The SHS Committee, in collaboration with the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) and the Ateneo De Manila University’s Philosophy Department covened the First “Karunungan” (Wisdom) Festival on 7-8 July 2007 which celebrated the local and indigenous initiatives that enhance the learning capacities of basic education among selected "Schools of the People" nationwide. The conference aimed to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the Philippine basic education system by highlighting successful local and indigenous initiatives from selected "Schools of the People" in the Philippines..

The Social and Human Sciences in Philippine Basic Education: A Review of Elementary and High School Textbooks. Florentino H. Hornedo, Virginia A. Miralao, Felice P. Sta. Maria, editors. (Philippines: Philippine Social Science Council, 2000)

This is the first critique of basic education textbooks by Philippine social and human scientists.  One observation is the lack of a clear and definite theoretical framework within which the books are written and by which integration of topics, competencies and values can be strengthened. Although the curriculum (found to be prescriptive) articulates its desire to develop higher level thinking skills, the textbooks do not support that goal.  The findings became the basis for the SHS Committee’s projects to improve Social Studies and to engage the interest of scientists in the challenge.

Using Important Concepts in Social and Human Sciences to Improve Learning Content and Processes in Social Studies : A Study Prepared by the Social and Human Sceinces Committee of UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines and the Philippine Social Science Council. Felice P. Sta. Maria, Florentino H. Hornedo, Virginia A. Miralao, editors. (Philippines: Philippine Social Science Council, 2002) 

Scientist-specialists in geography, history, anthropology, culture studies, political science, law, sociology, and economics working with a humanities specialist focused on concepts from UN and UNESCO conventions especially those related to peace, citizenship and human development. They selected 70 priority concepts from their disciplines. Ten interdisciplinary concepts were determined by them when the initial synthesis was critiqued.  The result is a conceptul framework for social studies complete with Philippine and foreign examples. Each concept is also linked to a cultural property offering links from social studies to the humanities and heritage conservation. The book offers a starting point for discussion to enhance Social Studies and strengthen its science elements.

As part of the social studies curriculum and textbook review project of the SHS Committee, NatCom, in collaboration with the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication conducted a seminar-workshop on rewriting the textbook development process using the NatCom Social Science framework. This course catered to textbook writers and editors who were trained based on the following three modules, namely: (1) Towards a Social Science Learning Framework; (2) Understanding the Learning Process ; and (3) The Textbook as a Learning Course. At the end of the workshop, the participants developed a sample lesson plan reflecting the sessions’ themes, especially the social science framework.

An assessment of public school textbooks was conducted by an SHS-commissioned team of health experts led by Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan of the UP National Institute of Health to identify and analyze the health messages and concepts found in different textbooks in the elementary and secondary schools in the Philippines. The study determined inaccuracies, data in need of updating and missing  priorities in preventive health. The  review of textbooks challenged independent health educators and  doctors to assist the DepED in a follow up project.