This study investigates how social studies unit plans on the topic of food are influenced by information that teachers are given about students' thinking before planning. Nine teachers, three in each of grades one, two and three, participated in a conversation around a written description of 96 K-3 students' responses to questions about concepts associated with the production, distribution and consumption of food in individual, structured interviews (Report Group). Three other teachers, one at each grade level, were interviewed using the same questions asked of the children (Interview Group). Group membership was matched in terms of teaching experience, grade level, and teaching contexts. Provided with a framework for planning, and state and national standards for teaching social studies, the participants individually designed social studies unit plans that they could use in their classrooms.

Data from the study included: initial interviews about teaching social studies, using a questionnaire as a prompt; conversations around a report on children's thinking or interviews about food using the protocol; informal dialogues, and unit plans. Findings from the study indicate weak differences across the groups but point to intriguing issues associated with planning and teaching social studies in the early grades. Although only one teacher in each group wrote plans that had characteristics anticipated at the onset of the study, teachers in the Report Group did tend to focus more on content addressed in the Report, especially food production. Instead of focusing on content, teachers in the Interview Group tended to focus on teaching the skills of data collection, analysis, and presentation. Differences in content, activities and assessments across the grade levels extended beyond those that the scope and sequence of the "expanding horizons" curriculum would lead us to expect. Unanticipated findings point to the power of curricular traditions within schools to determine what happens in early grades social studies. They also point towards generational differences that favor younger teachers who, when without textbooks, will use standards documents and technology to support their planning and teaching.