EU464 Social Studies Electronic Toolkit

This journal article argues that First Nations history needs to be incorporated into Canadian History and Geography curricula rather than just being an additional chapter in the text (often the smallest of the chapters). Although these curricula are well intentioned, much more needs to be done to include the oral and written history of our First Nations peoples. The author believes that by including a diverse history of all Canadians we will guarantee a 'more harmonious' future for all Canadians.

In this journal article, Carol Arnold, a junior high school teacher shares her insights on an inquiry project she requires of her students. They investigate current natural disasters and related issues such as global warming and link them to the causal relationship between humans and their environment. This effectively allows the students to answer the questions of 'why study history' or 'why study geography' through their own research project.

This article attempts to convey why Cass Technical High School's students in Detroit continue to succeed in social studies even though the worsening social and economic situation in Detroit would suggest that students would be finding school more difficult. An anonymous study was conducted with 85 students enrolled in the social studies program at Cass Technical Highschool; the study asked the students to explain in their own words why they thought they and their peers in social studies did so well on achievement tests. Their responses were very similar, suggesting that the students really appreciated the enthusiasm and passion their teachers emmitted while teaching. The students also replied that the regular use of primary documents really hooked them into the topic about to be discussed. Regular use of internet sources for research and technology in the classroom was another favourite answer amongst the students. The students really appreciated the facilitation of deep discussions that included everyone and diverse opinions. Humour in the classroom, regular inclusion of images and field trips were all included in the reasons why students felt they continued to succeed in social studies. These teaching strategies are important for teachers to keep in mind when preparing units and lessons that they want students to get excited about and succeed in. This article is a positive reminder that effective teaching strategies really can make a difference; even when the odds are against you.

If anyone can tell me how I can add another tag to this that would be awesome! I thought I had the five all clicked but I guess not:(

I think if you click "Edit this post" under More, you can add tags.

Interesting journal article which sources recent research in brain research and research on constructivist theory to argue that the reflective inquiry tradition of social studies which has been shown to be a powerful model for developing a citizenship centered education, has been for the most part been unfulfilled in many social studies curriculum documents and classrooms. The article is important for any educational minister or teachers who are involved in developing curriculum for social studies. Article also gives some background and reasoning for ensuring that the students play an active role in conducting in class investigation well the teacher's acts as facilitators (Accountable Talk).

I must admit it took me a little bit of work to find a meaningful article and I am not sure how I even ended up finding this article. Michael Levine starts out addressing the difficulties many students struggle to understand our diverse cultural and sometimes perceived dull Canadian History. Levine mentions Canada has a vast amount of Canadian Literature that is rarely referred to. At first I almost discarded this article as I thought it became to literature oriented, as I read further I realized that this was a good strategy to integrate learning across multiple disciplines. Students love stories we as teachers could integrate some of these great Canadian stories into our reading we could tie real life stories to the dates and circumstances of the time. After all who doesn't like a good story?

Research on the relationship between a physical environment and learning confirms that the physical environment strongly influences not only academic learning but also behaviour in general. This is why we tend to see more elementary school classrooms with different visuals and tactile stimuli the students can interact with. The article provides a few different ideas on how we as teachers can get students involved and interested in social studies. The article closes by saying, beyond being educative, building a physical classroom environment is exciting when it reflects and expands upon students' understanding of themselves and the world makes them feel a part of their classroom community. Lessons about sense of community and the world will not only help students now but it will help them for many years to come.

In this article Jennifer Tupper argues for a new approach to teaching history; a rediscovery or re(hi)storation which not only examines the male dominated view of history, but also the influences others to critically approach historical documentation for bias and partiality. I found her text formatting and insertion of italicized documentation to be particularly relevant and persuasive. It demonstrated how we as History teachers can allow spaces for 'breaking news' that might otherwise be overlooked, so that we are not perpetuating this narrow perspective.

Found this journal article written primarily for education professionals, in which the author explores B.C and Canada's social studies curriculum in the age of globalization. In her belief the "absent curricula" is failing to create students who are well informed global citizens. The paper explores the reasons why are curricula is failing and provides suggestions as to how to address them. In addition the article does a great job of comparing our Canadian social studies curriculum to the U.S and U.K curriculum. The article goes on state that In "order to develop a better understanding of our world today, as well as foster critical thinking, students should be introduced to the histories of many nations, both past and present." In addition the paper emphasis the importance of authentic assessment, rather than testing of rote learning. The author also suggests that teachers should mark social study students based on more globalized themed projects and assignments rather than multiple choice, fact-based tests.

