Meaningful Social StudiesIntroductionToday, many classroom teachers are faced with the challenge of providing meaningful and powerful social studies lessons to their students. This article will explain how the learning cycle can help students gain better understanding when learning new concepts. This document will also provide an example of a unit on Native American Indians that can be taught in a fourth grade classroom, covering the following content: Location; Movement/Migration; and Individuals Groups, Institutions. Additionally, this document will address the 4th grade performance objectives and Georgia Social Studies Standards used in this unit. Furthermore, this paper will explain and justify the use of various teaching strategies that could be used for the learning cycle and the stages of the learning cycle that can help students build their understanding of these concepts and support these beliefs from three articles subjected to peer review. According to Sunal & Haas, 2011 the learning cycle is composed of the following three phases: (a) The exploratory introduction phase; (b) The lesson development phase; and (c) The expansion phase (p.37). According to Bevevino, Dengel, and Adams, teachers who use the learning cycle format can create a variety of activities that are personally meaningful to students and provide students with the opportunity to practice critical thinking skills. These authors go on to explain that the goal of the learning cycle is to enable students to apply prior knowledge, develop interests, and initiate and maintain a curiosity about the materials at hand" (1999). During the introductory exploration phase , students are required to use prior knowledge and experience to solve a problem or set of problems (Bevevino, ...... middle of paper ...... 275-8. doi: 10.1080/00098659909599406Georgia Department of Education., (2008). SOCIAL STANDARDS GRADE FOUR STUDIES Retrieved July 29, 2011, from https://www.georgiastandards.org/Standards/Georgia%20Performance%20Standards/Gr4%20Social%20Studies%20Stds%202009-2010 %205-27-09.pdfMeyerson, P. ., & Secules, T. (2001). The culture of learning to teach: the self-perpetuating cycle of the conservative school quarterly, 37(2), 19 -31. Retrieved July 29, 2011, from the OmniFile Full Text Select database Sunal, C.S., & Haas, Mary E., (2011), Social Studies for the Elementary and Middle Grades: A Constructivist Approach (4th ed) Boston, MA: Pearson Education INC.