WEEK ONE
Defining Social Studies and the Standards
Introduction
The general public's understanding of the content area of social studies has been misunderstood and often pushed aside to make room for the curriculum areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. If social studies is taught, teachers allot little classroom time to reach a depth of understanding required for social studies concepts. There are misconceptions of the basic question of What is social studies? If this question were surveyed to a group of students, their answers may include a collection of facts and dates, the history of America, or the names of the continents, countries, and states. What should an educator's answer to this survey question be?
Definition of Social Studies
In 1993, The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) reinforced the definition of social studies by issuing this statement:
Social Studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and the humanities to promote civic competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. (p. 213)
As this definition shows, social studies surpasses the normal view. It encompasses all social behaviors and ideas. From this point of view, social studies learning takes place all day long from the moment students enter the room and receive a Good Morning, continuing throughout the day as they solve problems and work together as groups or individually, and even as they enter their diverse homes with various customs, beliefs, religions, and languages.
Meaningful Social Studies
One's own experiences learning social studies may reflect the best and the worst teaching of this subject. How can educators today make social studies a meaningful and authentic learning experience? In 1993, NCSS suggested that social studies move away from the practice of memorizing disconnected bits of information and teach students to connect networks of knowledge, skills, and beliefs that are useful in and out of school. There should be emphasis on the "depth of development of important ideas with appropriate breadth of topic coverage" with classroom interaction that focuses on "sustained examination of a few important topics rather than superficial coverage of many" (NCSS, p. 216).
The most powerful social studies teaching and learning will take place when a level of depth is reached on topics that have purpose and meaning in the world. Lindquist (1995) suggested the inclusion of these five features: integrative, meaningful, value-based, active, andchallenging, in a comprehensive and purposeful social studies program. Like other curriculum content areas, these teaching strategies promote academic success and long-term memory retention.
The Essential Skills in Social Studies
Similar to inquiry in the natural sciences, social studies also has essential skills that are taught regardless of topic or unit. Whether the social studies lesson is about the features of the desert dwellers or the influence of printing money in a society, academic skills can be integrated to benefit learning in other subject areas as well.
·Data-gathering skills: acquiring information through observation; locating information from a variety of sources; compiling, organizing and evaluating information; and communicating orally and in writing.
·Intellectual skills:comparing things, ideas, events, and situations; classify items into categories; ask appropriate and searching questions; draw conclusions or inferences, make sensible predictions from generalizations.
·Decision-making skills: consider alternative solutions; consider the consequences of each solution; make decisions and justify them in relationship to democratic principles, act based on those decisions.
·Interpersonal skills: see things from the point of view of others; understand one's own beliefs, feelings, abilities, short-comings, and how they affect relations with others; use group generalizations without stereotyping; work effectively with others as a group member; give and receive constructive criticism; accept responsibility and respect the rights and property of others (Lindquist, 1995).
All of these skills can be woven into a social studies curriculum to make the learning memorable and meaningful. They can be used in settings beyond the classroom and represent essential skills needed later in life.
Standards Based Social Studies
The majority of the social studies curriculum found in textbooks at the elementary level uses the expanding communities' pattern, sometimes known as the widening world scope and sequence model. A visual representation of this can be found on p. 25 of the Chapin text in Figure 1.3(Chapin, 2009). In kindergarten, students learn about themselves and others, and as the grades progress the scope, or the list of topics covered in a program, expands to a worldview.
This traditional approach is based on the development of the child. Before entering the school setting, a child is familiar with family, home, and surrounding neighborhoods. This geographic expansion is used in traditional social studies curriculum to take a student from the known into the unknown.
Current standards are beginning to take an alternative approach by using a spiral curriculum as displayed in Figure 1.4 on page 26 of the Chapin text(2009). Using this model, students may learn about topics such as families at many grades but using higher levels of understanding. For example, United States history is revisited at all grade levels from kindergarten through middle school but at varying degrees of difficulty. Kindergartners are introduced to the Revolutionary War, a topic that is later studied again in fifth and eighth grades.
The model for each state's social studies standards differs and is still evolving. Typically, in the primary grades there are the four core discipline standards: history, geography, economics, and civics (Chapin, 2006). Many states also include the essential skills and character and/or values standards as well. Standards are continuing to be written and revised, and assessments created to test those standards.
