Social Studies

We teach students economics right from Std 3. Why? Because that helps students understand how the world works. The stuff they hear adults speak starts making sense. And they start having their own thoughts and ideas too. Here are some interesting anecdotes that parents shared with us

• One 7th standard student went home and asked her father what investments he had and whether he was earning any passive income.
• A 5th standard student heard his parents were planning to buy a car and asked whether they were planning to go for financing and what the terms were.
• A 6th standard student wanted to know from her parents what kind of insurance they had taken cover for.

History is not just facts and figures. The whole point of studying it is to understand the story of human civilization. It is important to understand the systems and the flow of events. That is how students go through it at Walnut. They try to draw parallels to our present situation wherever possible. They try to take an overview of events and look at cause and effects. They look at the study of the past to understand the present, which is one of the main goals of studying history in the first place. 

For example : If you have studied Indian history in school, you go up to the time when India became independent and stop. Not at Walnut. Our students study what happened later – those events are what makes India the country that it is today – the partition, the wars with Pakistan and China, the development of our nuclear program, globalization, terrorist attacks – pretty much everything that happened till about 2020. Our students are understanding the world much better than anyone else their age, because of our amazing social studies program at Walnut School! 

This subject is taught with an earth science approach along with a lot of examples to things that they could connect the most with. There are a lot of maps and diagrams that are used during the teaching process. Students are encouraged to understand things by drawing parallels and even putting things in a flow. Where the data increases in the 9th and 10th, they also have notetaking skills which help them organize their information well.

This subject makes them understand how society works. When we teach them the rules of the government, what being a citizen means, what the different sections of society are, what challenges they face etc. the world around them starts to make a little more sense. When they learn about tax policies, for example – they try to analyze how it affects the other parameters as well. This approach helps to get them to start observing, thinking and asking questions.

The subject is not perceived as a stressful one. This is because exams are gradually and skillfully introduced here.

• Students in the primary classes (Std 1 to 5) study social studies but do not have to appear for an exam. They can focus on understanding the story, the concepts and the ideas. This approach makes social studies engaging and enjoyable.
• Exams start from Std. 6.
• In Std 6 and 7 and a part of Std 8, the exam for this subject is very interesting. It is like a modified open book test. The students do not have to focus on memorizing data. They have to be able to understand, analyze, present their opinions, mark important events etc. They are given a blank sheet the day before the exam and they are allowed to write down whatever they want on it and use it as a reference during the test. They have to submit the reference sheet along with the answer sheet as well.
• From Std. 8 onwards, students start following the board exam curriculum and pattern. They get enough time to go over the material and prepare. Though social studies is a terribly tedious subject for most of the students all over the country, at Walnut with our planning, our students are quite sorted!

Walnut has a really interesting Social Studies curriculum. Check out how it progresses over the years by tapping on the next tab.

The students have one LEARN class on a daily basis. In some of these classes, they get to learn about what the basic rules of behaviour are, manners, and a little bit of the world around them. They also have a SPEAK class once a week, where they learn how to speak English fluently and at the same time how to speak politely. So a little bit of Social studies starts from Nursery itself

In addition to the regular science theory classes, these activities support the subject too.

SPEAKING / DEBATES : Once a week. The concepts they get exposed to, help them get good flow and content for the speaking class. The research they do for the debates helps them get a better understanding in the social studies class.

INFORMATION TRANSFER : Once a week. Techniques of going through large chunks of information and taking notes and making mind maps.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE : Once a week. Some information gathered in this class gives them a better insight into the topics taught in the Social Studies classroom.