Page 140 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

112 Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students
concepts such as chronology, causality, change, conflict, and complexity to explain, ana- lyze, and show connections among patterns of historical change and continuity; identify and describe selected historical periods and patterns of change within and across cul- tures, such as the rise of civilizations, the development of transportation systems, and the growth and breakdown of colonial systems and others; identify and use processes important to reconstructing and reinterpreting the past, such as using a variety of sources, providing, validating, and weighing evidence for claims, checking credibility of sources and searching for causality; develop critical sensitivities such as empathy and skepticism regarding attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in different historical con- texts; and use knowledge of facts and concepts drawn from history, along with methods of historical inquiry, to inform decision-making about and action-taking on public issues.
As an example of the standards brought to life, the original NCSS standards docu- ment (NCSS, 1994) describes an activity in which small groups of primary grade students are engaged in studying photographs taken in their own community in the past. To begin, each group receives a different photo and is instructed to study the photo and answer questions such as: “What is the most important thing you saw in the photo?” “Tell two things about the photo that surprised you.” “Find two things in the photo that you might not see if it were taken today.” “Give the photo a title that accurately describes its contents.” Next, the groups exchange photos and each group repeats the exercise with a different photo. Then, groups that examined the same photo join together and share their responses. These experiences help students appreciate the fact that different observers will notice different details and take away different impressions from the same historical source. Follow-up activities include engaging the class in discussion of which photo was the oldest and having pairs of students collaborate to develop two illustrations of some aspect of the community (e.g., transportation, schools, and stores): one showing it as it appears today and the other as it appeared long ago.
In another example, students study the experiences of immigrants by talking with family, friends, or neighbors about their own or their ancestors’ immigrant experiences; gathering information about why the people left their homeland and what they thought about living in the United States; engaging in class discussion and developing lists of responses about each of these two topics; and conducting group interviews with recent immigrants whom the teacher recruits to come to the class for this purpose. Other examples included engaging students in learning about and then planning dramatic reenactments of interactions among key people involved in significant events in history, such as conversa- tions among people participating in the American Revolution.
Theory and research on teaching history for understanding suggest several principles that are particularly relevant to elementary teachers. First, focus instruction on the study of particular individuals and groups of people rather than on impersonal abstractions; study these people with emphasis on developing an understanding of and empathy for their contexts and points of view; and focus on general trends in the evolution of social systems rather than on particular dates or detailed chronologies (Knight, 1993; Levstik & Barton, 2005; Willig, 1990). Children in the primary grades are interested in and can understand accounts of life in the past that are focused on particular individuals or groups (e.g., cave dwellers, Native American tribes, the Pilgrims, or an individual’s life on a plantation or on the frontier in the eighteenth century). Fifth graders are interested in and can understand an introduction to a chronological study of U.S. history.
Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Teaching History for Understanding, Appreciation, and Life Application