Knowledge in social studies is presented in many ways. The first, and most common, comes in the form of textbooks. Personally, I hate textbooks (especially history textbooks). I feel textbooks give students a very generic and boring view of history. This generic and boring view of history given in textbooks is definitely the #1 cause of statements such as "Why do we have to know this?" and "History class sucks." Textbooks are fine to use a guide through history but using them as the only source of knowledge in a history classroom can really kill the subject matter for many students.
Another way knowledge is presented is through primary sources. Primary sources can be anything from newspaper articles, documents, interviews, etc., from a certain time period being studied. With the growth of the Internet and the easy access to information, the use of primary sources to present knowledge to students has become extremely popular. I feel primary sources give students a better connection to subject matter, especially in history. It's one thing to read about the Civil War in a textbook. But to read a newspaper article detailing the events of the Battle of Gettysburg will give a student a new kind of connection with history.
A third way knowledge is presented is in films. Documentaries and feature films lets students actually see what they are learning about. Personally, I feel pretty lucky that I'm going into a content area where there is an ENTIRE CHANNEL devoted to it. Not to mention, there are literally thousands of movies about historical events out there.
To sum it all up, there are ways to present knowledge in social studies everywhere. It's up to the teacher to use these ways in an interesting and worthwhile way in order to prevent hearing those seven deadly words: "Why do we have to know this?"
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6 comments:
One of my favorite parts of my AP history class was when we used primary sources to learn from, rather than the text book. I was fortunate to be in that AP class where it was necessary to be able to do DBQs for class and the exam. If anyone else took the class you know that DBQs involve the use of readings and primary sources to write an essay. While is wasn't fun to write the essays, it was very interesting to look at and analyze the primary sources, which included everything from pictures to long texts.
I have to say that throughout school, history was my least favorite subject. However, I think it is because as you said, textbooks lead to boredom in alot of cases. On the other hand I find that I could sit down and watch the history channel for hours at a time. Almost everything on there is really interesting. And it kind of helps to bring the boring textbooks to life!
i believe that history text books do serve a pretty important purpose because there is much factual information such as dates and names that need to be stated. i believe it is the teachers fault for relying on these text books as the only point of reference in the classroom. bringing a more interactive and practical approach to teaching history that relates to the students everyday lives might end the when are we gonna need this stuff comments.
History is one of the most awesome subjects simply because it has so many different banks of resources to pull information from. It truly is unfortunate that many students don't appreciate history as a subject. My History II teacher was absolutely amazing - his projects made us use present day ways of presenting old time events. He would let us listen to records of the music during the time period that we were studying while we wrote definitions. The defining moment in that class was when September 11th happened. September 12th we walked in (mind you, it was my first period class) and he had the radio on. We sat down and he simply said "Talk." He understood our age and our need to talk about something of that nature. He also knew it related in some ways to past historical events and that we could make the connections. When you have a history teacher who can manipulate information into ways that students can grasp events and concepts, you have a teacher that knows how to relay knowledge effectively.
I agree with you, and others that primary sources are particularly effective -- but one of the issues, I think, is getting students to wrap their head around the idea of primary sources, especially when the sources might present conflicting views. What are your thoughts on teaching this idea?
I agree that learning history from a text book is boring. I hated history all throughout middle school and high school because that's how my teachers taught it. As future history teachers we need to be aware that there are those fun ways to learn history that you mentioned in your post. Now we actually need to put them in practice and make history come alive.
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