Global and Social Studies Education

Save World History in Ohio: Sign the Petition!

2011-12-05T10:43:00.003-05:00

We've recently started an online petition to ensure World History is a required course for high school graduation in Ohio. For more context on this story, read the previous blog entry.

The names of supporters will be sent to the Ohio General Assembly to document our shared support of ensuring all students are prepared to understand the world and its people. It just takes a second to complete!

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Start an Online Petition »

Save World History in Ohio

2011-10-25T12:52:00.002-04:00

As a teacher educator, an avid voter, and a citizen deeply concerned about the future of the State of Ohio, I’m asking for your help in curtailing the devastating cuts made to the social studies curriculum by the Ohio State House. In its most recent decision, the Ohio State Legislature and the Ohio Department of Education decided not to include World History as a required course for high school graduation. The state representatives have also failed to include world history on its list of courses to be assessed. In the past 10 years, the education community has come to learn that if a course is not mandated or assessed, it’s usually not taught; especially, in such difficult economic times for schools. This unprecedented move by the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Legislature will have devastating consequences for our students, families, communities, and industry in an increasingly globally interconnected age.

The decision to not include world history as a required course could not have come at a worse time with our nation and veterans engaged in two on-going international military conflicts, citizens facing a global economic recession, and our world facing important global issues. The fact is that our State needs citizens, consumers, workers, and businesses that are knowledgeable about the rest of the world and its people. More so than any other generation, today’s students will be actors on a global stage (Merryfield & Wilson, 2005). Their lives will be shaped by events, movements, and issues from all corners of our planet. Their economic, political, and environmental decisions will have a significant impact on our world. World History is one of the most important courses in the entire social studies curriculum geared towards preparing students to work with a diverse citizenry committed to a deeper level of understanding in order to confront both local and global challenges.

We need your support in mandate that World History is a required course for graduation in the State of Ohio. There are three steps readers can take to meet our goal of ensuring World History stays a vibrant course offering in Ohio:

1. Discuss this issue with family, friends, and community leaders. Be sure to emphasis how the decision to not include World History as a graduation requirement or to mandate the state-wide assessment of World History in the State of Ohio will be devastating for our State’s mission of cultivating globally attuned and active citizens.

2. Contact your elected leaders and voice your concern about the failure to include World History as a required course for high school graduation.

For more information on this topic, please, feel free to review the advocacy efforts of the Ohio Council for the Social Studies: http://ocss.wordpress.com/advocacy/legislative-updates-and-contacts. I have also blogged about this crisis at http://globalandsocialstudieseducation.blogspot.com/2010/09/state-of-social-studies-educatin-in.html .

I look forward to your support in helping to educate the youth of Ohio in a globally interconnected age.

A Recent Article Published in TSSP

Saving World History in Ohio's Schools

Mobile Technology as a Disruptive Force (for Better and Worse) in the Social Studies Classroom

2011-04-22T16:57:00.001-04:00

---Part II: Harnessing the Educative Potential of Cell Phones in the Social Studies Classroom

Adults and teens are increasingly turning to their ‘smart’ cell phones to communicate and access information. In fact, over 85% of adults and 75% of teens have a cell phone (Pew Internet, 2009). While the number of cell phone users continues to grow, teens in particular have a special relationship with their cell phones. Besides a communications portal with friends and family, these smart wireless devises serve as MP3 players, web browsers, can stream videos/audio, and allow for interactive gaming. Cell phones have in many ways become a social utility knife for teens. In a recent report, over 47% of teens polled said their social life would end or be worsened without a cell phone, and 57% credit their cell phone for improving their life (CTIA & Harris Interactive, 2010). Recent research points to teens feeling comfortable and knowledgeable in using their cell phones to access information and communicate with friends and family (Lenhardt, 2009). For instance, teens frequently note their preference towards texting rather than talking on the phone (CTIA & Harris Interactive, 2010). Texting allows students to multi-task, enter into and exit conversations quickly, and have these conversations on their own terms.

Mobile technologies like smart phones, iPads, netbooks, and laptops are disrupting/changing our relationship with both time and space. People can now access information when they want it and where they need it. For instance, people can get directions, translations, the weather, and even local news on the go. Learning is no longer land or line locked. Mobile platforms are allowing individuals access to information that is practical, up-to-date, and in-demand in real time. In a recent Pew Internet and America Life Survey, 30% of all mobile using respondents stated they use their cell phones to follow local news and 42% use their phones for weather updates (Pew Internet, 2011). These devices are allowing on the go citizens the ability to access information and communicate.

