Literacy and Social Science Disciplinary Integration
Students examine competing narratives in history; use geography to understand how power has been used to claim, divide, and organize land; learn how economic systems function; and engage with the world as participants in democracy using civics as a lens.
Defining Disciplinary Literacy
Disciplinary Literacy is vital because post-secondary spaces such as universities, colleges, and workplaces require reading that involve content-dense texts. This means that teaching the content of the disciplines as well as the meaningful ways that reading, writing, discussion, and representing are constructed within that discipline. Disciplinary Literacy is about getting students to participate in ways that mimic how experts within a particular discipline behave, while content-area literacy has focused primarily on helping students employ good reading and study skills.
Social science is a disciplinary, evidence-based field that:
- Uses a variety of sources—historical and contemporary documents, data from direct observation, graphics, economic statistics, maps, legislative actions, objects, and court rulings—to develop claims and counter-claims, explanations, and arguments.
- Recognizes that not all sources are equal in value and use and that sources do not, by themselves, constitute evidence.
- Gathers and evaluates sources through the disciplinary lenses of geography, economics, civics and history.
What, Why, and How
- An Educator’s Guide to Disciplinary Literacy: Want to know how Disciplinary Literacy in other disciplines differs from the approaches in Language Arts? Start here with this introduction (pages 1& 2) , to learn how approaches to reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking help students deepen their learning of specific content and subject matter.
- An Educator’s Guide to Disciplinary Literacy: Read pages 6-9 to understand how disciplinary literacy not only helps students think more deeply in the discipline, learn how creating classrooms that are discourse communities, and viewing Disciplinary Literacy learning as an apprenticeship or mentorship wherein students learn from a teacher who is an expert in the discipline all contribute to successful disciplinary literacy implementation.
Is the Common Core Good for Social Studies? Yes, but…: This article makes the argument that, …[Common Core] is good, but is an incomplete vision as it leaves out the vital purposes and practices of a meaningful social studies education, including disciplinary inquiry and civic engagement.
- Reading and Responding like a Historian: Watch this video to hear from experts on what literacy in history courses looks like in the classroom.
- Geographic Literacies: Watch this module to learn how to implement literacy practices in a geography class.
- Economic Literacies: Watch this module to learn how to implement literacy practices in an economics class.
- An Educator’s Guide to Disciplinary Literacy: Read pages 53-61 to learn how to integrate skills and content effectively to engage students in critical thinking, reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills to learn social studies content.
- An Educator’s Guide to Disciplinary Literacy: Read pages 79-94 to see samples of Social Science lesson plans and rubrics.