12.2: Guiding Principles for Supporting History and Social Science

A thoughtfully designed early childhood program includes many activities that contribute to children’s understanding of history and social sciences. Some activities are carefully planned by a teacher to help children learn about weather patterns, bartering for goods and services, responsibilities as a class member, adult occupations, and many other ideas and concepts. Other activities emerge from the opportunities created by children’s spontaneous interests and a teacher’s capacity to build these into teachable moments. Taken together, they reflect the assumption that young children develop knowledge of history and the social sciences as they are encouraged to enact their understanding in everyday interactions with other children and adults. This knowledge helps young children understand themselves in a wonderfully expanding world. Here are some guiding principles on how to help children gain this knowledge.

• Build a cooperative, inclusive preschool community by ensuring that the curriculum maximizes children’s opportunities to work together in ways that require responsible conduct, fairness, and respect for others.
• Create activities that will actively engage children’s social skills and understanding.
• Affirm children’s home cultures, experiences, and values.
• Build on preschool children’s natural interest in their social world, and in the similarities and differences among the people in it.
• Model social behavior and attitudes with explanations.
• Actively teach and practice the essential skills of democratic participation.
• Encourage children to incorporate their knowledge of adult roles and occupations into their dramatic play.
• Observe and converse with children during play in order to learn about their current understanding of time and history.
• Help children deepen their own sense of place.
• Nurture children’s sense of wonder about nature.^[1]