Inside the social studies classroom

Introduction

Prior research on primary social studies

Generic aspects of our instructional units

Using narrative to build a content base

Structuring the curriculum around big ideas

Developing big ideas about history

Developing big ideas about geography

Developing big ideas about the social sciences

Using instructional resources

Making connections and avoiding undesired content

Introducing new knowledge bases

Developing knowledge bases through structured discourse

Using questions to develop content with the whole class

Scaffolding for individual students within whole-class lessons

Activities and assessments.