ED T & L 737
Social Studies
The Ohio State University
College of Education
Dr. Georgene Risko
risko@axom.com
740-392-9037
What is the purpose of schooling? What is the purpose of the social studies? How does social studies fit into educational goals for students? This class will be designed to provide you the opportunity to examine interesting and effective teaching techniques and content knowledge which will assist them in acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to teach your students to become rational, human participants in a culturally diverse, interdependent world. Social studies is the one area of the curriculum specifically designed to prepare students to be active participants in a democratic and multicultural world. However, the course can serve as a catalyst to teachers' thinking about what active citizenship means requires, and how classroom teachers can promote it.
The purposes of this course are:
1. To encourage students to become critically reflective about their assumptions and teaching practices related to the social studies considered in light of current theories and debates in the social sciences and social studies.
2. To help students construct a coherent set of aims and purposes in the social studies that will inform their teaching.
3. To build students background knowledge and pedagogical skills for teaching the social studies.
Course Objectives:
Upon completion of this course it is my expectation that students will be able to:
1. Explain the goals of social studies relating them to the democratic principles of the U.S.
2. Utilize issue-centered teaching strategies and techniques, with emphasis on critical thinking, inquiry, problem solving, decision-making and social action.
3. Identify instructional themes and issues that tie social studies with other disciplines such as language arts, reading, science, mathematics, etc.
4. Design social studies lessons.
5. Integrate content and issues of equality and diversity into curriculum structures through lesson plans.
6. Discuss personal value orientation toward global, national, and local issues.
7. Incorporate various social science disciplines such as geography, history, political science, and economics into the basic framework of the social studies.
MIDDLE CHILDHOOD SOCIAL STUDIES EDU 737
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Assignment- Cooperative Learning Lesson
Possible Points- 25
Due Date- See sign up sheet
Assignment Integrated Unit for middle level
Possible Points 40
Due Date-February 26th
Assignment- Weekly Journal
Possible Points- 25
Due Date-See calendar for due dates
Attendance and Class Participation 10 points
SOCIAL STUDIES INTERDISCIPLINARY COOPERATIVE LEARNING LESSON
Each student will present to the class an interdisciplinary social studies activity using cooperative learning. COOPERATIVE LEARNING is a way of learning in which interdependent, heterogeneous groups of student's work together to achieve a common goal. Use at least one of the selected structures (see page four) in your lesson.
This lesson will be based on one of the thematic strands. They are:
1. Culture,
2. Time, Continuity and Change,
3. People, Places and Environment,
4 Individual Groups and Institutions,
5. Power, Authority and Governance,
6 Production, Distribution and Consumption,
7. Science Technology and Society
8. Global Connections
9. Civic Ideals and Practices
10 Individual Development and Identity
· It is the responsibility of the student to locate and provide the needed information and materials.
· Each member of the class is to be given a copy of the activity for his/her file, or you may e-mail it to the whole class
· The student should plan to arrive at class early the day on which they present their activity.
A copy of the lesson must be given to me on the day that you present.
· I will look for the following components in your lesson:
COMPONENTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING:
1. Cooperative goal structure - students work together to attain a shared learning goal. The participation of each member is vital to the accomplishment of the task.
2. Interdependence - the success of each member depends on the success of others. Each is encouraged to interact and develop a sense of responsibility to group members.
3. Heterogeneous teams - groups reflect a mixture of achievement levels, gender, ethnic groups, and language ability.
4. Tasks are highly structured - develop clear, detailed instructions that allow students to divide the work up into components for individuals to be responsible for.
5. Individual accountability - each member must achieve or master the content or skills. Group members work together to see that all members learn.
6. Success for all - each group's final score for the activity depends on the growth evidenced by each member (individual improvement score systems). Students are compared against themselves and not others allowing for the experience-poor students to experience success individually and to contribute points to the group score.
7. Team rewards - in addition to recognition of individuals' achievement, groups that exceed standard are rewarded through privileges, prizes, public displays of their work and achievement, etc.
Overview of Selected Structures
Structure Brief Description Functions
Academic & Social
Teambuilding
Round-robin Each student in turn shares something with his or her teammates. Expressing ideas and opinions, creation of stories. Equal participation, getting acquainted with teammates.
Classbuilding
Corners Each student moves to a corner of the room representing a teacher-determined alternative. Students discuss within corners, then listen to and paraphrase ideas from other corners. Seeing alternative hypotheses, values, problem-solving approaches. Knowing and respecting different points of view, meeting classmates.
Communication Building
Match Mine Students attempt to match the arrangement of objects on a grid of another student using oral communication only. Vocabulary development. Communication skills, role-taking ability.