While there are still significant numbers of citizens without access to computers or the Internet, new statistics have emerged that teens in low-income households are more likely to access the Internet on their cell phones than on household computers (Pew Internet, 2009). Rates of cell phone adoption drastically outnumber the pace of low-income families adopting household computers (Pew Internet, 2009). In the United States, a disproportionate number of low-income African American and Latino households often struggle to have stable and meaningful access to computers and the Internet (U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 2010). Mobile technology access and use could hold the potential to be a major disruptive force in combating the digital divide (Kim, 2008). In fact, teen cell phone owners from low-income households are most likely to use their cell phones to go online. 41% of teens living in households with incomes under $30,000 used their cell phones to go online, while only 23% of teens living in households with incomes over $75,000 used their cell phones to go online (Pew Internet, 2009).

As already presented, mobile technologies can serve as a familiar and meaningful tool for teens to communicate and access information. However, many would argue that these same mobile technologies can be disruptive forces that impede student learning. Nationally, most schools ban students from using cell phones on school grounds (Scholastic, 2010). Many administrators and teachers see these digital devices as nuisances that distract students from learning. Such noted distractions include students sending text messages in class, browsing the Internet, and taking pictures/video in school. As a result, many schools and school districts have adopted a zero tolerance policy for students using/having cell phones in schools (Lenhart, 2009). Other mobile technologies like iPads and netbooks are still scarce in schools, and most students are discouraged from bringing their personal laptop computer/mobile device to school. In a recent conversation with a high school Principal just outside Cleveland, Ohio, he stated how the school goes to great lengths to inform both students and parents that personal laptops, cell phones, and other mobile devices are not allowed in school. Even though the school lacks enough working computers and has an overly sensitive/ highly unstable Internet connection, the fear of these devices being used inappropriately or damaged/stolen discourages their use and integration. Learning in the classroom is still very much land, textbook, and chalk board locked.

In particular, the social studies has been notorious for its teachers being over-dependent on lecture, rote-learning, and textbooks (Loewen, 2010; Shaughnessy & Haladyana, 1985). As a result, students often cite the social studies as one of their least favorite subjects (Martorella, 1997). These instructional methods often leave students thinking at lower-levels, bored and questioning the importance of the social studies. Marc Prensky, in Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants (2001), comments that when teachers incorporate new technologies into their instruction they genuinely get students excited about learning and often tap into their culture and digital interests. In an age where technology has redefined commerce, communication, advocacy, the integration of these technologies in the social studies classroom can help students gain the skills and etiquette needed to use these technologies appropriately. Furthermore, this familiar technology (cell phones and mobile devices) can serve as an important platform in getting student excited about the social studies (Greenhut & Jones, 2010). Yet, there has been very little discussion/ research in regards to ways in which mobile technologies (like cell phones and iPads) can be used to promote student learning in the social studies.

Below, I’m including my top 8 Applications for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch for mobile learning in social studies education:

1. The World Factbook 2011

• The World Factbook 2011 is an app that allows students to examine global demographic information, populations trends, navigate land masses and water ways, and better understand physical and cultural geography.

2. My Congress

MyCongress is a portal that provides detailed information about your elected U.S. Congressional officials. Track their news, video and Twitter feeds. Look up their official Open Congress profile or contact them directly. MyCongress helps you get in touch with your government.

3. We The People

We The People is an app that allows students to review and explore the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

4. Stake the States: Lite

Stack the States is an app geared towards elementary students that makes learning about the 50 states fun! Students will get to watch the states actually come to life when playing a colorful and dynamic game! Users get to learn state capitals, shapes, state locations, and can actually touch, move and drop the animated states anywhere on the screen.

5. World Wiki

Get quick access to detailed demographic information of almost 250 countries around the world. Users can access information about the capital, government, population, area, GDP, currency and the flag of any country as displayed on the Wikipedia site. Best of all, the app is free.

6. The Civil War

150 years after the start of the American Civil War, HISTORY presents The Civil War Today, a ground-breaking app that allows users to experience the war as it unfolded, one day at a time, with daily updates that let you live the events in “real-time” over the course of four years. Users get to feel and explore thousands of original documents, photos, maps, diary entries, quotes, and newspaper broadsheets like never before.

7. iAmerica: The Pocket Guide to the US History and Presidency

American History at your fingertips! The iAmerica app offers users a complete reference guide to the life and history of the Presidents of the United States. This includes presidential biographies, images, and videos.

8. Oregon Trail

Westward, Ho! This app allows users to make critical decisions and solve problems as they encounter real historical characters and locations. These historical facts explain the perilous journey of the pioneers.

