POSS/HASPEG: Exploring the Social Studies. Profiles of Promise 33.

Since 1971 Edison Junior High School in Janesville, Wisconsin, has developed and used an innovative social science curriculum for junior high students. Process of the Social Scientist (POSS) is a 2-year program for the combined sixth/seventh grade which places primary emphasis on the process used by working social scientists rather than on the content of the discipline. POSS stresses methods, techniques, and ways of thinking, rather than names, dates, and places. Students study geography, history, and political science in their first year, followed by anthropology, sociology, and economics in their second year. The History, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, Geography (HASPEG) curriculum is the POSS counterpart for eight graders. The HASPEG curriculum centers around short study units, each dealing with a topical problem or concern emerging from one of the disciplines. The entire program incorporates the innovative teaching concepts of team-teaching, multidisciplinary studies, contract learning, miniunits, teacher-developed curriculum, and process learning. Teacher and student response has been enthusiastic as many students feel that the curriculum is more interesting and helps them to remember more. (Author/DE)