Definition of Social Sciences
Social Sciences or more familiarly called, in studies in other countries called social studies and social science education, is an educational program that integrates and simplifies the concepts of social sciences that are appropriate and useful for educational purposes, intended for learning at the school level. (Sapriya, 2009).
The purpose of education here is to make the concepts of social sciences material that can be simplified (Barr & Shermis, 1977) and understood for children at the elementary/MI level, to be applied in their daily lives. Social Studies uses material simplification and adaptation and selection from the social sciences to study humans in society, humans in relation to their environment, both in the past, present, and in the future.
The National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) which was established in 1921 as an organization that focuses on developing social studies for education, especially at the primary and secondary levels, defines social studies (Armstrong, 1996) as follows:
Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, political sciences, psychology, religion, and siciology, as well as appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.
Social Studies is a field of study that combines a number of important and certain concepts from the social sciences, such as Sociology, History, Geography, Economics, Anthropology, Politics, Law, Culture, and Religion as well as other sciences (Trianto, 2010), then processed based on these principles. the principle of education on the basis of reality and social phenomena is realized through an interdisciplinary and integrated approach. In essence, social studies is a simplification of the concepts of social sciences and humanities as well as basic human activities that are used as systematic, scientific and pedagogical studies for educational purposes” (Udin S. Winataputra, 2011).
Through social studies, students are expected to gain knowledge and insight about the basic concepts of social science that have been simplified, so that cognitively, affectively, and psychometrically they can build awareness and sensitivity to social problems in their lives, so that they are able to solve these problems through studies and the skills they have acquired. .
At the elementary education level, the material presented in social studies subjects is more demanding on the pedagogical and psychological dimensions as well as the students' thinking skills holistically to make them good citizens and able to survive with the social conditions of society and their environment.