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Social Studies

CSD Social Studies

Colonial School District’s social studies program is designed to prepare students to participate as constructive citizens in a democratic society. 

Student mastery of Delaware’s Social Studies Standards are achieved through an authentic K-12 approach integrating discipline-based content in history, civics, economics, and geography with interpretative skills focused on information processing, social participation, and problem solving. Students develop a strong understanding of themselves and their role and responsibility in society by discovering United States history at the local, state, and national level and place it within a global context. Opportunities are provided for students to relate the past to the present and to build an awareness of the similarities and differences that exist between the nations and cultures of the world.  

Colonial’s K-12 social studies curriculum adheres to the Delaware Recommended Curriculum (DRC) (LINK ).  The DRC is an ongoing curriculum, meaning that as new learning objectives are introduced, the curriculum adapts, responds, and reflects current practice and instruction.  Our comprehensive K-12 program includes instruction in civics, geography, history, and economics. Instruction is also designed to prepare students to successfully complete the DeSSA assessment for social studies in grades 4, 7, and 11.  Each content area’s goals are outlined by the Delaware Department of Education through the Delaware State Social Studies Standards

Civics curriculum
Civics Curriculum
Colonial’s civics curriculum encourages students to comprehend their role in our democractic society and to empower them to translate their beliefs into actions and their ideas into policies. 
The primary goal of Civics encourages students to identify the purpose and means of authority and freedom and the relationship between them. Students study the assumptions upon which governments are founded, and the organizations and strategies governments employ to achieve their goals. With specific respect to the United States, students learn the underlying principles of representative democracy, the constitutional separation of powers, and the rule of law. They need to comprehend that an essential premise of representative democracy is the willingness of citizens to place a high premium on their own personal responsibility for participation in social decision-making. Students develop the skills which citizens must possess in order to discharge those responsibilities while protecting their rights and the rights of others. The study of civics prepares students to translate their beliefs into actions and their ideas into policies.
social studies in Colonial
Economics Curriculum
Colonial’s economics curriculum focuses on students learning how individuals and societies produce, allocate, distribute, and expend resources.
Students learn to examine the relationship between costs and benefits, and the values associated with them. An understanding of economic principles and the interactions between different types of economies helps students comprehend the movement and exchange of information, capital, and products across the globe. Students learn how to assess the impact of market influences and governmental actions on the economy in which they live. The study of economics equips them to make personal economic choices, and to participate responsibly and effectively in social decision-making as citizens in an increasingly competitive and interdependent global economy.
social studies students
History Curriculum
Colonial’s history curriculum includes students learning to organize events and phenomena in terms of when they occur. 
Students study the ways in which individuals and societies have changed and interacted over time.  They practice the skills of gathering historical data, and examining, analyzing, and interpreting these data.  They learn to organize events through chronologies, and to suggest and evaluate cause-and-effect relationships among those events.  Before choosing a position or acting, students learn that they need to be able to research issues in order to understand the effect of historical developments and trends on contemporary events.  The study of history empowers them to form reasonable conclusions about the potential consequences of available options.
geography
Geography Curriculum
Colonial’s geography curriculum includes students identifying the relationships of people, places, and environments from the perspective of where they occur, why they are there, and what meaning those locations have for us.  
Students gain knowledge and perspectives of geography to understand the environmental and human processes that shape the Earth’s surface, and recognize the culturally distinctive ways people interact with the natural world to produce unique places.  Students develop an appreciation of the nature of their world and their place in it to become informed global citizens.

An overview of Colonial’s Social Studies Program