Foundations of Social Science Didactics and Critical Pedagogy
Core Principles of Social Science Didactics
1. Core Pedagogical Models
- Traditional: Memorization, teacher-centered instruction, summative evaluation.
- Scientific-Technical: Structured learning, observation, teacher guides inquiry.
- Renewalist: Active participation, motivation, discovery-based learning.
- Critical: Knowledge is social and ideological, promotes justice, emphasizes student voice and formative evaluation.
2. Curriculum and Competencies
The curriculum is structured around three dimensions:
- Conceptual (Knowledge)
- Procedural (Skills)
- Attitudinal (Values)
Transversal competencies include digital literacy, emotional intelligence, gender equity, environmental awareness, and civic engagement. Learning is based on real-life situations, inquiry, and socioconstructivism.
3. Global Citizenship: 10 Key Principles
These principles focus on developing informed and ethical global citizens:
- Explore controversial issues from multiple viewpoints.
- Include women’s perspectives.
- Humanize marginalized groups.
- Foster empathy and otherness.
- Challenge Eurocentrism.
- Promote peace and nonviolence.
- Raise ecological awareness.
- Develop critical thinking.
- Encourage responsibility for the future.
- Support democratic action and participation.
4. Key Social Concepts
- Rationality / Irrationality
- Identity / Otherness
- Diversity / Inequality
- Beliefs / Values
- Power
- Conflict / Cooperation
- Change / Continuity
5. The Constructivist Learning Cycle
- Exploration: Activate prior knowledge.
- Introduction: Present new content through surprise or discovery.
- Structuration: Organize and connect ideas.
- Application: Apply concepts to real problems.
6. Evaluation Principles (Based on Neus Sanmartí)
Evaluation must be formative, ongoing, and inclusive. Key elements:
- Students must know the objectives and criteria beforehand.
- Mistakes are viewed as opportunities for learning.
- Includes self-assessment, peer assessment, feedback, and rubrics.
Levels of Achievement:
- Satisfactory: Needs support.
- Notable: Independent.
- Excellent: Critical and autonomous.
7. Interdisciplinary Learning and Fieldwork
- Combines different subject areas (e.g., ethics and geography).
- Involves real experiences: observation, interviews, and outdoor activities.
- Connects theoretical knowledge with reality.
8. Teaching Historical Time
- Features of Time: Irreversible, relative, multiple, and socially constructed.
- Key Ideas: Chronology, duration, simultaneity, causality, and change.
- Tools: Timelines, cards, and causal maps.
9. Geographical Space and Landscape
Students learn to observe, draw, map, and analyze space. This includes using ICT tools and understanding human-nature relationships and social organization.
10. Essential Cognitive and Linguistic Skills
- Describe: What do I see?
- Explain: Why does it happen?
- Justify: Using logic and evidence.
- Interpret: What do I think?
- Argue: Can I defend my ideas?
11. Cooperative Learning Strategies
Common methods include:
- 1-2-4: Think alone → pair discussion → group consensus.
- Foli giratori (Rotating Sheet): Collaborative writing.
- Llapis al mig (Pencils in the Middle): Group must agree before writing.
- Conceptual Maps and Un per tots (One for All, where anyone can present).
These strategies promote dialogue, equality, and metacognition.
12. Citizenship Education
Focuses on understanding rights, institutions, and participation. Activities include debates, mock elections, and projects, emphasizing empathy, justice, and civic action.
Key Contributions to Social Science Didactics
Chapter 1 – Aims and Pedagogical Models
Author: Joan Pagès
Pagès argues that Social Science education should not simply transmit facts, but serve as a tool to form critical and participative citizens. He supports the critical model, where knowledge is socially constructed, ideologically influenced, and oriented towards social change.
Chapter 3 – The Subject in the Curriculum
Author: Antoni Santisteban
Santisteban maintains that the curriculum should be understood as a flexible framework to help students understand society and participate in it. He emphasizes competency-based learning and the importance of starting from students’ own environments. He proposes an active teaching approach connected to real life.
Chapter 4 – Social Thinking
Author: Antoni Santisteban
He explains that teaching Social Sciences involves developing critical and creative thinking. It is essential to teach students how to analyze, question, consider alternatives, and understand social complexity in order to shape conscious citizens.
Chapter 5 – Research in Didactics
Authors: Joan Pagès and Antoni Santisteban
They argue that research in education is essential to improve teaching practices. They analyze how research can be carried out in the classroom and highlight that teachers must also act as researchers to adapt and transform their methods.
Chapter 6 – Content Organization
Authors: Rodrigo Henríquez and Joan Pagès
They advocate for organizing content into meaningful sequences, tailored to each group, and combining conceptual, procedural, and attitudinal elements. They stress the importance of considering students’ context when planning content.
Chapter 7 – Didactic Units
Authors: Jesús Granados and Joan Pagès
They explain how to design coherent didactic units structured in phases (exploration, construction, structuring, application) that respond to real situations. They support meaningful learning based on real-world problems.
Chapter 9 – Communication in Social Sciences
Authors: Neus González and Rodrigo Henríquez
They argue that language is not only a tool for communication, but also a means of constructing knowledge. Argumentation, narration, and description are essential for developing social thinking. Teaching students to speak and write is also teaching them how to think.
Chapter 11 – Teaching Historical Time
Authors: Jesús Granados and Neus González
They defend that the teaching of historical time should begin with students’ own experiences, helping them develop concepts such as change, causality, and continuity. Using sources, timelines, and personal narratives is key to building historical thinking.
Chapter 12 – Teaching Geographical Space
Authors: Rodrigo Henríquez and Jesús Granados
They propose teaching geography from the local to the global, connecting space with social and environmental issues. Geographical thinking is built through maps, observation, and critical reflection on the surrounding environment.
Chapter 13 – Art History
Authors: Rodrigo Henríquez and Neus González
They present art as a source for understanding history, culture, and society. It is not just about artistic styles, but about teaching how to observe, interpret, and discuss artworks. Analyzing art also contributes to developing critical and social thinking.
Essential Documents in Didactics
Document: “Teacher, plastic bags are not jellyfish”
Author: Breogán Tosar
This document promotes critical literacy as a way of reading the world, not just texts. Teaching students to interpret discourse, detect ideologies, and take action on social issues is essential to forming active and committed citizens.
Document: “Assessing is Learning”
Author: Neus Sanmartí
Sanmartí argues that assessment must be an integral part of the learning process. She advocates for formative, clear, participatory, and useful assessment that contributes to improvement. Students should understand expectations, reflect on their work, and self-regulate their learning.