Mastery
Numbered Heads Together The teacher asks a question, students consult to make sure everyone knows the answer, then one student is called upon to answer. Review, checking for knowledge, comprehension. Tutoring
Color-Coded Co-op Cards Students memorize facts using a flash card game. The game is structured so that there is a maximum probability of success at each step, moving from short-term to long-term memory. Scoring is based on improvement. Memorizing facts. Helping, praising.
Pairs Check Students work in pairs within groups of four. Within pairs students alternate - one solves a problem while the other coaches. After every two problems the pair checks to see if they have the same answers as the other pair. Practicing skills. Helping, praising.
Concept Development
Three-Step Interview Students interview each other in pairs, first one way, then the other. Students each share with the group information they learned in the interview. Sharing personal information such as hypotheses, reactions to a poem, conclusions from a unit. Participation, listening.
Think-Pair-Share Students think to themselves on a topic provided by the teacher; they pair up with another student to discuss it; they then share their thoughts with the class. Generating and revising hypotheses, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, application. Participation, involvement.
Team Word-Webbing Students write simultaneously on a piece of chart paper, drawing main concepts, supporting elements, and bridges representing the relation of ideas in a concept. Analysis of concepts into components, understanding multiple relations among ideas, differentiating concepts. Role-taking.
Multifunctional
Roundtable Each student in turn writes one answer as a paper and a pencil are passed around the group. With Simultaneous Roundtable more than one pencil and paper are used at once. Assessing prior knowledge, practicing skills, recalling information, creating cooperative art. Team-building, participation of all.
Inside-Outside Circle Students stand in pairs in two concentric circles. The inside circle faces out; the outside circle faces in. Students use flash cards or respond to teacher questions as they rotate to each new partner. Checking for understanding, review, processing, helping. Tutoring, sharing, meeting classmates.
Partners Students work in pairs to create or master content. They consult with partners from other teams. They then share their products or understanding with the other partner pair in their team. Mastery and presentation of new material, concept development. Presentation and communication skills.
Jigsaw Each student on the team becomes an "expert" on one topic by working with members from other teams assigned the corresponding expert topic. Upon returning to their teams, each one in turn teaches the group; and students are all assessed on all aspects of the topic. Acquisition and presentation of new material, review, informed debate. Interdependence, status equalization.
Co-op Students work in groups to produce a particular group product to share with the whole class; each student makes a particular contribution to the group. Learning and sharing complex material, often with multiple sources; evaluation; application; analysis; synthesis. Conflict resolution, presentation skills.
INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL STUDIES AND LANGUAGE ARTS UNIT
An interdisciplinary teaching unit will be developed for the intermediate level grades. The students will work in teams of three to complete this project. However, because of the size of the class there will also be two groups of four.
Social Studies/Language Arts Integrated Unit
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to give you experience in developing curriculum that is integrative and substantive. You should feel free to develop the unit in ways that are not restricted by the limits of your present classroom placement. Some parts of the unit will be developed in details and other parts more briefly described. You will develop a unit that specifically integrates social studies and language arts, but you should also feel free to include integration of any other subject.
General Unit Plan Requirements
Be sure to include the following characteristics with your unit plan:
Big Idea which helps to clarify the main them or ideas that your series of lessons will be addressing. Choose from one of the ten thematic social studies strands.
1. Culture,
2. Time, Continuity and Change,
3. People, Places and Environment,
4 Individual Groups and Institutions,
5. Power, Authority and Governance,
6 Production, Distribution and Consumption,
7. Science Technology and Society
8. Global Connections
9. Civic Ideals and Practices
10 Individual Development and Identity
Rational which helps to explain why the teaching of this series of lessons is important in the following areas:
· Why is developmentally appropriate
· Supports classroom goals and district, state, and or national standards
· Grade Level/proficiency/Course of Study Outcomes. Make sure that you explicitly state which goals and objectives will be met through your lessons and unit that correspond with the proficiency and course of study goals and objectives. It is appropriate to use language directly from printed materials on these topics. In addition, include a number of references to the objective, if listed.
· Promotes important learning for students and is relevant to their lives
· Use appropriate course readings to support what you are doing.
Unit objectives which helps the reader to understand what key themes, issues, and/or concepts you hope to have accomplished from the teaching of this unit. Be sure to have congruence with the Unit Objective and the Big Idea.
Lesson objectives should specify what you have the students to learn from each lesson that is being taught. These will be different from day-to-day.
Content. Include all the necessary materials that would be needed for each lesson. Do not list them all up front as one set of materials. Include them within the context of each daily lesson.
Activities. Be sure to include explicit, step-by step- directions of how the actual lessons will take place. Remember, steps should be clear enough for someone else to teach the lesson without your presence. Also, make sure that there are clear assessment measurements in place that take learning styles, grade levels, and stated goals and objectives into account.
Statement of expected outcomes:
· What do you want your students to learn-knowledge, skills and attitudes
· How will experience in this unit build on background knowledge and perspectives of students?
· What do you hope to learn from teaching this unit.