Conclusion
The misunderstanding surrounding social studies content and teaching is still evident in schools today. The dominant instructional tool continues to be the textbook with large group lecture or long periods of content area reading as the method of learning. Emotional or affective objectives are not included as part of the social studies curriculum (Chapin, 2006). There is room for improvement in today's educational effort to teach this subject. As the definition provided by the NCSS shows, it is a topic that encompasses human nature and can integrate essential ideals and lifelong skills into the school day and the home life.
References
Chapin, J. R. (2006). Elementary Social Studies.(6th ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Chapin, J. R. (2009). Elementary Social Studies.(7th ed.) Boston, MA : Allyn and Bacon
Lindquist, T. (1995). Seeing the whole through social studies. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
National Council for the Social Studies. (1993, September). A vision of powerful teaching and learning in the social studies: Building social understanding and civic efficacy. Social Education, 57, 213-223.
WEEK TWO
Planning, Teaching, and Assessing Social Studies
Introduction
Understanding the end goals and objectives of social studies content is the first step a teacher makes toward developing a social studies curriculum. The next step is to begin planning lessons and units that use a variety of sources and purposeful learning activities. These classroom experiences should rely on multiple modes of learning that are not always dependent on reading and answering questions at the end of a chapter. Teachers should take an active role in the development of these lessons and integrate literacy (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) into each unit.
Using Authentic Learning Experiences
Many of the textbooks published today for social studies curriculum show pictures of diverse groups of people with interesting presentation of facts and pictures. Publishers look closely at National Standards to "ensure that their texts in general can meet as many state standards as possible" (Chapin, 2006, p. 23). Texts usually include suggestions for teachers regarding English Language Learners and integration ideas. Used creatively, the textbook can be an excellent instructional tool for the classroom.
Other additions to the curriculum also contribute to the needs of the students and multiple modes of learning. For English language learners, a simplified text might be only the first step. Sharing realia, or concrete objects, can help build background knowledge, vocabulary, and provide common experiences on which instruction can build (Herrell, 2004). In social studies terms, this is called an artifact, or historical object. Some teachers begin a unit by sharing an artifact such as a photo, journal, heirloom, or object as a way to motivate students and gain interest in the lesson. This idea can even be extended class-wide to form a museum of artifacts (Chapin, 2006).
By using authentic objects and experiences, students begin to see that social studies is a collective view of the world and relationships. Photos can be analyzed and compared to modern day living. "Trade books, observations, real life experiences, videos, field trips, skits, dramatic reenactments, simulations, and investigations are but a few of the many active learning strategies that can promote knowledge and skills"(Chapin, 2006, p. 169).
Multiple Intelligences
It is possible to use Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (1983) in the planning process of a social studies unit. The musical cadence of "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred and ninety-two" is remembered by many. Some people may have a memory of a school play of George Washington cutting down the cherry tree. The following are ways to assess using the multiple intelligences (Herrell, 2004) and can be adapted to social studies content:
1.Linguistic − Have students write in journals, compose essays, and engage in creative writing.
2.Logical/Mathematical − Have students solve logic problems and real-life simulations.
3.Bodily/Kinesthetic - Students should construct and perform skits/plays of social studies themes as an expression of their learning.
4.Visual/Spatial - Students can create graphic organizers, charts, maps, or videos to demonstrate their understanding of concepts and/or relationships between concepts.
5.Interpersonal - Use cooperative learning strategies for students to exercise learning in community on a major classroom project.
6.Intrapersonal - Have students write reflective journals about their perceptions of their own learning, and how they can improve it.
7.Musical - students can analyze a song either for its musical patterns or its lyrics and their meaning.
8.Naturalist - ask students to keep a log about their observations of physical geography: types of landforms, rivers, mountains, etc., and reflect on how these things can best be preserved.(TeacherVision, n.d.)
Bloom's Taxonomyand Questioning(Bloom's Taxonomy Wheel enhancement here)
Analyzing the construct of higher order thinking as it applies to classroom methodology became a major educational agenda with the wide-ranging examination of Bloom's Taxonomy of educational objectives. In the context of using Bloom's as an instructional model, higher order thinking can be categorized as thinking that takes place in the higher levels of the hierarchy of cognitive processing. "Bloom's Taxonomy is the most widely accepted hierarchical arrangement of this sort in education, and it can be viewed as a continuum of thinking skills starting with knowledge-level thinking and moving eventually to evaluation-level thinking" (Thomas, 1997, p. 1).
Hammond cites Weiderhold in giving a common example of the application of the major categories in Bloom's Taxonomy by applying the taxonomy to the Pledge of Allegiance:
·Knowledge statements ask the student to recite the pledge. Example: "Say the pledge."
