Comunidad De Madrid

ByME Social

Science 2

(Comunidad de Madrid)

Syllabus Social Science

Primary stage: Year 2

1. INTRODUCTION

ByME Social Science was developed according to the guidelines stated in the following documents:

ð  Decreto 89/2014, de 24 de julio, por el que se establece para la Comunidad de Madrid el Currículo de la Educación Primaria

The General Principles of this stage, are the following:

The aim of the Primary Education is to help students learn the principles of oral expression and comprehension, reading, writing, calculation, the acquisition of basic notions of culture, and the habit of coexistence as well as the study and work habits, the artistic sense, creativity and affectivity, in order to ensure an integral formation that contributes to the full development of the students' personality, and to prepare them effectively for Compulsory Secondary Education.

The educational action in this stage will try to integrate the different learning experiences of the students and it will also be adapted to the students' different working paces.

Primary Education is divided into six academic years, which will ordinarily be taught between six and twelve years old, and it is organized in areas, which will have a holistic and integrative approach.

According to the LOMCE, the curriculum is integrated by the objectives of each educational stage; the competences, or skills needed to activate and put into practise the relevant contents of the stage in an integrated way, so as to achieve the realisation of the activities and the effective resolution of complex problems; the contents, or a set of knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitudes which contribute to the achievement of the objectives for each educational stage and the acquisition of the relevant competences; the teaching methodology, ranging from the description of the teaching practices to the organisation of teacher's work; measurable learning outcomes; and the evaluation criteria to assess the level of acquisition of the competences and the achievement of the objectives of each educational stage.

a) Curriculum: regulation of the elements determining the teaching and learning process for each educational stage.

b) Objectives: references to the achievements that the student must attain at the end of the educational process, as a result of the teaching and learning experiences intentionally planned for this purpose.

c) Competences: abilities to apply the relevant contents of each educational stage in an integrated way, in order to achieve the correct realisation of the activities and the effective resolution of complex problems.

d) Contents: set of knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitudes which contribute to the achievement of the objectives for each educational stage and the acquisition of the relevant competences. The contents are organised into subjects, which are classified into areas, fields and modules, depending on the educational stage, or the programmes students take part in.

e) Measurable Learning outcomes: specifications of the evaluation criteria which allow to define the learning results, and specify what the student must know, understand and know how to do, in each area; these standards must be observable, measurable, and assessable and must allow the graduation of the students' achievements. The standards must be designed in order to contribute and facilitate the use of standardized and comparable tests.

f) Evaluation criteria: specific references used to assess the students' learning process. They describe whatever it is that must be valued and that students must achieve, both in terms of knowledge and in competences; they respond to what is aimed to achieve in each area.

g) Teaching methodology: set of strategies, procedures and actions planned and organized by the teachers, consciously and reflexively, in order to promote the students' learning process and their achievements.

2. METHODOLOGY

Social Science includes different disciplines which cover diverse aspects of human behaviour in relation to society. Among these, Geography and History occupy a privileged place on the curriculum of Primary Education.

The area of Social Science belongs to the block of core subjects, therefore the contents, evaluation criteria and evaluable learning standards for the whole stage have been proposed by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport in the Royal Decree 126/2014 of 28 February, by which is established the basic curriculum for Primary Education. The Community of Madrid has complemented and given further definition to the contents, distributing them, together with their corresponding standards of evaluable learning, on a course-by-course basis.

The contents are distributed in a common block which deals with strategies for work and study which apply to all the courses in the cycle, and in three other blocks, which are repeated in each one of the courses.

In two of these blocks, “Geography. The world in which we live” and “History. The track of time”, the contents of Geography and of History which the students must study in each course of the cycle are collected together. These contents refer, principally, to the Geography and History of Spain.

In Primary Education the objective is not that the students should be capable of analyzing and assessing historic events or human behaviours. The objective is fundamentally that, through the knowledge of the most relevant events in the History of Spain, the students should be capable of acquiring a spatial and temporal reference system in which to situate what they are to learn in future studies.

In order to introduce the Primary students to the study of History it is essential to have some basic and general knowledge of Geography. Thus, the contents of this discipline are included in the first years and only from the third year onward are the references to the study of history introduced.

The contents related to History must allow the students to identify and characterize the great historic periods. Within these, the most relevant events are established and ordered in chronological sequence. The objective is not to lay out the themes in an exhaustive manner, but rather to ensure that the students know the most representative characters and events in each of the periods. The events the dates of which are indicated, constitute indispensable references which the teacher may fill out in accordance with his/her pedagogical criteria.

The reading of stories, biographies or accounts of characters and historic events as well as the learning of some ballads, may prove useful for the enrichment of the subject.

The block named “Living in society” focuses on bringing the student close to the study of social organizations, the economic life of citizens, the distribution of the population, the forms of working and other questions related with the political, social and territorial organization of Spain. Through the family and school the child is introduced into society. Hence the relations of the child with the family and educational environment are the starting point for the initiation of the student in the study of the contents of this block. With regard to the rest of the contents they are left, in their majority, for the final two years.

3. CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF KEY COMPETENCES

«In line with recommendation 2006/962/EC, of the European Parliament and the Council, 18th December 2006, about Key competences for permanent learning, this royal decree is based in the strengthening of learning by competences, integrated in curricular elements to provide a renovation in teaching practice and teaching and learning process. New focuses are suggested in learning and evaluating, which will suppose an important change in tasks that pupils have to solve and innovative methodological approach. The competence supposes a combination of practical skills, knowledge, motivation, ethical values, attitudes, feelings, and other social and behaviour components that mobilise together to reach an effective action.»

«The competences, therefore, conceptualize as a «know how to act» applied to a diversity of academic, social and professional contexts. To make possible the transference to different contexts, understanding of given knowledge in competences is essential, and its connection with practical skills that integrate them.»

«Denomination of key competences defined by the European Union is taken. It is considered that «key competences are those necessary to fulfil persons, for an active citizenship, social inclusion and employment». The teacher’s role is fundamental, being able to design learning tasks or situations to enable the resolution of problems, the application of learned knowledge and the promotion of students’ activities».

The Key Competences of the curriculum are as follows:

1. Competence in linguistic communication. (CLC)

2. Competence in mathematics, science and technology. (CMST)

3. Digital competence. (DC)

4. Learning to learn. (L2L)

5. Social and civic competences. (SCC)

6. Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. (SIE)

7. Cultural awareness and expression. (CAE)

4. GENERAL OBJETIVES OF THE STAGE

Primary education will contribute to the children’s development of the skills that will enable them to:

a)  Understand and appreciate the values ​​and standards of living, learn to act in accordance with them, prepare for active citizenship and respect for human rights and pluralism inherent in a democratic society.

b)  Develop individual and team work, effort and responsibility in the study as well as attitudes of self-confidence, critical sense, personal initiative, curiosity, creativity and interest in learning, and entrepreneurship.

c)  Acquire skills for the prevention and peaceful resolution of conflict, enabling them to function independently in the family and household, as well as in social groups with which they are associated.

d)  Know, understand and respect different cultures and differences between people, equal rights and opportunities for men and women and non-discrimination of people with disabilities.

e)  Know and use appropriately the Spanish language and develop reading habits.

f)  Acquire, in at least one foreign language, skills to enable them to express and understand simple messages and function in everyday situations.

g)  Develop basic Maths skills and initiative in solving problems that require elementary operations of calculation, geometry and estimates, as well as being able to apply to situations in everyday life.

h)  Know the main features of Natural Science, Social Science, Geography, History and Culture.

i)  Start using, for learning, the information technology and communication to develop a critical mind to the messages they receive and produce.

j)  Use representation and artistic expression and start to build visual and audio-visual proposals.

k)  Rate hygiene and health, accept their own body and that of others, respecting differences and using physical education and sport to encourage both personal and social development.

l)  Know and appreciate those animals closest to us and adopt forms of behaviour that contribute to their preservation and care.

m)  Develop emotional skills in all areas of personality and in their relationships with others and an attitude opposed to violence, prejudice of any kind and sexist stereotypes.

n)  Promote road safety education and respectful attitudes that affect the prevention of accidents.

5. COURSE CONTENTS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

SECOND YEAR

Geography. The world in which we live

The solar system. The Earth. Representation of the Earth. Planisphere, maps and charts.

1. Is familiar with the names of the planets and their situation with respect to the Sun.

2. Describes the movements of the planets of the Solar System, especially of the Earth and its satellite, the Moon.

3. Identifies the different phases of the Moon.

4. Locates different countries, among the most important, on the planisphere.

5. Identifies maps of different countries in different scales.

The atmosphere. Meteorological weather.

6. Identifies the causes of some atmospheric phenomena.

7. Is familiar with the use of different measuring instruments which are used to collect atmospheric data.

8. Interprets simple weather maps distinguishing their principal elements.

The terrestrial surface. The human intervention in the natural environment.

9. Identifies the principal relief units using as an example the Iberian Peninsula: island, archipelago, peninsula, mountain, mountain range, plain, valley, river, lake, coast, beach, golf, cape and port.

10. Understands the necessity of having a responsible attitude in the use of water, care for the environment and the use of the natural resources, proposing measures and behaviours which lead to the improvement of environmental conditions in our planet.

Geography of Spain.

11. Locates and identifies Spain in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe.

12. Knows and locates the seas and oceans which surround the Iberian Peninsula.

13. Knows and locates the Spanish islands and archipelagos.

14. Identifies the limits of Spanish territory.

Living in Society

Territorial organization of Spain. The population of Spain. Migratory movements.

15. Locates, on a map of Spain, the different autonomous communities and cities, as well as their provinces and important cities.

16. Describes the principal characteristics of the Spanish population.

Traffic education.

17. Explains the basic rules of traffic and the consequences derived from the non-compliance or ignorance of these.

18. Knows the meaning of some traffic signals. Recognizes the importance of respecting them whether as a pedestrian or as a means of transport.

Common content for the whole stage.

Initiation to scientific knowledge and its application in Social science. Searching for and selecting information.

1. Obtains concrete and relevant information on events or phenomena which have been previously delimited, using different sources.

2. Analyzes the information obtained to select that which is most relevant.

3. Develops strategies to organize, memorize and recuperate information obtained through different methods and sources.