Grade 12 Social Science Thinking Tools and Analysis Strategies

The materials herein are intended for use with the Grade 12 Passport to Social Studies Participation in Government and Economics curricula. They were developed and curated to help students make meaning of the content they encounter in social studies classrooms. While Grades 9–11 refer to these tools as “historical thinking tools,” in Grade 12, they are referred to as “social science thinking tools” as they incorporate practices and ways of knowing from sociology, social work, political science, and economics. On their own, these materials are not lessons. These social science thinking tools and analysis strategies serve as the foundation and structure for activities in social studies lessons. The following seeks to:

• explain the relationship between social science thinking and scaffolds, protocols, and cognitive tools

• reveal the design principles behind them, and

• encourage teachers to make thoughtful instructional choices for how to best use these materials within the context of their own classrooms.

Please note that the historical thinking tools and analysis strategies in this collection are modifiable. View a PDF version of this guide.