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Social Studies Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE)


A great resource library takes time to build. Check back frequently as we fill the shelves.

The Social Studies Frameworks provide one way that teachers, schools, and districts might organize and teach the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) within units. Units and frameworks align to connecting themes and enduring understandings that transcend units and courses. Ultimately, the enduring understandings are what students will take from a course that applies to life beyond school. All units and frameworks are designed to promote inquiry.

Georgia Standards of Excellence for Social Studies K-12
State-Funded List of K-12 Courses
Connecting Themes and Enduring Understandings for GSE K-12

Grade Band Pages

• K-5
• 6-8
• 9-12 
• Distance Learning Lessons​

Types of Resources for Each Grade Level

Resources are also available on our new platform GaDOE Inspire (gadoe.org)

Content Resources:

• Teacher Notes - explains each standard and element for teachers in terms of content & cognitive demand.
• Teacher Content Tutorial Videos - screencasts that describe for teachers what students should know in terms of content and cognitive demand.

Instructional Resources:

• Curriculum Map - sample organization structure for each course.
• Sample Units - sample essential questions, instructional activities, and performance tasks for units in the curriculum map.
• Distance Learning Resources - sample lessons that support distance learning and unplugged students.
• Instructional Activity Tutorial Videos - screencasts for teachers that describe inquiry based instructional strategies for  the classroom.
• Social Studies Labs - full inquiry lessons with a classroom ready PowerPoint.
• Virtual Specialist Professional Learning Communities - virtual communities specific to each grade level and course led by specialists from throughout Georgia. 

Additional Resources

​Professional Learning Video Series

• Everyday Inquiry in Elementary Social Studies - In the Everyday Inquiry in Elementary Social Studies video series you will find inspiration and direction for how elementary teachers infuse their social studies instruction with the elements of inquiry. Think it can't be done? Check out examples from 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades that show engaged students doing the work of historians, geographers, economists, and political scientists.  Watch how the teacher's role has evolved with the shift to inquiry and hear from leaders why they support this shift.
Social Studies Labs with Bruce Lesh - In this video series, Bruce Lesh, author of the book Why Won’t You Just Tell Us the Answer?, shares research on historical inquiry, breaks down the process of thinking like a historian, and then models an inquiry lesson.
• Marrying Social Studies and ELA: The Inquiry Method - In this video series, educators explore the benefits of integrating social studies content and literacy skills in the inquiry process.  In addition to the overview video, teachers will see two middle grade classroom teachers engaging in a variety of inquiry based strategies that dynamically blend content instruction with reading and writing skills.
• Student Video Dictionary - These are short, classroom appropriate videos for World History, World Geography, and 6th and 7th grade World Studies.

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