Harnessing the Educative Potential of Cell Phones in the Social Studies Classroom

2010-11-05T15:20:00.016-04:00

Nationally, most schools ban students from using cell phones on school grounds (Scholastic, 2010). In fact, many administrators and teachers see these digital devices as nuisances that distract students from learning. Such noted distractions include students sending text messages in class, browsing the Internet, and taking pictures/video in school. Chris Deibler, Principal at Pound Middle School near Lincoln Nebraska, recently expressed such an opinion when interviewed in the Lincoln Journal: “We never allow a student to have a phone turned on or use it in the building- ever (Anderson, 9-30-2009).” This zero tolerance policy for student cell phone use in schools is quite common (Lenhart, 2009). Even though districts, principals, and teachers have adopted strict standards against student use of cell phones more than 2/3 of teens admit using their cell phones in school when they shouldn’t (Lenhart, 2009).

Distracters in the social studies classroom have always existed. From passing notes to doing math homework in social studies, students have always tested the boundaries. Especially, since students cite the social studies as one of their least favorite subjects (Martorella, 1997). The field has been especially plagued by its large dependence upon bias textbooks and teacher lectures (Loewen, 2010; Shaughnessy & Haladyana, 1985). These instructional methods often leave students thinking at lower-levels, bored and questioning the importance of the social studies. Marc Prensky, in Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants (2001), comments that when teachers incorporate new technologies into their instruction they genuinely get students excited about learning and often tap into their culture and digital interests. In an age where technology has redefined commerce, communication, advocacy, the integration of these technologies in the social studies classroom can help students gain the skills and etiquette needed to use these technologies appropriately. Furthermore, this technology (cell phones) can serve as an important platform in getting student excited about the social studies (Greenhut & Jones, 2010).

Student Use of Cell Phones

Today’s cell phones hold unprecedented potential for both teachers and students in promoting learning. This holds special significance since according to a 2009 Pew Research Study, 71% of students aged 12-17 own a cell phone (Lenhardt, 2009). As teens get older, they are more likely to own a cell phone. For instance, 83% of teens aged 15-17 own a cell phone (Lenhardt, 2009). This number is growing rapidly, and students are more likely to own a cell phone than a laptop computer. From such basic functions as planners, clocks, and cameras to more smart functions like searching online encyclopedias and browsing the Internet, cell phones are evolving into sophisticated micro-computers. In fact, smart phones hold many of the same capabilities of computers. While smart phones are growing in popularity, this manuscript will learn towards the integration of basic cell phone functions in the classroom. These discussed applications include: Using text messaging to search and translate, sending out free notices to students and parents, making Power Point presentations interactive, and using cell phones to add commentary to a slide-show. These applications were selected for three reasons:

1. All of these applications hold great educative potential in the social studies.
2. While basic cell phone data and minutes rate apply, these applications are free to teachers and students.
3. These resources are user-friendly, and offer educators resources and strategies on the integration of these technologies into their classroom.

Student Use of Text Messaging : SMS (Short Message Service)

Teen use of text messaging has dramatically increased in the past few years. According to a new study, Teens and Mobile Phones Over the Past Five Years, from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American life Project, over 75% of teens that have a cell phone have unlimited text messaging (Lenhart, 2009). Moreover, more than half of all teens that text message send over 50 text messages a day, and one in three send more than 100 messages a day (Lenhardt, 2010). The Pew Report goes on to cite texting as “… the form of communication that has grown the most for teens during the last four years (Lenhard, 2009).” Between 2006 and 2009, the percent of teens that use texting to contact friends outside of school on a daily basis has gone from 27 to 54 percent. Face-to-face contact, instant messaging, mobile voice and social network messaging have remained flat during the same period, while use of e-mail and the landline phone have decreased (Lenhardt, 2009). The widespread availability of unlimited text messaging plans has “…transformed communication patterns of American teens, many of whom now conduct substantial portions of their daily conversations with friends via texting (Lenhardt, 2009)).

1. GOOGLE SMS

As students turn to text messaging at greater rates, Google Mobile has tapped into this technology to allow teachers and students to access a great deal of information. While Google is known as the Internet’s largest search engine provider, its platform of free mobile products holds great educative potential. Google SMS allows students to access real time information, definitions, translations, stock prices, and maps (Google SMS, 2010). Thus, Google SMS is a dictionary, newspaper, atlas, translation guide, and calculator all in one. All students have to do is text their inquiry to GOOGLE (466453) and then the provider will text message results back. Of course, handsets must be SMS capable and students should be authorized to send text messages as standard text messaging rates apply.