·Comprehension statements ask the student to explain the meaning of words contained in the pledge. Example: "Explain what indivisible, liberty, and justice mean."
·Application statements ask the students to apply understandings. Example: "Create your own pledge to something you believe in."
·Analysis statements ask the student to interpret word meanings in relation to context. Example: "Discuss the meaning of 'and to the Republic for which it stands' in terms of its importance to the pledge."
·Synthesis statements ask the student to apply concepts in a new setting. Example: "Write a contract between yourself and a friend that includes an allegiance to a symbol that stands for something you both believe in."
·Evaluation statements ask the student to judge the relative merits of the content and concepts contained in the subject. Example: "Describe the purpose of the pledge and assess how well it achieves that purpose. Suggest improvements." (Hammond, n.d., pars. 2-7)
Bloom's taxonomy can be used to help the learning activities take on a deeper cognitive level as well as incorporate emotional learning or the affective domain to lodge the learning in long-term memory. The cognitive domain can also aid in questing strategies during instruction. The knowledge level being taught in social studies is over-emphasized, when perhaps the synthesis and evaluation levels might be more effective (Herrell, 2004). For example, during an inventions unit, students at the synthesis level might be asked, "What might happen if you combined______and ______?" Or for evaluation, a student might be asked, "Do you agree with ______, and how did you decide?"
Assessment Principles
It is necessary to understand what characteristics should be inherent in assessments when customizing for students and instruction. Teachers will need to determine what qualifies as an effective tool of assessment aligned with the chosen goals and instructional strategies. The assessment should competently measure the objective and be created so the student performance is measured accurately. It is important to identify components necessary in assessment from a professional perspective and understand elements identified by those who are interpreting teacher effectiveness. According to the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (2007), 10 characteristics of effective assessment are identified as a key part of the planning process for improved student learning. To make assessment as effective as possible, it should reflect "that learning is a complex process that is multi-dimensional, integrated, and revealed in student performance over time" (par. 3). The importance of knowing where your students are performing is paramount. "Good assessment is based on a vision of the types of learning we most value for students and how they might best achieve these. It sets out to measure what matters most" (par. 2). Victorian Essential Learning Standards apply the learning standards and show how they are incorporated into the assessments that are given and created by educators. Determining what principles are identified in the educational environment can empower a teacher's planning when creating assessments.
Benchmarks
Each benchmark should have a different assessment. Benchmarks are the measured levels of student performance for mastery of specified standards. They can be determined and identified by the state, district, or the type of assessment tools being used. This number can be summative unless data is available in a formative manner as in the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) ( assessment tools. The NWEA assessment offers assessments tied to reading and math standards; it, too, is taken at the beginning, mid-year, and at the end of the year. Each assessment offers measured data tied to specific standards and establishes where each student is and should be performing at a designated time. Curriculum assessments may also help to identify where a student's performance should be and can indicate areas to focus on for mastery. Teachers have these types of resources available to plan instruction and progressive assessments aligned with the needs of individual students.
The data can also be applied to a class, grade level, or school, and used to set goals and measure progress overall. It is important to know what tools are being used in the environment where instruction is measured. It gives a concrete starting point to evaluate where a student, class, grade level, school, etc., is in relation to the benchmark and then plan the instruction required to sequentially work towards the determined goal. "Students need varying opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge based on the teaching" (Watson, 2008, par. 2). This can empower teachers when planning the sequence of growth for the students they are interacting with on a daily basis. Sharing this information with students and incorporating their input can further fuel the potential for successful mastery. Identifyinglearning outcomes and effective instructional strategies, measured by good quality assessment that work toward the benchmarks with student input, can strengthen effectiveness and student mastery.
Students should be included in this process, especially in the beginning and monitoring stages of achievement. "Research shows that when students are involved in the assessment process by co-constructing the criteria by which they are assessed, ...they learn more, achieve at higher levels, and are more motivated" (Davies, 2007, p. 31). When teachers have data indicating where students are performing and wheretheyneed to achieve, it should be shared with and clarified for students. This can promote ownership and can make tasks meaningful. If what is learned and what is used to assess the learning is relevant, the effectiveness may improve overall because students are more engaged Helping students understand the purpose of what and why they are learning can take the stress out of testing. Giving students choices of assignments and tasks and the assessment that can be used to prove mastery improves their achievement (Davies, 2007).