Growing democratic citizenship competencies: Fostering social studies understandings through inquiry learning in the preschool garden
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2019
Abstract
Essential skills and attitudes necessary for active citizenship need to be cultivated as early as prekindergarten. This exploratory study investigated if three and four-year olds could be actively engaged in social studies practices through inquiry learning in a school garden. Eleven children openly interacted and conducted personally-driven investigations on a daily basis in the school garden located on their playground over nine-months. Three interviews with children, teacher observation notes, and lesson plans were analyzed to discover whether NCSS preK-12 learning themes (2010) for the social studies curriculum could be correlated with garden inquiries. Three prevalent NCSS themes surfaced from data analysis with Civic Ideals and Practices, People, Places, and Environments, and Time, Continuity, and Change being most prevalent. Results imply that working in a school garden through inquiry learning can foster the development of democratic competencies and thus, could be used to design C3 lessons for preschoolers in the garden.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Journal of Social Studies Research
First Page
361
Last Page
373
Recommended Citation
Casey, E., DiCarlo, C., & Sheldon, K. (2019). Growing democratic citizenship competencies: Fostering social studies understandings through inquiry learning in the preschool garden. Journal of Social Studies Research, 43 (4), 361-373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssr.2018.12.001