[Black screen. White text reads “Social Studies is about people”]
Arul: It can help people understand the world more and people can learn more about other people and how they have an impact on our society today.
[Arul is an elementary student with glasses, short brown hair, wearing a blue button up shirt and a black/blue/white striped tie. He is looking to the right side of the screen. His name appears in the lower left corner of the screen, along with his school name, Bailey Elementary School. He sits in a chair in front of a white wall.]
Rick: Because it helps them like learn about the world and so you know what’s happening. It’s pretty cool, too. There are a lot of things.
[Rick, another elementary student, who has dark brown hair and a light blue shirt. He sits looking to the right of the screen, like Arul. His name and name of his school, Plymouth Creek Elementary School, appear in lower left corner. He sits in a chair in front of a white wall as well.]
Matt Schultz: You know, if you can make it real to them and real to their life um, and social studies is fairly easy to do that because it’s about our life, right?
[Adult male wearing a maroon colored button-up shirt, sits looking to the left of the screen. His name and the school he teaches at, Winona Middle School, appears in the left corner. He sits in front of a white wall that has pictures hung up on it.]
[Black screen, white text reads “social studies helps students be more aware of themselves”]
Kellie Friend: Everybody needs to find their place and how they fit into this world and how they can impact their world and how they can change their world.
[Adult woman with short blonde hair and a white cardigan looks to the left of the screen. Her name and school, Turtle Lake Elementary, appear in the lower left corner. She sits in front of a white4 bulletin board with a picture of the world on it.]
Lisa Wiener: It really gives them a sense of who they are in this big world that they don’t really understand.
[Adult woman with long brown hair sits looking to the right side of the screen. He name and Raven Stream Elementary School appear at the bottom of the screen. She sits in front of paper cutouts of hands and multicolored pouches that are hung up on a white board.]
Arul: Social studies, it helps me figure out where I want to go next.
[Black screen with white text that reads “social studies helps students make informed and reasoned decisions”]
Kellie Friend: Helping kids become informed decision-makers and it starts early. It doesn’t start, it doesn’t start when they’re in high school. It starts to really, really young.
Samarth: When you’re doing social studies you really get the skill set to interact with other people.
[Elementary aged boy with glasses and short, dark brown hair. He is wearing a striped white and light blue shirt. He sits looking to the right in front of a white wall. His name and school, Kimberly Lane Elementary School, appear in the lower left corner.]
Khoi: It will help with life skills later on.
[Elementary aged boy with black hair. He is wearing a blue checkered shirt and a white sweater vest. He sits in front of a white wall looking to the right.]
[Black screen with white text reading “what if children don’t learn social studies in elementary school?”]
Matt Schultz: If we push that aside, we’re losing an opportunity for a whole generation to embrace what we are as a people.
Marie Le: If we’re not using social studies within a curriculum, then we’re not setting up our students for success later on in life.
[Adult woman with long black hair in a gold University of Minnesota sweatshirt sits in front of a black bulletin board that has paper pinned on it. She sits looking to the right of the screen. Her name and Central Park Elementary School appear on the bottom of the screen.]
Zion: If in college, someone asked me about social studies and I didn’t learn it, I would have a really hard time.
[Young elementary school girl with black braids in a yellow t-shirt sits in front of a white doorway. Her name and Immaculate Conception School appear in the lower left corner.]
[Black screen with white text that reads “why should elementary students do social studies in school?”]
Lisa Wiener: Building their background in social studies is actually making better readers.
Brooke Nordby: To help make the world a better place, I think, just, it’s a great way to teach kids how to go out and be change-makers, and that their voice can be heard and that they can be somebody that goes out into the future and does something good for our society and we need more of that.
[Adult woman with brown hair in a pink sweater sits in front of wooden bookshelves. Her name and school, Adams Spanish Immersion School, is in the lower left corner.]
Scarlett: If all the kids in the school didn’t learn social studies, I would maybe stop in, STOMP into that, um, little desk place and tell the principal that these kids should be learning about social studies. Right Now!
[Young girl with light brown hair and wearing a green and white striped shirt sits in front of bookshelves. Her name and school, Matoska International IB World School, is in the lower left screen. She is looking above where the camera would be.]
[Black screen with the Minnesota Center for Social Studies Education logo appears.]