BHS students apply past to present as a new social studies curriculum is crafted.

One student recalled the time he met former President Bill Clinton.

Another talked of how he’d once worn a beret studded with campaign buttons. Some had quizzed parents about their voting records. Others had gathered clues from the media.

Accounts varied, but as seniors in Amanda Ward’s Advanced Placement Government class at Bainbridge High School dusted off their earliest political memories Monday, a singular assumption lingered stubbornly at the bottom of a grab-bag of tales:

Somewhere along the way, each student was expected to make the transformation from temple-scratching tike to well-informed voter.

The challenge, Ward and other educators say, is in choosing the methods and materials by which that transformation takes place.

“It’s no longer enough to just learn content,” Jane Medina, a member of a committee tasked with updating the district’s social studies curriculum, told the school board last week. “Students need to learn to think like historians.”

And so, if more is required than a cursory stroll down a trail of textbooks, an elementary question remains: How should the school district frame history?

The answer is becoming clearer as educators reach the midpoint in a two-year revamp of the district’s social studies curriculum.

The overhaul – conducted by a 25-member Social Studies Curriculum Review Committee composed of teachers, administrators and five community members – will affect the way the subject is taught in Bainbridge schools for the next eight years, and though many of the specific changes are yet to be decided, the vision and guiding beliefs of the new curriculum are now in place.

The process is part of an eight-year cycle of curriculum reviews that most recently updated the district’s math and science curriculums.

The social studies committee has met twice a month for the past year to determine how to better align the district’s instruction with state and federal requirements and values established by the community.

So far, several expected changes have surfaced, including the order in which certain classes will be taught, with the majority of the changes set to occur between the sixth and ninth grades.

Sixth grade students, for example, instead of learning about U.S. history, would learn world history. As it stands now, students take courses on U.S. history in both fifth and sixth grades, but don’t revisit the subject until grade 11.

By changing the sequence to include U.S. history in fifth, eighth and 11th grades, the district would eliminate the five-year gap that now exists.

The committee will present its final recommendations to the school board in May or June, with the changes scheduled to hit classrooms next September. Some changes would be made in phases to avoid creating learning gaps for students as they transition from the old system.

In addition to ensuring that students meet standards, the district should also aim to create citizens who are better able to participate in a “global society,” the committee said.

Library resources, interdisciplinary connections and an emphasis on history and civics are among strengths of the current curriculum, according to the group. Outdated maps and a lack of emphasis on economics, geography and media literacy were cited as weaknesses.

The district also would like to improve students’ knowledge of current events and what those events mean within a larger historical context.

Ward, chair of the social studies department and a review committee member, said the group began the process last October by creating a list of questions about what the new curriculum should address. Members then researched ways to meet those needs.

Besides exploring curriculums elsewhere, the committee gave considerable thought to the way students learn.

In particular, it stressed the need to work closely with the English department to ensure students were capable of writing with concision and clarity about world events.

Discussion has also centered around the types of sources teachers should be using. Deputy Superintendent Faith Chapel, in charge of curriculum and instruction throughout the district, said Bainbridge schools are considering veering away from traditional textbooks in favor electronic media, such as online databases.

Doing so would allow teachers access to more current sources, both primary and secondary.

The main goal, though, is to make sure students study history and current events from different viewpoints.

“History is everything,” Chapel said. “It’s important to have a balance between factual and conceptual learning materials. We want to make sure we’re presenting multiple perspectives.”

Unlike some states, Washington does not have a list of recommended textbooks, she said. Instead, school districts conduct their own internal reviews to determine which sources will guide instruction. While that affords teachers greater flexibility, it also requires a great deal of time to sort through the myriad texts that are available.

Still, despite the extra work it involves, Ward and other teachers are grateful for the opportunity to choose.

“This is our chance,” she said. “Except for books that accompany new courses that are introduced, these are the books that we’ll be using for the next seven or eight years.”

The update, Ward said, is definitely needed. Some books she uses are out of date or out of print, making them difficult to replace if lost or damaged.

In her A.P. Government class, students work from two texts. One is a textbook published in 2004 – much more current than many books she teaches from – that outlines the functions of government and relates them to recent world events.

The other is a compilation of materials, including articles about current events and the media, selected by Ward and akin to packets often used in college courses.

The class is composed entirely of seniors who, if they pass a test in May, will receive college credit for the course.

Ward said exercises like the one Monday – during which each student read aloud a paper written about his or her first political memory – are typical of the district’s efforts to integrate students’ individual experiences with the world that surrounds them.

“They are impressive,” said Ward, of her students. “By the time they leave here, their ability to think critically and the level of sophistication in their ideas is exciting to see.”

Students at Bainbridge schools begin their social studies education by learning in early grades about identity, family and communities. As they get older, instruction becomes more specific and they are introduced to both American culture and various cultures abroad.

By the time they reach Ward’s level, they are expected to understand how to be critical readers and how to spot biases within a given text.

Most importantly, though, Ward said students should know how to form their own opinions. As the curriculum review has unfolded, consensus has arisen about the importance of including facts as well as concepts in instruction, both of which, Ward said, are the foundation of a well-rounded education.

And, though she expects the curriculum changes to bolster her department, Ward said Bainbridge Schools are already better situated than most.

“We’re lucky,” she said, “to have so much flexibility, support from the community and students who want to be here and who want to learn.”