Alleman, Janet & Brophy, Jere (2002)
Social Studies Excursions, K-3: Book Two Powerful Units on Communication, Transportation, and Family Life.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Social Studies Excursions, K-3: Book Two is the second in a planned three-volume series that provides plans for social studies units in Grades K-3. Each volume in the series will cover three or more cultural universals commonly covered in elementary social studies. Cultural universals are defined as " basic human needs and social experiences found in all societies, past and present." Book One covers units on food, clothing and shelter. This second volume covers units on communication, transportation and family life. Alleman and Brophy (both professors of education at Michigan State University) have been collaborating on research regarding what children know about these basic social studies topics for a number of years. The results of their research have informed the development of these unit plans, which the authors see as supplements or substitutions for primary level social studies textbooks. Additionally, Alleman and Brophy incorporate some science topics and integrate the language arts into these plans through writing and a focus on appropriate children's literature that enhances the child's experience of the topics covered. The authors provide substantial background for their content-based unit plans in Chapter 1 of both volumes currently in print, linking their approach to principles of teaching for understanding, appreciation and life application, and teaching for conceptual change. They acknowledge the National Council for the Social Studies standards on curriculum and powerful teaching and learning (http://www.ncss.org) as influential guidelines in the final form of these units.
Book Two follows the same structure as Book One with different cultural universals as the themes of the three units.
Chapter 1, Background: How and Why We Developed the Units, goes into considerable detail about the need for a substantial content base in primary grade social studies curriculum, summarizing current research and thinking about elementary social studies. The chapter also covers principles of teaching and NCSS and state standards for social studies that informed the development of the units; a summary of the six components common to each unit; and a description of the authors' approach to the development of elementary social studies units contrasting it with approaches that have been suggested by other researchers and curriculum developers in elementary social studies.
Chapter 2, Implementation: Preparing for and Teaching the Units, provides steps that are suggested as a teacher begins to plan for incorporating one or more of these units into a social studies curriculum. Steps offer detailed and specific suggestions, such as lengths of time to teach, frequency of teaching times during a week, advice on presenting particular types of activities within the units, etc. These steps are based on the experience of Barbara Knighton, who first taught these units and is listed as a contributor to the series, as well as on the experience of other teachers who used the units prior to publication. The role of parents and others in the child's home as partners in learning about the content of these units is emphasized.
Unit Sections: The remainder of the book is divided into three sections, covering a unit each on communication, transportation and family living. Each section contains an introduction where the major concepts of the subject content of the unit are laid out, along with information from the authors' research on the knowledge children bring to the classroom about the subject. Interview questions used in the research as well as summaries of children's responses to those questions are provided so that the teacher using this book begins with an understanding of what the students in his/her classroom may already know--understanding which can be built upon through the unit's activities. The introduction to each unit is followed by thirteen to fifteen lessons. Each lesson is further divided into Resources, Children's Literature, General Comments, General Purposes or Goals, Main Ideas to Develop, Teaching Tips from Barbara [Kingston], Starting the Lesson, Suggested Lesson Discussion (often with several options), Activity, Summarize, Assessment and Home Assignment. The home assignments include a sample letter to parents to send home with the child. Each lesson involves an activity that takes the students outside the classroom either during class or as part of the home assignment.
Alleman and Brophy have achieved their goal of providing content-rich units for elementary social studies units. The sequence of each unit builds from an examination of the cultural universal in terms of the today's U.S. society and builds back in time and outward to include other cultures' experiences with that universal. The unit sections are well laid out, with much practical advice to the teacher. The list of recommended children's literature for each lesson has been carefully selected, based on the authors' stated belief that children's literature must be carefully examined to ensure that it is not misleading and does not portray dated or stereotypical views. They recommend using non-fiction, rather than fiction, for most children's literature selections for these units. The volumes in this series are designed for the practicing primary grade teacher, as well as for teacher education programs. The strong emphasis on content is certainly in keeping with trends in teacher education to include more discipline-specific content in teacher education courses. Implementing all the units in the two volumes currently available would be a significant undertaking. However, as the authors suggest, implementing lessons within a unit can substantially enhance primary grade social studies curriculum. The two volumes available in the series are models of the integration of theory and practice. At a time when many schools of education are emphasizing the primary sources available on the Internet, some mention of these Web resources would make this volume and its companion truly comprehensive resources for the primary grade teacher interested in finding an alternative to elementary social studies textbooks and in developing a content-rich social studies program for the primary grades.
Pages: 324
Price: $28.00
ISBN: 0-325-00316-5
Reviewed by Carla A. Hendrix, Plattsburgh State University of New York
