The Mid-Prairie School District is making changes in its social studies curriculum to reflect the state’s updated standards.

Curriculum and Professional Learning Leader Kristan Hunter and elementary and secondary social studies teachers requested $26,000 in funding for a new curriculum for a seven-year cycle from the Mid-Prairie School Board. Hunter spoke to the board about the new standards, “So, in May of 2017 new standards were released in the area of social studies; if you were familiar with those standards before they were very, very vague. Those standards have been rebuilt and they’ve been broken into two pieces, they’ve been broken into inquiry standards and they’ve been broken into content standards.”

Hunter says the inquiry standards demand that students ask more questions and take informed action with a focus on primary sources. The social studies curriculum team requested $2,500 for the elementary grades, $500 for digital map access for the middle school, and $23,000 for new textbooks with digital access for six high school courses. Social Studies teacher Pete Cavanaugh says they will be adding a new geography class at the high school, and teacher Natalie Silbaugh mentioned the importance of having updated psychology materials for the high school. The board approved the initial implementation of the social studies curriculum beginning next school year at a cost of $26,000 for grades K-12.