Chapter 9 – Motivational Methodology in Social Studies Learning Topics The Construction of Knowledge in Social Studies Integration in the Social Studies.

Chapter 9 – Motivational Methodology in Social Studies

Learning TopicsThe Construction of Knowledge in Social Studies

Integration in the Social StudiesNarrative in the Social Studies ClassroomCooperative Structures in Social Studies

Simulations, Drama, and Dance in the Primary and Junior

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education Canada 9 - 1

The Construction of Knowledge in Social Studies

In earlier chapters, you have read about the standards of the discipline of Social Studies. These standards help teachers to guide the selection and creation of strategies for their Social Studies programs.

Use of the strategies that support the standards of the discipline helps to ensure that the program is viable, dynamic, and interesting for students, while providing the basis for both deep understanding of complex concepts and a platform for questioning and inquiry.

To consider the ways that teachers can most effectively approach the construction of

knowledge in Social Studies, we can use the elements of differentiation (as discussed in Chapters 2 and 10).

To provide appropriate differentiation in a classroom, teachers must consider instructional variations in the content, the processes, and the required products students are to provide as evidence of their learning.


Social Studies: Innovative Approaches for Teachers

Consider these Ideas to Differentiate Content…

Identified through provincial and territorial guidelines

Usually expressed as a measurable or observable action that would identify students’ learning

Often described as a theme (e.g., Local Community, Medieval Life, etc.) in primary and junior contexts

Can be connected to learning in other subject areas through integration of the curriculum



Consider these Ideas to Differentiate Process…

Inquiry that is teacher directed, or could be partially or fully student directed

Formulation of questions

Use of sources, both primary and secondary, to locate and examine information Analytical and critical viewing Classification and comparison Analysis/ Interpretation of information

Using and creating graphic organizers to sort, classify, connect, examine, interpret, discard, highlight, and construct new understanding

Exploring and using a variety of communication techniques (e.g., bibliographic conventions, media, graphics, tables and charts, oral, visual, and written combinations, displays/posters, drama and simulations)

Connecting the language of the discipline to concepts; developing appropriate vocabulary



Consider these Ideas to Differentiate Products

Teacher identified Student identified Negotiated between teacher and student Demonstrate deep understanding of concepts and relationships,

cause and effect, change over time Provide opportunities for ongoing growth



More Ideas to Differentiate Content

Are non-intrusive; the products students provide as evidence of their learning evolve as part of the learning and develop over the course of the learning; learning and the assessment of the learning are seamless

Reflect the questions that directed the student’s work Authentic; the products have personal meaning for each student and reflect that

student’s current level of understanding Acknowledge the limitations and purposes of formal testing Focus on assessment for learning rather than assessment of learning Make use of assessment to provide new learning opportunities.



Understanding Authentic Assessment

Authentic assessment is crucial to effective learning.

The students must be provided with opportunities to demonstrate what they know and understand about the topics being studied, in ways that match their dominant learning styles.



Authentic assessment includes assessment for three purposes:

Assessment to find out what the student already knows and understands about a topic (diagnostic assessment)

Assessment to find out how the learner is progressing in understanding as learning opportunities evolve (formative assessment) so that strategies for learning can be adapted they are not leading to effective learning

Assessment to determine the student’s cumulative learning related to the topic (summative assessment).



Why use Authentic Assessment?Only through engaged reflective practice can we ensure that more effective approaches to assessment are used in our programs. More effective formative assessments will provide ongoing opportunities for students to develop understanding, provide specific ongoing feedback as students work toward demonstrating their understanding, and give support to achieve the targeted learning, to the level that each student requires.

This type of assessment celebrates what students have learned rather than measuring what they have failed to learn.



Knowledge Acquisition Approach vs. Authentic Assessment Approach

These two approaches to assessment differ in their:

beliefs about learning Social Studies

tools used for assessment

use of the assessment data



In the Knowledge Acquisition Approach

Knowledge is assessed at one point in the learning.

Data is collected from a single source.

Belief that there is an important body of Social Studies information that all students should acquire dictates how assessment is done.



In the Authentic Assessment Approach Knowledge, understanding, and skills are assessed

throughout the learning and detailed feedback from peers and teachers provides the student with information to improve their understanding and the demonstration of their understanding.

Data collection is on-going; the highest and most consistent level of achievement is sought.

Social Studies is viewed as a transformative discipline and understanding is individually constructed through guided experience.



