events and dates and “key people” from years ago mattered to their lives today.
Do your students resonate with this, too?
Maybe you can even personally connect with that feeling.
If we want our students (and ourselves) to see why Social Studies matters, might we rethink the way we’re teaching?
Enter: a thematic approach to teach Social Studies.
Some state standards are slowly shifting towards thematic instruction already, but that’s certainly not the case everywhere (including in my own state). And, even if it is the case in your state, you might be wondering how to make the shift from the way you learned history chronologically to this new way of learning through themes.
Don’t stress - it’s not as overwhelming as it may sound. You can work themes in without reworking everything. Let’s take a look.
THEMES HIGHLIGHT PATTERNS AND CONNECTEDNESS
We (and our students, too) tend to often think of Social Studies as the memorization of facts, dates, and events. Our standards often tell us it’s important to memorize things like April 19, 1775 as the date on which the American Revolutionary War began or Abraham Lincoln as the 16th United States President.
I’m not arguing that this information is insignificant, but in isolation, what does it matter? This is exactly why focusing on themes over facts can make a world of a difference in helping your students see the significance of Social Studies.
When we stop trying to narrow in on memorizing facts, we can zoom out to look at the bigger picture. We look for the connectedness between time, events, and people. We begin to see patterns and trends across time and history. These are called themes.
FROM TIME PERIODS TO THEMES
We can all agree that time is precious and limited, right? If your state isn’t an early adopter of thematic-based instruction in Social Studies, you likely don’t have the time, energy, or capacity to rework or rearrange the entire curriculum on your own.
Be encouraged that you can take manageable steps towards weaving in themes throughout your instruction. You can still meet the required standards and teach the same topics, but you can shift the lens through which students view the events.
As one history teacher puts it, teaching Social Studies with a thematic approach pushes students to “journey from the past to the present more than ten times”. (1) This is where the learning becomes meaningful: when your students can see how what happened in the past matters to them today. That’s where we all want to land, right?
Let’s take a look at what the 5th grade Social Studies units for my state looked like a few years ago → then consider how the same topics could be shifted into themes.
American Revolutionary War → Conflict & Peace
Civil War → Conflict & Peace
Reconstruction After the Civil War → Government & Power
Westward Expansion → Movement & Identity
Industrial Revolution → Ideas & Technology & Growth
Immigration → Movement & Identity
World War I → Conflict & Peace
Roaring 20’s and the Great Depression → Economics
World War II → Conflict & Peace
Civil Rights → Freedom & Change
Cold War → Conflict & Peace
Modern America → Citizenship & Growth
Do you see a pattern? The themes connect across different time periods.
Let’s talk about an example of how this mindset shift might play out for a particular unit.
Instead of thinking about World War I in isolation, we can move students to look at multiple large-scale conflicts together to better understand each one. They can then think about the war’s impact on today’s world, as well as the collective impact of other wars. They can think about wars that are happening around the world today. They can consider what it means for people to live in a time of war and what it means to live in a time of peace. They can dig into what “peace” looks like for a nation and how there might be conflict even without war. They can look at what “peace” looked like prior to and after the wars.
Do you see how you can shift away from looking at events in history in insolation and towards looking for bigger picture themes that bring more meaning?
WHAT NEXT?
What if my state standards aren’t organizing Social Studies units thematically?
Maybe you’re ready to take steps towards using themes to teach Social Studies, but your state standards aren’t there yet. Don’t despair.
The best place to start would be to first consider what flexibility your school and district do offer to you. Within that, discuss and collaborate with teachers in your grade level and district to work through possible themes that you can weave in.
There is not a single list of themes that all agree upon.
Make a list of the units you plan to teach this year in Social Studies. Make a list of some of the key events and people covered in each unit.
Think about some of the themes listed above. The National Council for the Social Studies has an extensive list of themes that you can read through here. Match themes from that list to your units.
As you teach each unit, make a point to identify the theme(s) with students.
Consider creating a display on your wall that showcases the connections between themes and content of each unit.
What else can I do if my state standards are organizing Social Studies units around themes?
You’re primed and ready to bring in Essential Questions. Using Essential Questions, which I’ll share more about in another post, promotes even further critical thinking by pushing students to dig into the overarching themes to see connectedness.