Challenges to Meaningful Learning in Social Studies – The Key Competences as an Opportunity to Students’ Active Participation

This article focuses on meaningful learning in social studies and it discusses methodological solutions to implement theoretical innovations in school practice. The paper begins with a brief analysis of the concept of meaningful learning and of a possible starting point in designing the meaningful learning; it analyses the European framework of reference for key competences and the theoretical benchmarks that back up new perspectives in the knowledge construction. The article then explores some approaches to meaningful learning opportunities for social studies and the possible challenges that can be found in their design, ways to overcome these and benefits for the students. The strong point of the article is the discussion on solutions which could fill the gap between theoretical innovation and practice, while developing meaningful learning.