A unit plan for a one week period. While the goal is integration, you should be careful that each subject area has integrity and is not just used as a means to learning other subject matter content. An example of this would be using a social studies issue as the basis for a writing lesson without any substantive development of the social issue.
· Indicate which sections are for which method with color-coding to indicate difference subject areas. (For example, if the lesson play includes social studies, science and literacy place different colored dots to indicate which subject areas are included in each section).
Demonstrate attention to issues of diversity in terms of culture, class, gender, when appropriate.
Develop an evaluation plan for you unit that considers you big idea, concepts, and objectives.
· Include pre-assessment to get you ready for developing the unit
· Include informal and formal assessment
· Include formative and summative evaluation
· Develop a rubric for some portion of the evaluation
Demonstrate integration of technology in your unit.
For in-class presentation you will be expected to discuss the following:
· Big Idea
· Summary of the Rationale
· Unit Objectives
PRESENTATION OF UNIT FOR THE FINAL CLASS
· Develop a summary of your unit. The summary must include the following.
· Web-sketch or list of ideas and activities to integrate the curriculum
· Rationale-overarching goals for the unit
· Objectives-broad ones for the unit of study, not daily lesson plan objectives,
· Instructional Activities- which offer further development of the ideas noted on the web
· For the final class-You will distribute a copy of this synopsis to each member of the class (or you may send an e-mail attachment to all members) and give an oral presentation of your unit.
JOURNALS
The student will read the weekly textbook assignments and respond to these readings by answering designated questions in no less than one and no more than two typewritten pages. These are due on the dates designated.
Due January 15
Chapter two THE KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR ELEMENTARY SOCIAL STUDIES
1. Choose two or more of the NCSS thematic strands and include them in a lesson outline or activity.
Chapter four PRACTICE: HOW TEACHERS APPROACH SOCIAL STUDIES
1. Using a visual diagram, compare and contrast the role of the teacher in each of the three models of the social studies curriculum: child centered, society centered, and knowledge centered.
2. A fear expressed by opponents of child-centered approaches is that the students will not learn anything significant. How do you respond?
Due January 22
Chapter six- PLANNING FOR LEARNING
1. Most social studies lessons should be focused on a key idea. Give an example of a key idea and explain how you would try to teach it at a particular grade level.
Chapter seven-TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES
1. The Group Investigation or Project Method has great potential for developing the society-centered curriculum in social studies. What insights can you share for the union of these two ideas?
Due January 29
Chapter nine- DOING INQUIRY: CHILDREN AS RESEARCHERS
1. Social studies is often accused as being made up of facts, names, places, and dates for students to memorize. How do the ideas presented in this chapter enable students to transcend that problem?
1. Discuss three specific benefits you see resulting from the active involvement of elementary children in social studies research.
Chapter twelve-MAKING AND INTERPRETING MAPS
1. Discuss a variety of ways in which to engage elementary children in effective perspective taking activities to help them successfully grasp the concept of mapping.
Due February 5th
Chapter thirteen-INTERDISCIPLINAY THEMES FOR LEARNING
1. What would be the greatest learning advantages for engaging students in interdisciplinary activities? What might be the greatest challenges for the teacher when considering an interdisciplinary approach to social studies? Do these challenges outweigh the potential advantages/ Support you answer?
Chapter Fourteen- SOCIAL STUDIES AND LITERACY
1. Describe in some detail the role of the elementary social studies teacher as a facilitator of reading and writing skills for all children in his/her classroom.
2. Television and video games provide strong competition for reading at home. Generate a list of tips and strategies for parents as they combat the power of television and promote the power of reading.
Due February 19th
Chapter Fifteen- USING CURRENT EVENTS
1. Reflect on the state of your own knowledge of current events. Do you keep abreast of world affairs? How could you improve your knowledge, and how might you adapt those strategies to help your future students improve their knowledge of the world?
Chapter Sixteen-COOPERATIVE ENVIRONMENTS:
2. Make a case for the effects that social studies ought to have on the rest of the school day, such as recess time, lunch, other subjects, and so on.
Calendar
Middle Childhood Social Studies EDU 737
Winter 2002
Georgene Risko
Risko@axom.com
740-392-9037
January 8
Course introduction and overview
Cooperative Learning
January 15
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
12:00 -4:30
Overview and sampler of social studies teaching resources.
Pack your lunch
Chapter two and four Journal response due
January 22
Cooperative Learning Lessons
Chapter six and seven journal response due
January 29
Chapter nine and twelve-Journal response due
February 5
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
12:00 -4:30
In depth resource workshop Geography and History of Ohio
Pack your lunch
Chapter thirteen and fourteen-journal response due
February 12
NO CLASS
February 19
Cooperative Learning Lessons
Chapter fifteen and sixteen- Journal response due
February 26
Unit Due
Unit Presentation
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