The Marketable Skills Students Need

“Why am I learning this?” The refrain heard by teachers all over the world. Students want to know the relevance of their learning. 

Telling students “This will help you succeed in the future” isn’t enough; neither is the even more cringeworthy response “because it’s on the test.” We know that your students learn innumerable skills that will take them far in your social studies classrooms. But it’s not enough for you to hear this from us. Here’s our evidence: The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report highlights that the most-valued job skills in 2030 will be “human-centric,” so demand for the skills learned in the humanities will grow. Even LinkedIn’s CEO, Ryan Roslanksy, stated in Wired that there will be a future need for “people skills.” The cherry on top came from an Oxford University study that confirms that studying the humanities gives young people vital skills like resilience and adaptability that benefit their future careers, equip them for uncertainty in the labor market, and allow them to engage with global issues.

So, how does this information help us answer our students’ age-old question? It’s simple. Social studies skills are the key to success that we’ve always known them to be, and thankfully everyone is finally catching up.

Historical Thinking = Future-Ready Thinking

Let’s take a bit of a deep dive together. OER Project prides itself on curricula that integrate content and skills. Our courses embed historical thinking skills in activities that gradually increase in complexity while being equally valuable if used as one-offs. You can dig deeper into our approach in our Historical Thinking Skills Guide. Here’s a quick overview of some of those historical thinking skills. We think this will help you answer the “why am I learning this” query.

• Have your students ever argued about why something happened the way it did? This doesn’t have to relate to history—it could be a “he said/she said” in the hallway. This is causal reasoning. It helps students understand that there’s usually more than one cause to a problem, and it’s the ability to analyze those causes that gives thinkers a leg up when trying to find solutions.
• When students try to share a story that shows definite signs of embellishment, we teach them to share their sources. While sourcing is useful when analyzing historical documents, it’s equally important when evaluating the reliability and bias of current media sources, friends’ stories, and social media.
• Being able to see the whole picture or contextualize a situation is something that many adults struggle to do. But this practice trains us to beware of red herrings and make measured and strategic choices. An ability to contextualize by situating facts and actions in the context of time, space, and setting, develops learners’ awareness of perspective and the circumstances of an event. Students learn to “see the whole picture,” and come to understand that without full context, it’s easy to jump to incorrect conclusions. Interpreting context is a valuable skill for navigating uncertainty.
• Students compare and contrast all the time—their peers, celebrities, the Joneses. However, when they learn how to do comparison well, they become adept at understanding relative value and similarities and differences. The nuanced ability to think in the grey zone encourages mental flexibility.
• Evaluating continuity and change over time (CCOT) is at the heart of understanding any difficult problem. Anyone who can hold both the history and the opportunity in their mind at once, is far more astute than their peers—and the only place they learn that skill is in a social studies classroom. 

OER Project has always believed that social-studies skills are a game changer, and in fact the American History Association agrees, arguing that “historical thinking skills are widely marketable.” The statements above and the corresponding “futurecasting” will help you actively engage in conversations with students about why social studies matters, and how historical thinking skills are what will give them an advantage in the future.

So, where can you brush up on the latest and greatest ideas about why we need social studies? We’ve got you covered! 

History: Your Secret Weapon for Tomorrow

Social studies teachers—you’re skill-building superheroes! If you’re looking for even more evidence, join our free online professional development event, History: Your Secret Weapon for Tomorrow, on August 6 at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET. The panel discussion—featuring a historian, teacher, and students—will explore why history matters.