2021 Volume 45 Issue 1 Pages 93-102
This study examined the effects of an integrated lesson conducted for half a year in a fourth-grade social studies class． The examination was made with respect to two issues: how the lesson’s conceptualization and generalization may aid with thinking skills in social studies and how the utilization of learning strategies matches the problem-solving process． The children wrote answers to questions that covered two major study units (four smaller study units) in their notebooks． These answers were compared before and after each study unit． The results indicated that the children’s conceptualization and generalization were stimulated after the completion of three smaller study units and two major study units． Based on a questionnaire survey and a learning plan formulated by the children， this study also proposed a learning method that matches the problem-solving process in social studies and examined the effects of gradually delegating the use of learning strategies to students． The results indicated that the children began to use learning strategies and that the quality of their learning plan had improved． The results of the present study suggest that a new perspective may be possible in research on social studies classes， which has tended to focus on discussions regarding the learning content．
