Catching them young : teaching "history" to the 4-7 age group

Abstract

If we accept that all normal children, irrespective of their age, are possessed with the desire to find out about the world around them; if it is true that gaining knowledge is a powerful human desire, as basic to life as the need for love, physical safety, trust and security, then it must be the teacher's concern to give a modicum of Social Studies education to children as early in life as one can. Social Studies education teaches children about the nature of people, about the world, and about human relationships and all these are not alien even to young children of the kindergarten and infant classes. How can teachers impart this kind of education? Certainly not by stuffing children with indigestible facts but by accepting the primacy of concepts. Facts, as every educationalist will tell you, are too numerous to learn, date very quickly, and, because they are unrelated to children's experiences, are quickly forgotten. Concepts, on the other hand, while not rejecting the use of facts, always have to do with meaning.