Social Studies Middle School Guide

Canyons School District

Instructional Supports Department

Social Studies Themes and Lenses

Using themes and lenses in social studies can be a consistent way to connect standards and content in your classroom. It is a way to show patterns in history, such a continuity and change over time. Additionally, it is a way to take standards deeper through student inquiry and discussion.

Critical Actions for Educators

—-------------------------- ● Connect big events

in history to themes throughout the year.

CSD social studies common themes are: ● Conflict ● Compromise ● Progress

● Use themes to

illustrate patterns in events in history.

● Use lenses to

Lenses are a great way to break down the themes into more specific bite-sized chunks. Lenses allow students to practice historical thinking skills and connect those skills to information literacy skills, such as mis and disinformation. Teachers use core standards when selecting lenses. Students will analyze and evaluate primary and secondary sources through the lenses of: ● People ○ Families ○ Occupations - Workers ○ Minority groups ○ Gender ● Systems ○ Social ○ Economic ○ Religion ○ Politics ● Geography Current Event Connections Current events are a great way to make history feel more relevant to students and to model civic engagement. Choosing a current event that is tied to a lens is one way to make current events connect to core standards. For example, if you chose to look at the effectiveness of the New Deal (US History Standard 5.2) through the lens of women, you could find a current event article(s) that shows how the government economically supports or does not support women today. ○ Physical Geography ○ Human Geography

examine and focus on different perspectives of the same event.

● Use themes and lenses to connect content standards to current events. ● Use current events

that show multiple perspectives and select articles from credible sources.

● When choosing current events to

use in your classroom, remember to use Instructional Materials Selection Criteria to help you make your decisions.