ABSTRACT
Children come to understand a domain at least in part because they develop schema or frames of reference through meaningful engagement with specific content. Curricular patterns have been subject to increasing criticism for a number of reasons. Some critics have argued that declining test scores reflect curricular inattention to social studies content. In studies of young children’s thinking in disparate domains as friendship, biology, number, and measurement, knowledge acquisition is seen as dependent on the acquisition of specific concepts and integrations of these concepts, rather than on the child’s logical capabilities per se. Teachers structure the content of history and its appearance in the classroom most powerfully through the tasks that they set for students. The children engaged in a variety of extension activities linked with reading, writing, and math, and dependent on participation and cooperation. The children sometimes bring up historical problems related to concerns—racism, usually.