In the Knowledge Acquisition Approach

The tools of assessment:

Tend to be paper and pencil tests

Require lower level learning (e.g., memorization of facts, selected responses); “glorified recall”

Terminal; tend to happen at the end of a unit of study.



In the Authentic Assessment Approach

Many approaches are used to collect a variety of assessment data. Student has input into what is assessed and when that happens. Examines deep understanding and higher order thinking evidence (analysis,

synthesis, evaluation, and creative efforts). Assessments respect and reflect the student’s learning style preferences;

choice is evident. Ongoing; the student has many opportunities to adjust evidence of their

learning and pursue individual preferences about what to learn within a topic.



Use of Assessment Data in a Knowledge Acquisition Approach

The assessment data:

Provides a single mark to measure the level of success.

Summative; tells the students how well they did with attaining the preferred body of information.



Use of Assessment Data in an Authentic Assessment Approach

Evidence of learning is collected from many sources.

Assessment is formative and ongoing; learning does not stop so that assessment data can be collected; the assessment and learning remain seamless.



Questioning and Product Options to Support the Construction of Knowledge in Social Studies

Teaching young students to ask questions at increasingly complex levels of understanding is a pivotal skill for the Social Studies learning.

In Chapter 3, we examined the variety of questioning approaches and stems that can be taught to young students to help them develop a questioning habit of mind.



Teaching Young Students to Use Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy of questions can also be aligned to appropriate products that will allow students to develop diversity in how they demonstrate learning and also, eventually, allow them to select a product that will focus their thinking at higher levels.



Using the Bloom’s Taxonomy Wheel

To use the Bloom’s Taxonomy Wheel to identify a product for assessment, the teacher or student can choose a product from the outside arc, a process from the middle arc, and match it to the content for a particular topic at the Bloom’s thinking level identified by the inside arc.



Bloom’s Taxonomy Wheel



Integration in Social Studies

One of the strengths of Social Studies as an area of study is its focus on telling the stories of our developing nation.

Because story is central to the discipline, Social Studies also provides a unique vehicle for the development of integrated units of study.

Integrated units of study are those that combine learning expectations or goals from more than one subject area.



Sample Integrated Activity

Students are asked to engage in a Thanksgiving exploration at the local museum. The teacher has spent the last two weeks helping students to make early settler outfits to represent the style of dress of the early 1700s. They have created and tested many recipes from the time period and packed their foods for a picnic lunch.

Students will engage in traditional games on the lawn area beside the museum and

have made some of the toys they will use for this purpose from authentically available tools and materials.

While at the museum, students will engage in a quest to find examples of clothing,

foods, utensil, tools, and toys that they can identify. They will be asked to examine each authentic artifact for its similarities and differences from those they have researched and created.

What makes this activity rich and interesting?



The Value of Integration

Integrated activities can provide many starting points for the engagement of students with interests in diverse areas. There is something for everyone to do and to connect with through their learning strengths.

The richness of the task provides many entry points for students and many opportunities for students to make meaning of new experiences through social interaction with classmates.

An additional advantage of integration is that it can conserve learning

time. In a crowded curriculum, opportunities to use one experience to promote learning in many areas afford the teacher some flexible and creative use of time.



Narrative in the Social Studies Classroom

Students of all ages love a good story. In Social Studies, teachers have many opportunities to use story to demonstrate an idea, to exemplify a concept, to provoke controversy, and to challenge complacent thinking.

Literature designed for any of these purposes can provide a rich source of support materials for Social Studies.



Assessing Narrative ResourcesTeachers will need to assess each story resource for: Age appropriateness: Reading level (if it is to be used independently)

Presentation style (Will students know all of the fiction or non-fiction conventions that are used in the resource? If not, how will you address learning about newly introduced conventions?)

Themes (Is this an efficient resource to support the intended learning?)

Level of engagement (Will this story interest these students?)

Range of perspectives (Is this story effective for representing desirable goals of inclusiveness? Tolerance? Stewardship? Conservation? Other concepts central to the values of the discipline?)

Are many perspectives on the problem and possible solutions tolerated? Invited? Denigrated?

Are the facts represented in the story true? If not, is the fiction intended and not a misrepresentation of fact?

Is the story conceptually accurate and does it use appropriate Social Studies terminology?



