Learning outcome

After successfully completing the course, the candidate will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge:

The candidate has knowledge of:

- The main developments in Norway up to 1905

- Working life and value creation

- Natural and cultural landscapes in Norway

- Societal institutions, the political system and children’s rights

- Social studies as a school and academic subject

Skills

The candidate can:

- Use pupils’ home environments as a learning arena for teaching social studies

- Apply observation as a basic social studies method

- Critically evaluate textbooks and other teaching aids for use in instruction

- Use knowledge of the subject and didactic skills in instruction for pupils in Years 5-10

General competence
The candidate can:

- Reflect on his/her own practice and update his/her professional knowledge

- Reflect critically on social studies issues and encourage critical thinking

- Give instruction in basic skills within the subject’s framework

Course Description

The course focuses on Norwegian society and physical environment, and will provide students with skills in teaching basic topics in history, geography and social studies for Years 5-10. The point of departure for teaching social studies is the pupils’ own world of experience, observation, textbooks and various types of other sources, including the Internet, oral and written sources, statistics and newspapers.

Teaching and Learning Methods

The course uses varied and active teaching and learning methods such as class discussions, lectures, seminars, working with sources, writing assignments and participation in field trips and/or field work.

Parts of the course are obligatory. Information concerning this will be provided in the semester plan.

Assessment Methods

Continuous assessment

Students must attend the excursion or field work. Participation will be registered as pass/fail.

Students will participate in group work to be performed orally for the rest of the class, which will be assessed on a pass/fail basis.

Final assessment

Individual project with fieldwork. Counts for 1/3 of the final grade.

Individual written examination. Counts for 2/3 of the final grade.

The following grade scale is used in the assessment:

Symbol	Description	General, qualitative description of valuation criteria
A	Excellent	An excellent performance, clearly outstanding. The candidate demonstrates excellent judgement and a high degree of independent thinking.
B	Very good	A very good performance. The candidate demonstrates sound judgement and a very good degree of independent thinking.
C	Good	A good performance in most areas. The candidate demonstrates a reasonable degree of judgement and independent thinking in the most important areas.
D	Satisfactory	A satisfactory performance, but with significant shortcomings. The candidate demonstrates a limited degree of judgement and independent thinking.
E	Sufficient	A performance that meets the minimum criteria, but no more. The candidate demonstrates a very limited degree of judgement and independent thinking.
F	Fail	A performance that does not meet the minimum academic criteria. The candidate demonstrates an absence of both judgement and independent thinking.

Minor adjustments may occur during the academic year, subject to the decision of the Dean