Cantu- Ch. 12

This chapter is looks at the uses of social studies subjects that include sociology, anthropology, and psychology. These three subjects are known as the behavioral sciences. I have not had very much practice in any of these topics. Like many other high schools, my high school did not require any of these topics as part of the required classes that had to be taken. Most of these topics were simply rolled into larger social studies classes. They did not have a required separate class. Although I think that there is a problem with this, I also see why it is this way. There is limited training for teachers for any of these topics. The biggest subject of these 3 is psychology and that is usually taught as a extra curricular class at the high school level. I think that looking at the way individuals and societies behave is a very fascinating topic and I would like to figure out good ways to integrate it into my classroom teachings.

One of the best ways to integrate these topics is around major events that have happened during the course of world history. My first example is WWII. You can look at how Hitler created such a great sense of nationalism throughout Germany and was able to get away with tyrannic events such as the Holocaust. Although there had always been a sense of Resentment for Jews and other groups throughout time, he was able to do some awful things under the noses of the german people and other nations. You can look throughout a psychological lens at what made Hitler have these beliefs. You can look through a sociological lens at Germany as a whole and how their society was functioning at the time. You can look at changes that occurred comparing and contrasting before and during Hitlers reign. Examples similar to these are ways that I would try to integrate these behavioral sciences into my curriculum.

Question: Why is there not a bigger emphasis on these sciences? Psychology can be very useful for almost all careers where you have to deal with other people.

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Link:http://www.socialpsychology.org