This great newspaper article printed in The Halifax Commoner gives a good description of the teacher I think we all would like to become. William is a secondary school teacher in Nova Scotia which believes that history can be meaningful to the students, if a teacher can show them how it relates to their own lives. Once the teacher is able to make this connection, students become engaged and understand history's relevance. However, with the limited time allocated towards teaching history in elementary and secondary it can be difficult to teach lessons which incorporate a critical-thinking aspect in them. What students (in most) cases are left with is lesson plans that are overburden with dates and boring facts rather than a lesson plans that is able to engage students in meaningful discussion and debate. Drawing from statistics from the Historica-Dominion Institute in 2010 the author paints a very dismal picture of Canadians historical knowledge and the current state of our history curriculum.

This is a research seminar paper written by a student from York university. She argues that the current Ontario curriculum for Primary and Junior Social Studies needs to be changed for several reasons. She argues that the current curriculum is exclusive to minority groups that include immigrants, people from the gay, lesbian and bisexual community, people of colour and kids from non-nuclear families. She stresses that the curriculum is written from a Eurocentric perspective and does harm to the history of Aboriginals and coloured peoples. In a nutshell, the author believes the current curriculum does not generate a positive means of socialization for students. Even if you do not agree with her arguments, take note of the issues she raises and we can see if the new curriculum touches on these issues when it is released this year. As a teacher, this paper is a good reminder to create an inclusive class room environment and academic program, even if the curriculum fails to outline this as a guideline for teachers.

Take a look at this research journal article, (Falling voter turnout: Is it linked to diminished civics education?) it tries to shows a statistical correlation between the decline in Canadian voter turnout and a decrease in time spent on learning/teaching social studies. The authors of the report argued that this decline young voter participation reflects a "diminishing student awareness of some of the basic knowledge that informs a functional Canadian and global citizen." The article was released by the (CCL) produces a wide variety of material to aid researchers and policy-makers working in the realm of Canadian education. Good article for advocating for an increased focus on social studies in our school and a renewed focus on educating young Canadians about our cherished democratic system.

Hi again, found this short exert from Teaching and Testing to Continuous Learning and Improvement by John Jay Bonstingl which looks at the quality paradigm shift in education. The book was originally intended for teachers and curriculum development committees but offers useful information for anyone in the education community. The main body of the article is broken into two main parts. In the first part of the article the author compares the old paradigm of teaching and testing to the new paradigm of continuous learning and improvement and in the second part the author shows a comparison of these two techniques when applied to social studies. This could be useful as a point of reference when developing lesson plans which are intended to engage and stimulate students.

This article suggests to teachers that they engage their students in social studies by show how the content is connected to real life. To do this, the students should investigate the topic they have chosen from a menu of topics provided by the teacher in real life contexts; an example would be investigating hunger as a social issue by experiencing a food bank/shelter, speaking with the shelter director, volunteering, etc. In experiencing the curriculum content in the present time and in real life, the student will be more actively engaged in the material, see the relevance to his/her own life and the adult workplace, care about and connect with the task and possibly develop a passion for the issue. The article argues the strategy is beneficial to both the student and the teacher and offers concrete examples of the strategy as suggestions to readers who may be teachers searching for new ideas.

This blog which is intended for teachers and academics, uses a short summary of a discussion between two friends at an education- themed discussion salon to investigate the importance of learning geography and memorizing geographical facts. It describes why it is important in social studies (Geography) that a teacher shows a student the relevance of the material they our learning as a way of motivating them. This point-counter point conversational debate investigates some unique perspectives on both sides of the issue and gives the reader some useful examples of how we use geographical facts in our everyday life without even knowing it. This topic would certainly strike up some interesting discussion in any classroom.

a great website with free resources and ideas

This article describes the importance of integrating critical thinking into core curriculum subjects like social studies in order to improve student ability to transfer critical thinking skills into other areas of their lives. It describes the need to explicitly teach critical thinking skills and strategies to students by asking "challenging questions and require(ing) students to give evidence or reasons for their conclusions and opinions".