What is Social Studies?

This post will be regarding my WEEK THREE experiences in Social Studies Methods: 

Monday 9/9/13:

Today's class began with a discussion of chapter one from our textbook. I learned that the formal definition of social studies was "a body of integrative knowledge, concepts, skills, generalizations, and theories in the social studies fields (history, economics, geography, citizenship, etc.)." We also talked about the powerful elements of social studies teaching: meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active. Dr. Smirnova demonstrated the final component of powerful elements. She engaged us in a whole class activity provided below.

Classwork Activity:
First, we were asked to TAKE A GUESS- Percentage of what we learn is retained in memory:

These are my guesses regarding memory:
When we read: 40%
When we hear: 40%
When we see: 40%
When we see and hear: 50%
When we discuss: 60%
When we do things: 70%
When we teach others: 85%

National Training Laboratories, Bethel, Maine
Research done by The Institute of Learning

The results:
Lecture (hearing): 5%
Reading: 10%
Audiovisual (see and hear): 20%
Demonstration (see): 30%
Discussion: 50%
Practice by Doing: 75%
Teaching Others: 90-95%



Upon learning these results, I plan to restructure my ideas about how to teach. I will implement more demonstrations, discussion, hands on activities and utilizing teaching others. Demonstrations, like teacher-modeling, will allow students to observe and then practice independently. This helps students make connections between the directions and the actual experience. Discussion is another important and useful classroom component. It establishes an open form of communication between teacher and student, as well as between student and student. By utilizing discussion, students can learn how to form and share their own opinions. Hands-on activities give students the experiences they need to apply a concept to a real-world situation. I am a hands-on learner, so I already can see the value of using this type of teaching practice. Teaching others was not a teaching practice I had even considered. Dr. Smirnova made a point in class, teaching others  is "learning something twice." That statement made it more clear to me as to why 90-95% of memory/learning retention occurs when students teach others.

Our class also discussed the structure of knowledge listed below.

Structure of Knowledge (Jerome Bruner):

- thinking about thinking; regulate own behavior; learning outcomes

- key ideas


- Common Core Standards


- Content/information


The structure of knowledge pyramid is helpful because it helps direct teachers to create unit plans that hit each step of the pyramid. Facts and content information should be introduced, but students need to work more closely with them for the facts to make sense. The Common Core Standards help establish concepts that can then be generalized to key ideas in the community, greater democratic society and world. Finally, and most importantly, students can begin to think about their thinking using meta-cognition. They can learn to make and express opinions, regulate their behaviors and accept others at this top portion of the pyramid. This meta-cognition is ultimately the goal of social studies, and any other, academic instruction.


Wednesday 9/11/13:

In preparation for today's class, we were each asked to answer a question from our chapter 11 in our textbooks. My question was "Distinguish between the roles of primary and secondary resources in studying history." I created a table, provided below, to better organize my thoughts.

In my future classroom, I plan to make use of both primary and secondary resources. Secondary resources, like textbooks, will serve to provide students with background knowledge of facts and events. Primary resources can then be used to extend that learning by giving students the ability to explore artifacts, museums and documents. The use of primary resources will give students the opportunity to make more personal connections.

To begin class, we discussed our unit plan design for fieldwork.

Direct instruction should be used to developing basic skills and providing information to students. Ideally, direct instruction would be used at the beginning of a unit or whenever a new topic or concept was introduced. Following direct instruction is inquiry. Inquiry focuses on the metacognitive skills of students which is expressed through research and exploration. Students are asked to show evidence in order to prove their understanding. After students have found sufficient evidence, they should be provided with the opportunity to share their findings in small groups. This is a social form of learning that can be facilitated by discussion or group projects. Individual projects can serve as the final section of the unit plan. Individual projects demonstrate each student's personal learning.

We practiced using artifact bags in class. Dr. Smirnova passed out bags to each of our groups. Our bag contained: 

- Russian cloth doll
- Teaching Certificate
- Photograph

Our five-person group decided that the best way to tackle this assignment was to choose one item to study in depth. Ericka and I chose to study the photograph. We quickly gathered that the woman in the picture was Dr. Smirnova based on her facial features. We noted that she was wearing a neckerchief, which could indicate a membership to a club or organization. The message on the back of the photograph was most difficult to work with. Ericka and I worked with Google Translate and it's Russian keyboard to try to decode the writing. Dr. Smirnova later informed us that this picture was taken at a mandatory teaching camp. She was judging a synchronized marching competition. 


Friday 9/13/13

To begin today's class, each group shared their artifact bag findings. We were encouraged to discuss each item in depth and to provide conclusions regarding what we learned. One of the unifying conclusions among all four groups was that this type of activity would encourage students to use their "detective skills." Students could use problem solving skills and explore the artifacts using technology. This would encourage higher level thinking skills, like observation and expressing opinions. Inquiry based instruction, such as this, will encourage students to explore. Inquiry based instruction can also help students prepare and become excited for future lessons.