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Vocabulary in Social Studies Classrooms

By D. W. Moore |S.A. Moore|P.M. Cunningham|J.W. Cunningham
Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall

Fighting Words

In social studies, more than any other subject area, students have to become attuned to the connotations as well as the denotations of words. In describing various events, the point of view of the writer colors the reporting and interpretation of these events, and this point of view is usually evidenced by the words used. To help students become sensitive to word choice and to review important vocabulary, give students lists of words/terms and have them indicate with a plus, check, or minus sign whether they think the word generally has positive, neutral, or negative connotations, respectively. After students complete this activity separately, have them get together with peers and discuss their decisions. This is an activity in which you want them to use the evaluate thinking process. Don’t expect everyone to agree, because their point of view will affect their decisions. But, considering the different connotations of common social studies terms will help them be more critical readers and better understand and retain the word meanings. Here are some starter words/terms. Pick similar words from your units.

liberal

hawk

corporation

John Bircher

reactionary

mediaminority 

conservative

dove

pro-choice

revolutionary

hillbilly

candidate

Stars and Stripes

AFL-CIO

pro-life

capitalist

feminist

third world

Social Studies Morphemes

The Word Bench activity in which you ask your students if they know any other words that look and sound like a new social studies term and if they think any of these words might be related will help your students become more morphologically sophisticated. In addition, you have the unique opportunity to teach your students the meaning for some morphemes that occur most commonly in social studies words. Seize this opportunity when introducing one of these words, because your students might not notice these morphemes in any of their other classes:


Morpheme Social Studies Usage General Usage

anti (against)

com, con (with, together)

counter, contra (against)

ex (out)

form (shape)

geo (earth)

im, in (in)

im, in (opposite)

inter (between)

ism (state of)

ist (person)

mono (one, same)

non (opposite)

sub (under)

trans (across)

uni (one, same

antitrust, antislavery

community, congress, conspiracy

counterintelligence, counteroffensive

exports, explorers

conform, reformers

geography, geopolitical

imports, immigration, invasion, inauguration

immoral, independence

international, intervention

communism, capitalism

communist, nationalist

monarchy, monopoly

nonviolence, nonpartisan, nonproliferation

subcontinent

transAtlantic, transcontinental

unilateral, unified, universal

antibody, antisocial

compile, committee, company, conform

counterfeit, contradict

expedition, exit

deformity, formula

geometry, geology

implant, impoverish, indent, intruder

impatient, inefficient

interrupt, interfere

patriotism

pianist, scientist

monorail, monastery

nonprofit, nonstop

subway, substitute

transport, transfe

uniform, united

Acronym Board

Cover a bulletin board or attach a banner to your wall and add acronyms to it as they occur in your study. List the acronym and the word for which it stands. Have your artistically talented students draw something to symbolize each acronym. Here are some examples of common social studies acronyms:

AID—Agency for International Development

CARE—Corporation for American Relief Everywhere

CORE—Congress of Racial Equality

SADD—Students Against Drunk Driving

HUD—Housing and Urban Development

MIA—Missing In Action

SNCC—Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

VISTA—Volunteers In Service To America

WHO—World Health Organization

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