Issue-based education focuses on addressing problematic questions through discussion and analysis of opposing views, rather than memorization. It aims to produce citizens who can thoughtfully address societal problems. An issue-based curriculum measures success not by recall of facts but by students' intellectual engagement with issues. It encourages students to participate actively in improving society through analyzing evidence and decision-making. If implemented systematically with access to diverse resources, issue-based teaching can improve the quality of discourse in social science classrooms.

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ONLINEASSIGNMENT

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ASSIGNMENTON ISSUE BASED APPROACH IN SOCIAL
SCIENCE
Name: Sreeraj.S To : Option sir
Optinalsubject: SocialScience Kiranlal
Introduction
Issue – based approach to curriculum transaction is a novel and unique one in
the history of curriculum development. This approach is a clear departure from the
traditional knowledge transmissions models of curriculum transaction and focuses on

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knowledge generation by the learners. It aims to sensitize the learners about the
numerous issues faced by our society through the learning material itself. These issues
are developed and sensitized using various discourses which provide a linguistically
rich environment in the classroom.
Content
Looked at in this light, the issue based curriculum is not a curriculum to be
added on to an otherwise conventional education devoted to memorizing the
insignificant minutia of social science. It is not a remedial curriculum to rectify the
errors of fact and process of the conventional curriculum. It is not a belated effort to
acknowledge the usefulness of focusing some part of education on the study of real

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problems, past and present, which confront our society and the world. Rather, it is a
substitute for the non –thinking, memory bound process which constitutes so much of
the educational curriculum today. It is the way all education should be approached to
produce informed citizens who are involved in working out better solutions to our
problems.
The issue – based curriculum does not measure success by the degree to which
students can regurgitate the so-called facts presented in text books and teacher
lectures. Rather it measure success by the degree to which student performance
reflects an intellectual capacity to address public issues. Rather than stressing the
recall of information, the issue – based curriculum encourages students to actively
participate in the improvement of society. In dealing with public issues, citizens must
analyze, create and appraise evidence and most importantly make decisions.
Consequently, an issue – based curriculum offers the greatest promise for improving
citizen participating and the quality of democratic life in this society.
Issues - based education focuses on problematic questions that need to be addressed
and answered, at least provisionally. Problematical questions are those on which
intelligent, well informed people may disagree. Such disagreement in many cases,
leads to controversy and discussion marked by expression of opposing views. The
questions may address problems of the past, present or future. They may involve
disagreement over facts, definitions, values and beliefs. Issue – based approach to
social science aims at empowering the learner. As Alquist suggests, social science
should help in solving everyday problems in our lives, help us develop an ethical
foundation for personal and social relationship. This is not critical thinking for the
sake of debate, argument or logical reasoning, but for constructive change for the
transformation of society. (Alquist,1990). For many, the approach includes developing
a critical consciousness or conscientization. This means developing skill in
perspective consciousness, the ability to recognize, examine, evaluate and appreciate
multiple perspectives on a particular issue or concern. These issues need to be
connected through some kind of thematic, disciplinary, interdisciplinary or historical
structure. Simply studying one issue after another will fail to give students the
intellectual structures they need to organize and think about relationships among
various issues and how their resolution might add to social justice.
The study of issues lead to the development of in-depth understanding, must also
include content from historical cases, literature, art and music. For example a unit on
immigration issues cannot generate depth of understanding simply by raising a current
policy data and cases from the historical record. The issue should include data and
cases from the historical records that can be used to from conclusion about result of
immigration policy during different time periods. Personal accounts of immigrants,
lives of immigrants could be examined and media and scholarly sources as well as
school curricular materials and community resources could be tapped. Specific
content would depend on student and teacher interest as well as curricular framework

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within which learning occurs. Content selection in a productive issue- based
curriculum is responsive to student’s interest, their prior knowledge and the local
school and community context.
Issue- based teaching has long been associated with liberal – progressive social ideas,
but the approach to teaching issues does not prevent teachers from applying traditional
methods of teaching such as lectures, objective testing, memory reliance, or repetition
to complement etc. issue- based teaching dose not necessarily promote liberal
progressive ideas for social policy. Teachers and students can use issue – based
teaching to explore and extend conservative ideas about social life just as well as
liberal progressive ones.
In applying an issue – based programme, a strong measure of reliance must be placed
upon student’s learning a common core of knowledge, skills and dispositions. Issue –
based teaching should lead students to accept democratic principles, to acknowledge
the differences in our communities, and more importantly to identify those similarities
and principles that bind us together as citizens.
Implications For Teaching :
Teaching will be most effective if the issue – based approach is adopted very
systematically. The important principles to be followed are:
1. Issues must take form of truly problematic questions, even, for the teacher.
Although the teacher may have more knowledge about the issues than students,
the teacher must be involved in continued learning with students to evolve a
solution to the problem.
2. In working out well – reasoned positions on issues, students should gain access
to a variety of resources and tools that extend beyond the teacher and the
classic textbooks, articles, newspapers, computers and other community
resources.
3. Students need continuous practice in using extended oral and written language.
They have to learn to weave thoughts and evidence together in sentences, to
construct reasoned and well grounded arguments.
4. A major pedagogical challenge for teachers I to learn how to help students fell
comfortable with the cognitive ambiguity that issue – based education
introduces.
Conclusion
Issue – based education is a curriculum that uses public issues to emphasize
controversial questions as the content for social science. It is an approach to words
teaching and learning that does not intend to provide right answers, but underscores
the need for students to learn how to examine significant questions and become more
thoughtful decision makers about public life. An issue – based approach highlights the

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critical examination of social practices through the direct study of persisting and
compelling social issues. In short, we believe that this approach, if meaningfully
implemented can help to improve the intellectual quality of discourse in social science
classroom. The approach is built upon a tradition of social science and curricular
practice mainly centered on the teaching of social issues.
References
Alquist, Alberta (1990) ‘Critical Pedagogy for Social Studies Teachers’. Social
Studies Review, New York.
Ronald.W. Evans and David Warren Saxe (2014) ‘Hand book on Teaching Social
Studies’. National Council for the Social Studies, Washington.

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Wraga, William G.(1993). The interdisciplinary Imperative for citizenship education’.
Theory and research in social education, Washington.
New man: F: Classroom Thoughtfulness and students.
Johnson .H: The Teaching of History in Elementary and secondary schools.