Featuring iCivics Elementary Instructional Materials
Ohio’s Learning Standards for Social Studies, adopted in 2018, provides content standards to establish state-level student learning outcomes and guides classroom instruction. There are content standards for each grade K-8 and specific courses such as American History, American Government, and Modern World History. Strands (History, Geography, Government, and Economics), Themes, Topics, and Content Statements are used to organize each grade’s learning standards in K-8.
A 2023 report from the RAND Corporation concluded that the infrastructure for elementary social studies in the United States is lacking and is calling for wide-ranging support for elementary social studies instruction (K-5) at the local and state levels (Diliberti et al., 2023). The data for this study is from the 2022 American Instructional Resources Survey (AIRS). While this study was not only dedicated to compiling data on elementary social studies, the data collected provides insight into what materials are used in elementary social studies classrooms and who makes the instructional decisions in these spaces. This study is unique since social studies is a perpetually marginalized discipline in schools. When surveying teachers about their perception of who makes the primary decisions regarding the use of instructional materials, 59% of respondents identified teachers as the primary decision-makers (Diliberti et al., 2023). This was the highest reported percentage when compared to English Language Arts at 32%, Math at 36%, and Science at 48% (Diliberti et al., 2023). In addition to decision maker data, the 2022 AIRS survey data included questions regarding the type of curriculum and instructional materials used to teach elementary social studies and what the elementary teachers surveyed prioritize when selecting instructional materials (AEP, n.d.).
| AIRS 2022 Survey Question | Response | |
| Among the elementary social studies curriculum materials in this list, select any materials you use regularly (once a week or more, on average) for your social studies instruction this school year (2021-22). | 51% | Curriculum I make myself |
| Indicate which additional instructional materials – beyond curriculum materials – you or your students use regularly (once a week or more, on average) for social studies instruction this school year (2021-2022). | 70% | Teachers Pay Teachers |
| Among the elementary social studies curriculum in this list, select any materials provided by your school or school district this year (2021), either as a requirement or recommendation whether you use them or not. | 25% | N/A – I do not use a particular material regularly or my district and/or school does not provide any curriculum materials to me |
| Rank the top five priorities that determined which tasks or activities from those materials you decided to use for your social studies instruction. “I chose those tasks or activities within my materials because they…” | 21% 22% | Were engaging for my students Were aligned with my state’s academic standards for social studies |
From this 2022 AIRS data, it appears that teachers are the primary decision-makers regarding instructional choices tied to elementary social studies. Further, 25% of the respondents reported either they do not use specific materials regularly or their school/school district does not provide curriculum materials to teach elementary social studies. A trend that could correlate with teachers not being provided with materials from their school or district is that 70% of teachers used Teachers Pay Teachers for social studies instruction. When deciding what materials to use, the highest survey responses indicated that teachers made their selections based on student engagement and alignment with state standards (2022 AIRS Survey Data). The purpose of this resource is to help support teachers by sharing resources that Ohio elementary teachers can use in their instructional practice to connect them with –
free and engaging materials that are aligned with Ohio’s Learning Standards for Social Studies.
The 2022 AIR Survey Data also highlighted underused yet free resources with instructional materials created for elementary social studies (AEP, n.d.). One of these resources is iCivics. iCivics was founded in 2009 by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor with the goal of helping students develop “the knowledge and skills to participate in our unique experience of self-government” (iCivics). Instructional materials for social studies are free and available to educators to carry out group’s mission of knowledge development and skills.
| AIRS 2022 Survey Question | Response – iCivics |
| Indicate which additional instructional materials – beyond curriculum materials – you or your students use regularly (once a week or more, on average) for social studies instruction this school year (2021-2022). | 2% used regularly for social studies instruction |
| Of all the social studies instructional materials you use, please indicate approximately what percent of social studies instructional time you dedicate towards using them for a typical class of students over the course of a week. | 78% used 10% or less of instructional time |
The resources below are instructional materials for elementary social studies called Private i History Detectives created by iCivics for grades K-5. These materials were created by Laurie Risler and Kelley Brown through the Emerging America Program at the Collaborative for Educational Services and sponsored by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program (Maloney, 2022). These resources were intentionally designed for ease of use and to enhance vocabulary, inquiry skills, and historical content knowledge (iCivics). Each lesson contains a lesson plan with learning objectives, a premade slidedeck for GoogleSlides to guide instruction, and student materials for printing or digital use. While there is not a lesson for each of the Ohio Content Statements in each grade level, the materials listed are directly connected to at least one K-5 content statement within Ohio’s Learning Standards for Social Studies.
