Social studies

In multiple countries' curriculums, social studies is the integrated study of multiple fields of social science and the humanities, including history, culture, geography and political science. The term was first coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as a catch-all for these subjects, as well as others which did not fit into the traditional models of lower education in the United States, such as philosophy and psychology. One of the purposes of social studies, particularly at the level of higher education, is to integrate several disciplines, with their unique methodologies and special focuses of concentration, into a coherent field of subject areas that communicate with each other by sharing different academic "tools" and perspectives for deeper analysis of social problems and issues. Social studies aims to train students for informed, responsible participation in a diverse democratic society. The content of social studies provides the necessary background knowledge in order to develop values and reasoned opinions, and the objective of the field is civic competence. Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) is a similar term used in the education system of the Australian state of New South Wales. The original onset of the social studies field emerged in the 19th century and later grew in the 20th century. Those foundations and building blocks were put into place in the 1820s in the country of Great Britain before being integrated into the United States. The purpose of the subject itself was to promote social welfare and its development in countries like the United States and others. An early concept of social studies is found in John Dewey's philosophy of elementary and secondary education. Dewey valued the subject field of geography for uniting the study of human occupations with the study of the earth. He valued inquiry as a process of learning, as opposed to the absorption and recitation of facts, and he advocated for greater inquiry in elementary and secondary education, to mirror the kind of learning that takes place in higher education.