🌍 Social Studies at Speedway

Why Social Studies?

What content area explains us as human beings, connects us to our world, tells us where we’ve been, and helps us understand where we are going and why? What subject explains the reasons behind our choices and the ways we organize our lives?

👉 The answer is Social Studies Education!

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Social Studies in the 21st Century

The digital age has transformed social studies learning. At Speedway Avenue School, our students are not only reading about history — they are experiencing it through interactive technologies, virtual field trips, and online collaboration with experts and peers around the world.

• Students transcend the limits of time and place to re-experience historic events virtually.
• By building global learning networks, they connect with diverse perspectives and expand their understanding of today’s interconnected society.
• At the same time, they are grounded in the fundamental principles of American democracy, developing the skills to make informed decisions about local, national, and international issues.

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 Mission

Social studies education provides learners with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives needed to become active, informed citizens and contributing members of their local, state, national, and global communities in the digital age.

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Vision

Through social studies at Speedway and across Newark Public Schools, our students will:

• Be civic-minded, globally aware, and socially responsible.
• Exemplify the values of American citizenship through active participation in local and global communities.
• Make informed decisions about events at every level — local to global — using inquiry and analysis.
• Consider multiple perspectives, value diversity, and promote cultural understanding.
• Recognize the realities of an interconnected global economy.
• Appreciate the dynamic relationships between people, places, and resources.
• Use emerging technologies to communicate, collaborate, and problem-solve with citizens across the world.

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 The Spirit of Social Studies at Speedway

• All students from Pre-K through 8th grade receive meaningful social studies instruction.
• Lessons focus on critical and systematic thinking about local, regional, national, and global issues.
• Students participate in authentic learning experiences, such as debates, project-based learning, mock trials, civic engagement projects, and historical inquiry.
• Technology is naturally integrated to allow students to:
  • Explore primary sources,
  • Collaborate globally,
  • Connect historical events to current issues, and
  • Build the skills needed for the 21st-century workplace.

At Speedway Avenue School, social studies prepares our students not only to understand the past but to shape the future as leaders, innovators, and global citizens.