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Social Studies Statement
The subject of social studies is very important for molding citizens. One
aspect of social studies is geography. In this artifact you can see how I used the
geography of Africa in a sixth grade classroom to teach more than just identifying
countries and capitals in a foreign place. My goal was to spark curiosity about a
place most of the students only thought about in broad generalities. Generalities are
a good starting place for learning about new places, but are best followed up with
case studies that explain the reason for the generality (Burlbaw, 1994). Geography
is less about political boundaries and more about how or why these political
boundaries were set and why people choose to live together with their own unique
customs within these boundaries (Schmidt, 2011).
“One purpose of geographic education in and outside the United States is
teaching about others with whom we cannot immediately interact” (Schmidt, 2011).
My hope was that by exploring these countries students would not only notice what
makes these countries exotic, but also what makes the citizens in these countries
familiar. Where a person lives also affects how they engage as a citizen. As Schmidt
(2011) stated, “understanding this sense of place also requires understanding how
that sense of place arose, for whom it exists, and the implications when it is asserted
or preserved.” The students choose which areas of interest to follow in this lesson
and I was glad they did not decide to look into the details of each country’s
government. Although each group of students had only around ten countries to
research, they were able to get a glimpse of the values and resources of the people in
their regions. In the whole-class exercises they could visually see how their
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countries of interest differed from those that others researched. They could also
reflect on how different their own lives and interests were compared to cultures
they studied.
On a personal note, I wanted to explore teaching a student-driven unit. I
wanted to move away from typical textbook lessons or lecture type of instruction.
After choosing the continent, the students voted on the topics for research. It started
a group conversation about what they wanted to know and how they would
measure or record the information to communicate it to the rest of the class. I only
allowed for six areas of interest that everyone had to stick to for the assignment.
This increased engagement with their research and academic conversation with one
another (Warren, 1996). The most efficient way to do research in today’s world is
with the Internet. We discussed what makes a reliable source online and the
students were left with their graphic organizers to complete their research.
Learning how to use technology as a tool is easiest done with experiential learning.
A skill all citizens need is the ability to keep up with the quickly changing technology
(Akengin, 2008). I hoped to find something to help with the mapping of information
online but could not find a resource so we had to use sticky notes and a large map
on butcher paper that we could show our information in some form. Ideally there
would be an online bank where students could input their information and the
information would be reflected on a map of the continent. If each area of interest is
on a different layers of the map, it would be easy to look at relationships within the
information. I could not figure out how to create this. A form of technology I wish I
had used is a shared Google spreadsheet to gather the info for all the countries. The
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physical graphic organizers made it easy for me to visually follow each student’s
progress during the class period but given the chance to teach this again, I would
use a shared spreadsheet. I could still track who input the data and it would create a
functional purpose for using this kind of tool.
Howell and Saye (2018) encourage teachers to remember their primary goal
in social studies instruction. If I can stay focused on educating for citizenship, I can
teach effectively no matter what content I am covering.
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References
Akengin, H. (2008). Opinions of prospective social studies teachers on the use of
information technologies in teaching geographical subjects. Journal of
Instructional Psychology, 35(2), 126–139. Retrieved from
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Burlbaw, L.M. (1994). Applying generalizations in middle school geography classes.
Social Studies, 85, 110-113.
[Link]
Hope, W. C. (1996). It's time to transform social studies teaching. Social Studies, 87,
149-151. DOI: 10.1080/00377996.1996.9958429
Howell, J. B. & Saye, J. W. (2018). Integrating theory and practice: Factors shaping
elementary teachers’ interpretation of an inquiry model for teaching social
studies. Journal of Social Studies Research, 42(2), 201–214.
[Link]
Schmidt, S. J. (2011). Making space for the citizen in geographic education. Journal of
Geography, 110(3), 107–119. Retrieved from
[Link]
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