This course aims to provide student teachers with an understanding of the nature, scope and goals of social studies in the context of the school curriculum and the nature of Singapore’s growth as a society. Opportunities to reflect critically on issues related to the syllabuses content as well as to the teaching of the subject in schools will be provided. Student teachers will try out a variety of teaching strategies through practice-based sessions, and design and develop unit and lesson plans in a cooperative learning environment.

An important aim of Social Studies is to develop thinking and process skills which are essential for lifelong and independent learning. This course will not only expose student teachers to a variety of ways to use sources in the lower secondary normal technical and upper secondary social studies classrooms, but also provide opportunities for student teachers to select appropriate sources, and design creative teaching strategies that incorporate the use of sources.

This course focuses on assessment and will include a variety of methods and strategies that are appropriate for the assessment of learning outcomes in social studies. Student teachers will set source-based questions and structured-essay questions, devise the mark schemes and mark answer scripts. The course will also provide opportunities for student teachers to reflect on not only the quality of their students’ work but also their own work.