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Importance of cultural diversity Essay
Importance of cultural diversity Essay
Developing critical thinking ability
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Meaningful Social Studies Introduction Today many classroom teachers are faced with the challenge of delivering meaningful and powerful social studies lessons to their students. This paper will explain how the learning cycle can help students gain a better understanding when learning new concepts. This paper will also give an example of a Native American Indians unit can be taught in a 4th grade classroom, covering the following contents: Location; Movement/Migration; and Individuals Groups, Institutions. In addition this paper will address the 4th grade performance objective(s) and Georgia social studies standards used in this unit. Additionally, this paper will explain and justify the use of various instructional strategies that could be used for the learning cycle and the phases of the learning cycle which can help students construct their understanding of these concepts and support these beliefs from three peer-reviewed articles. According to Sunal & Haas, 2011 the learning cycle is comprises of the following three phases: (a) The exploratory introduction phase; (b) The lesson development phase; and (c) The expansion phase (p.37). According to Bevevino, Dengel, & Adams, teachers using the learning cycle format can create a series of activities that are personally meaningful to the students and give students opportunities to practice critical thinking skills. These authors go on to explain that the goal of the learning cycle is to allow students to apply previous knowledge, develop interests, and initiate and maintain a curiosity toward the materials at hand" (1999). During the exploration introduction phase students are required to use prior knowledge and experience to solve a problem or series of problems (Bevevino, ... ... middle of paper ... ... 275-8. doi: 10.1080/00098659909599406 Georgia Department of Education., (2008). SOCIAL STUDIES GRADE FOUR STANDARDS. Retrieved July 29, 2011 from https://www.georgiastandards.org/Standards/Georgia%20Performance%20Standards/Gr4%20Social%20Studies%20Stds%202009-2010%205-27-09.pdf Meyerson, P., & Secules, T. (2001). Inquiry cycles can make social studies meaningful—learning about the controversy in Kosovo. The Social Studies (Washington, D.C.), 92(6), 267-71. doi: 10.1080/00377990109604014 Smagorinsky, P. (2010). The Culture of Learning to Teach: The Self-Perpetuating Cycle of Conservative Schooling. Teacher Education Quarterly, 37(2), 19-31. Retrieved July 29, 2011 from OmniFile Full Text Select database Sunal, C.S., & Haas, Mary E., (2011), Social Studies for the elementary and middle grades: A Constructivist Approach (4th ed) Boston, MA: Pearson Education INC.
Mifflin, Houghton. (2008). “Communities: Social Studies Curriculum, California Edition.” Series: Houghton Mifflin Publishers: Liberty Edition.
Prentice Hall Literature, The American Experience. Saddle River, New Jershey: Pearson Education, 2004. Print. Georgia Student Education.
Zinn, H. (2007). Why Students Should Study History. In W. e. Au, Rethinking Our Classrooms, Volume 1 (pp. 179-181). Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools.
I walked out of sophomore AP world history and human geography not only with greater historical awareness, but also the ability to utilize that awareness to engage with other disciplines. In pushing beyond mere identification and recall, APWH challenged me to shift away from passively accepting information at face-value, to understand how context and rhetoric framed knowledge. In constantly deconstructing the nature of historical and empirical evidence and the lenses in which objects of scrutiny are extracted-- especially those defined by conflict and transformations--, I learned to be conscientious of how authors’ material conditions and interests shaped the presentation of given narratives. In-class emphasis of making historical connections while reading became ingrained into my
Zimmer, Judith. 1993. We Can Work It Out. Culver City, CA: Social Studies School Service.
The literature on social studies enjoys a wide range of social movement’s definitions (Christiansen 2009). This diversity of such a definition is due to the fact that theorists tend to define the term of a social movement depending on their particular theoretical formulation (Diani 1992). Therefore, this section will first consider definitions proposed by group of scholars that represent four major trends in social movements analysis. These trends are as follow, the ‘Collective Behavior Perspective’ (Turner and Killian), the ‘Resource Mobilization Theory’ (RMT) (ZaId and McCarthy); the ‘Political Process Perspective (Tilly); and the ‘New Social Movements Approach’ (NSMs) (Touraine, Melucci). Then, a definition by Della Porta and Diani is selected as this definition has been centered on the most important characteristics of the social movements and oft-cited by researchers.
The first step of the learning cycle is information (experience), which continues on to meaning (reflection), then ideas (abstraction) and finally action (testing). As Zull describes in his book, when we learn we change; we do something new or better, or we may stop doing something altogether (2002). The completion of the learning cycle is heavily influenced on the stimulus of emotions and its influence on motivation, attitude, and behavior. The emotions felt during each phase of the cycle allows us to change and influences what happens next, whether we want to improve on something or stop doing
Texas Education Agency (1998). Texas essential knowledge and skills for social studies: Subchapter B: Middle school. Retrieved from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter113/ch113b.html
Teacher Interview summary: I had the pleasure of interviewing the 3rd grade social studies teacher Mr. Columbie. As I observed Mr. Columbie on a weekly basis, I would constantly ask him questions on how he taught social studies in his classroom and what strategies he uses. Mr. Columbie informed me that he teaches social studies in his classroom once a week, but now that the students are preparing for the FSA test he has not been teaching social studies. He explained that the schools main focus is that every teacher is teaching and building students math and reading skills. He also explained to me that he can get in trouble with the principle if he were to teach a full social studies lesson in his classroom. He told me that for social studies he is giving his students reading passages and the students are answering comprehension questions at the end of the reading.
The understandings I have gained from this course have completely revamped my way of teaching. I have been using the unit plan and curriculum map I created in this course for the past two years, and my students enjoy it more and more each year. Learning the importance of using big ideas and essential questions in the classroom have made me a better educator and has assisted my students in learning content and skills that they can transfer to all academic areas and into their everyday lives. I now use big idea and essential questions in every ...
...cases. The experiential learning cycle and its five stages are an effective means for helping students learn. Adults often learn best and rely on their own experiences when taking in new information. This learning approach allows adults to have that personal experience to fall back on. In most cases, they would not have that experience; in this situation, by providing the experience they will better understand and can formulate a plan for success.
The one belief I had about teaching that has changed since I began this unit, is that all teachers, more or less, taught in the same way. Perhaps this is a belief that I had formed from my own time at school, where all my teachers taught in the same way; some were more or less effective, but I wasn’t aware of them using theories or methods as such, more that they were or weren’t kind people. This belief has changed and it has really opened my ideas to the many creative models, and instructional methods a teacher can use.
Pike, B., & Bradley, F. (1997). The philosophy of teaching: Developing a statement that thrives in the classroom. Clearing House, 70(3), 125. Retrieved October 6, 2011 from http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9703092460&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Social Studies education is a subject in today’s schools that is undervalued. The study of social studies in schools help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world (Seefeldt, Castle, & Falconer, 2010). When participating in social studies class children are learning so much about who they are, where they came from, how to succeed in the world, and more. Most of what we teach daily includes an aspect of social studies. But, since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 de-emphasis or nonexistence of elementary social studies is the national focus because of high stakes testing (Sunal, & Sunal, 2008). Social studies
The second step in developing an engaging lesson is to focus on the instructional strategies used to help the students understand the material. It is at this point, the teacher decides what activities they will use to help address the “big ideas” or the “essential questions”.