Characteristics of Fiction Text for Children

Exaggeration Animals may have some human characteristics Timelines may be distorted Characters may be fictional to represent rather

than report Solutions to problems may seem to come easily Illustrations are closely tied to text



Characteristics of Non-Fiction Text for Children

Represented as factual May contain bias or distorted perspective May include some fictional narrative to illustrate a point Characters are historically real Solutions to problems may not be presented Illustrations are likely to be loosely connected to text May contain valuable information in formats other than text (graphs, charts,

tables, timelines, maps, etc.) May include conventions from other sources (e.g., political cartoons) Key concepts may be bold, or italicized Definitions may be provided Cross-references may be embedded in the text Will include text characteristics such as glossaries, appendices, indexes, etc.



Using Text Resources to Support Understanding

Teachers need to be aware of the desirability of providing balanced perspectives in resources when they are selecting story text to support learning about a Social Studies concept.

Students should use these resources to enrich their understanding of key concepts such as:

The history of some of Canada’s social problems How context influenced historical decisions Individuals can cause social change Historical events can influence current events Authors always bring a perspective to their narrative and part of understanding the

narrative is understanding that perspective Empathetic responses to situations that have some similarity to the reader’s

experiences Stereotyping avoidance by digging deeper into the lives of individuals within a society



Cooperative Structures as Strategies to Teach Social Studies Socially

Meaning making is supported when students have opportunities to work together as they try to understand new ideas.

Cooperative learning structures are strategies that can be used within a lesson, at any point in instruction, to facilitate students’ interaction and to promote social learning contexts.

See your textbook for examples of cooperative structures that are useful with young children.



Simulations, Drama, and Dance in the Primary and Junior Classroom

The use of simulations, drama, and dance as instructional strategies comes from the constructivist approach to learning.

If children have opportunities to do things, meaning and understanding are improved.

Constructivism has five main principles that guide how experiences should be planned.



The Five Principles of Constructivism incorporating students’ prior learning into new learning opportunities

through the use of brainstorming, class discussions, and graphic organizers that relate ideas

supporting knowledge construction to help students make sense of new learning by helping them make connections, see patterns, and discern inconsistencies

engaging learners actively to allow them to restructure current schema to assimilate or accommodate the new learning by teaching them to examine their views critically and to undertake inquiry

recognizing the important role social interaction has in learning by allowing opportunities for discussion, comparison of ideas, and perspective building

reflecting on learning to help students internalize ideas through both formal and informal processes

(Gibson, 2009)



Simulations, drama, and dance have a strong role in the delivery of effective Social Studies programs.

These strategies can provide the link that allows students to make mind-body connections to support their growing understanding, particularly where abstract concepts are being examined.



Chapter Review Instructional variations in the program’s content, processes, or

products can provide many possibilities for designing effective instruction in Social Studies.

Authentic assessment provides students with opportunities to demonstrate their learning in ways that match their learning styles.

Authentic assessment can be used for diagnostic, formative, and summative purposes.

Authentic assessment includes the provision of ongoing, specific feedback as students investigate and seek to demonstrate their learning.



Authentic assessment approaches are substantively different from knowledge acquisition approaches to assessment in their beliefs about learning, the tools used for assessment, and the ways the assessment data is used.

Bloom’s Taxonomy can be applied to teach students how to identify appropriate products and processes to demonstrate their learning.

Integration of Social Studies and other subject areas in the primary and junior curriculum can help to engage students in rich and diversified experiences that draw from the foci of many subjects.

Integration can conserve learning time.Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education Canada 9 - 34


Narrative literature can be used in Social Studies to deepen students’ understanding by providing opportunities to connect personal experience with a story.

Fiction and non-fiction text each have specific characteristics that will need to be taught to students to allow them to engage each type of text with success.

Several children’s stories and novels can be identified to align with fundamental concepts and topics in Social Studies.

If literature is selected to be used in Social Studies, it needs to be examined carefully for negative portrayals and stereotypes.



Cooperative structures can be components of Social Studies lessons to incorporate the social interaction and reflection opportunities that are critical to help students make meaning of their learning.

Kagan (1994) provides many examples of cooperative structures that can be used or adapted to the Social Studies classroom.

Social constructivism promotes activity in the cognitive, social, and physical sense to help students process new ideas.

Simulations, drama, and dance can support learning by providing cognitive, social, and physical stimuli to help students process new ideas and make mind-body connections.



Chapter 9 – Motivational Methodology in Social Studies Learning Topics The Construction of Knowledge in Social Studies Integration in the Social Studies.

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