Teaching Social Studies With Games

Social Studies

In Slovenia, social studies is a class students encounter in the fourth and fifth grades of primary school. A total of 175 hours of class time are dedicated to it – 70 in the fourth grade and 105 in the fifth grade. It includes goals from the fields of geography, sociology, history, ethnology, psychology, economy, politics, ethics, aesthetics, and ecology. The emphasis of classes is on learning about the relationship between the individual, society, and the natural environment.

In this course, students develop:

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  Understanding of their social, cultural, and natural environment in time and space;

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  Awareness of the interaction and the interdependence of cultural, social, natural processes, phenomena and the importance of sustainable development;

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  Social, communication, research skills and abilities in addition to knowledge that enable them to effectively perform in the environment;

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  Attitudes and values in the context of environmental, civic, and patriotic education as well as education for democracy and human rights; and cognitive, emotional, social abilities, skills and strategies involved in lifelong learning (Budnar et al., 2011).