Students Should Never Dislike Social Studies Again!

Confucius once said, “Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand” (Oxensine, Robinson, & Willson, p 1, 2004). I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. As a child growing up, I had some teachers who used direct instruction, had us read and take notes from a book, study and take a test. Once the test was over and I had gotten a C, everything I had learned was gone because we were on to something new. For this very reason, I absolutely abhorred social studies.

Once I went to high school, that same process was true, memorize for a test and then it was gone. Except they added midterms and finals forcing us to remember all of the information we had already forgotten. I struggled so much with this, and when the time came for me to get a job teaching, what class I was offered a job to teach? Yes, social studies. Feeling incredibly apprehensive, I started my year doing exactly how my teachers taught. I was realizing that I was losing my students interest and their grades were suffering. I saw, in these students, the horrible experiences I had and vowed to change my teaching style and make social studies fun and memorable. To this day, I still have students coming to me saying how much they love the subject and I owe this all to “Learning by doing.”

Cognitive learning theory is basically how information is processed (Laureate Education, 2011). Many students struggle with processing knowledge when it is spoken to them or if they only read it, just as it was my own struggle as well. In order to transfer information to long-term memory, Dr. Orey (2011) states that we should be using images as well as create connections. Concept mapping and virtual field trips are extremely wonderful examples of this.

Concept mapping is a tool that allows information to be organized in a visual way. This is extremely new for me, as I have never actually used one before. However, after reading about them, I am seeing an advantage for my own classroom. By starting out with a focus or essential question, the students will be guided through the process of creating the concept map (Novak & Cañas, 2008). From here, students find concepts or terms that connect with their original question. This visually shows the students how the concept works. As an example, I created a basic concept map for my social studies class. We have been working on geography. 

Concept Map for Geography

I would love for my students to create a concept map to show the learning that they have accomplished thus far. In the process of the creation, they should be able to visually see the connection between the themes and all of their characteristics, as well as possibly even including examples for themselves.

Virtual Field trips are also an incredibly new experience for me. Up until last year, I did not have access to a SMART board, so this would have been extremely difficult. Viewing this allows students to really experience the trip, without actually having to be there. As I teach about Ancient Civilizations, it may be interesting for my students to take a “trip” to Pompeii, Greece, or even through the Renaissance. Just a basic search from google, one could find numerous exciting trips that would correspond to curriculum. With my subject area, being able to see images and experience what it was actually like over 2000 years ago, would be incredibly beneficial.

Effective teaching strategies are also geared towards Cognitive Learning Theory. To be perfectly honest, I really did not understand the strategy of cues, questions, and advance organizers until reading the chapter. However, summarizing and note taking have become a real strength for me. Cues are hints to the student, questions bring back background knowledge, and advance organizers are basically an activity to organize the information they are about to learn (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). By incorporating technology into unit, students are able to create organizers, see rubrics, design graphs and charts, or create a multimedia presentation. Summarizing and note taking can be done the same way. Instead of paper and pencil, using technology adds something for the students. Although paper and pencil can still be used, note taking and summarizing are nowhere near what they used to be. Outlining does not really work for children. Using 2-column notes, concept maps, or pictographs allows the students to work within their strengths. With this, they should achieve at a higher rate than being forced to use a strategy that they do not understand.

I am hoping to include or of these strategies into my every day teaching. As a matter of fact, I would really like to include concept mapping. What I find unfortunate is that I only have two computers in my room and a lack of availability in the computer labs. Any suggestions on how to make this a successful task?

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). [Webcast]. Cognitive Learning Theory. Baltimore: Author.

Novak, J. D., & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them, Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 01 2008. Retrieved from the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Web site. http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf

Oxendine, C., Robinson, J., & Willson, G. (2004). Experiential learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.