Private i History Detectives
Private i History Detectives provides experiential learning as elementary students assume the role of history detectives who apply inquiry skills to answer overarching questions tied to each lesson. It should be noted, however, that some of the recommended grade levels for the activities listed do not align exactly with grade-level content statements in the Ohio’s Learning Standards for Social Studies. The alignment reflects with the results from a search tool the iCivics website uses to facilitate standards alignment powered by Academic Benchmarks.
| Lesson (Linked) | iCivics Grade Level | Ohio Grade Level | Ohio Grade Level Content Statement |
| What is the Difference Between Then and Now? | K-1st Grade | 1st Grade | 1. Time can be divided into categories (e.g., months of the year, past, present and future). |
| How is Work Different Now Than in the Past? | K-1st Grade | 1st Grade | 1. Time can be divided into categories (e.g., months of the year, past, present and future). 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| How Does a Tradition Become a Holiday? | K-1st Grade | Kindergarten | 3. Heritage is reflected through diverse cultures and is shown through the arts, customs, traditions, family celebrations and language. – 4. Symbols and practices of the United States include the flag, Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. Other nations are represented by symbols and practices too. |
| What Are These Children Doing? | 2nd-3rd Grade | 1st Grade | 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| What Are These Students Learning About? | 2nd-3rd Grade | 1st Grade | 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| How Have Maps Changed Over Time? | 2nd-3rd Grade | Kindergarten | 6. Models and maps represent real places. |
| How Can Maps Help Us Get to Where We Want to Go? | 2nd-3rd Grade | 1st Grade – 2nd Grade | 2. Maps can be used to locate and identify places. – 5. Maps and their symbols, including cardinal directions, can be interpreted to answer questions about location of places. |
| What Are Some Examples of Yoruba Cultural Values? | 2nd-3rd Grade | Kindergarten – 1st Grade | 3. Heritage is reflected through diverse cultures and is shown through the arts, customs, traditions, family celebrations and language. 8. Individuals are unique but share common characteristics of multiple groups. – 9. Interactions among cultures lead to sharing ways of life. |
| How Did Yoruba Cultural Values Help the Clotilda Africans During Difficult Times? | 2nd-3rd Grade | 1st Grade | 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| How Did Benjamin Franklin Practice Civic Virtue? | K-2nd Grade | 1st Grade | 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| How Did Wilma Rudolph Use Perseverance to Become an Olympic Champion? | K-2nd Grade | 1st Grade | 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| How Did Perseverance Help Americans Land on the Moon? | K-2nd Grade | 1st Grade | 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| How Did Children Use Generosity to Help During the World Wars? | K-2nd Grade | 1st Grade | 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| How Did Generosity Help Bring the Statue of Liberty to New York City? | K-2nd Grade | 1st Grade | 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| How Are Clara Barton and the Red Cross Civic-Minded? | K-2nd Grade | 1st Grade | 2. Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past. |
| What Can Maps Tells Us About Native Sovereignty and Native Land? | 2nd-3rd Grade | 3rd Grade | 4. Physical and political maps have distinctive characteristics and purposes. Places can be located on a map by using the title, key, alphanumeric grid and cardinal directions. |
| Why Would Someone Choose to Live in the Northeast Region? | 4th Grade | 3rd Grade | 4. Physical and political maps have distinctive characteristics and purposes. Places can be located on a map by using the title, key, alphanumeric grid and cardinal directions. |
| Where Do I Go When I Want to Make a Change? | 4th Grade | 4th Grade | 19. A constitution is a written plan for government. The Ohio Constitution and the U.S. Constitution separate the major responsibilities of government among three branches. |
| How Did the Connecticut Compromise Solve Disagreements About Representation at the Constitutional Convention? | 5th Grade | 3rd Grade | 14. Line graphs are used to show changes in data over time. |
Takeaways
The K-5 iCivics Private i History Detectives contains 87 lessons in total. Using the standards alignment tool on the iCivics website, there were 19 lessons that aligned to Ohio’s K-5 Learning Standards – the majority of which aligning to the 1st grade Content Statement 2 “Photographs, letters, artifacts and books can be used to learn about the past” (Ohio’s Learning Standards for Social Studies, 2018). Perhaps this is due to the emphasis of historical inquiry iCivics imbeds in their lessons, but is missing as an explicit skillset for the Topic of Historical Thinking Skills within the History Strand of Ohio’s K-5 standards. Perhaps the next steps in connecting K-5 teachers to the iCivics instructional materials is to collect input from elementary teacher’s themselves. Using their experience to make connections can help support teachers with access and guidance for using ready-made and free curricular resources to supplement instructional practice.
Additional Links
Ohio’s Learning Standards for Social Studies
Access Data for RAND American Educator Panels
Elementary Scope and Sequence: A Guide for Teachers (iCivics)
Social Studies Model Curriculum (K-12)
References
Diliberti, M. K., Woo, A., & Kaufman, J. H. (2023). The missing infrastructure for elementary (k-5) social studies instruction: Findings from the 2022 American instructional resources survey. RAND.
iCivics. (2024). About us: Inspiring a passion for civic learning. https://vision.icivics.org/about/
Maloney, M. (2022, November 14). History’s mysteries becomes icivics private i history detectives. Collaborative for Educational Services. https://www.collaborative.org/2022/11/14/historys-mysteries-becomes-icivics-private-i-history-detectives/
Ohio Department of Education. (2018). Ohio’s learning standards: Social studies. https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/Social-Studies/Ohio-s-Learning-Standards-for-Social-Studies/SSFinalStandards01019.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US
RAND American Educator Panels (AEP). (n.d.) American instructional resources access survey (airs), spring 2022. RAND. https://www.rand.org/education-and-labor/survey-panels/aep/surveys/items/american-instructional-resources-survey-airs-spring-2022.html