When teaching an economics course, students could be asked to look up the actual stock quote of Target Corporation via Google SMS. To do this, students would have to text sock tgt to GOOGLE (466453). Or, if students wanted to review a map of Cleveland, Ohio, they could text Map downtown Cleveland Ohio to GOOGLE. Besides reviewing stock prices and maps of locations around the world, GOOGLE SMS provides a host of other features social studies teachers and students can tap into to promote learning.

2. Joopz

Joopz is a service offered by MobileSphere that allows teachers the opportunity to send out mass text messages to students and parents using their PC keyboard (Joopz.com, 2010). No longer must teachers use the microscopic keypad on their cell phones to individually alert parents to upcoming important dates (i.e. parent teacher conferences, field trips, or test dates). Social studies teachers can also use Joopz to send out text message reminders to students about their homework assignments, due dates, and other announcements.

When you sign up with Joopz, you provide your mobile telephone number along with your name, e-mail address, and a password. Once verified through an e-mail, Joopz provides users with a variety of different resources that have important instructional implications:

A. Teachers can send out mass group text messages to students and parents. Furthermore, the website easily allows teachers to manage which participants receive text messages. The teacher can also browse the history of all text messages distributed.

B. Teachers can construct SMS messages in advance, and then schedule these messages to be sent out on a future date/time.

The free basic account allows teachers to send 10 outgoing messages to each group per month. For those users that receive the SMS messages, only standard text messaging rates apply. The Joopz service will appeal to teachers wishing to correspond with parents and students through bulk text message, while not having to type individual SMS messages using the tiny cell phone keys.

3. Yodio

Using the Internet and a cell phone, students can add their voice and audio to a slide show. After creating and uploading a slideshow to Yodio, students call in from their cell phone to add music or a narrated track (Yodio.com, 2010). First, users are asked to complete a simple registration process whereby they construct an account that includes the cell phone number they will record from. This number is private, and will never be shared or published. Yodio will use this phone number to recognize the user when they call in to add narration or audio to a slideshow. After users have created a profile and activated their account, they are free to upload slideshows and pictures. Then, users call 1-877-MY-YODIO (699-6346) and follow the prompts to make their recording. After recording their narration, users return to their account at Yodio.com to pair their recording with the slideshow/photo. When students are done, they can share their narrated slide show by publishing it to the web, embedding it in a blog, or by e-mailing it to others.

In American History classes, students could be asked to create slideshows on an important topic in U.S. History. For instance, students may be asked to create a slideshow on the Civil Rights Movement. After researching key figures, events, and issues, students could compile important pictures and images into a slideshow. Then, using their cell phones, students could narrate their slideshow and discuss important themes, concepts, and historical figures. After adding audio to their presentation, students could publish their narrated slideshow to the web or house it on their teacher’s or school’s website.

4. PollEverywhere.com

Social studies teachers are amongst the worst abusers of Power Point presentations and slideshow software to deliver instruction (VanFossen, 1999; Whitworth & Berson ,2003). Social studies teachers often use slide shows that promote lower-level thinking, rote-memorization, with an over-abundance of text (Gabriel, 2008). While there are many ways social studies teachers can enhance the quality of their slideshow presentations, there’s one cell phone SMS based technology that makes PowerPoint slide shows interactive and engaging for students.

Polleverywhere.com is a device that allows teachers to embed interactive polls and quizzes into their PowerPoint presentations (Polleverywhere.com, 2010). Students can respond to questions and vote for a particular selection in the social studies through sending text messages. This technology actually lets students use their cell phones to text their votes and opinions into a PowerPoint presentation. The free plan requires that visitors sign-up for an account (they ask for the usual information: name, e-mail address). The free plan is also limited in that only 30 votes can be recorded per poll (so the teacher has a class of fewer than 30 students each student can vote once per question).

After signing up for an account, the teacher has a choice of what type of poll they want to create and embed into a PowerPoint presentation. They can include a fixed response poll whereby students select from possible choices (much like when the audience is asked to text their responses to American Idol). Another type of poll offered is for opened response answers. After the teacher poses a question to students (such as ‘What are your feelings on global warming?’), students can use their cell phones to text their response into the presentation. As student respond, their answers automatically appear in real time into the PowerPoint presentation. The teacher needs a stable Internet connection and computer to display these results to their students. Also, students should be aware that standard text-messaging rates apply.

Conclusion:

Today’s cell phones hold unprecedented potential for both teachers and students in promoting learning in the social studies (Friedman, 2010; Greenhut & Jones, 2010). This hold special significance since according to a 2009 Pew Research Study, 71% of students aged 12-17 own a cell phone (Lenhart, 2010). This number is growing rapidly, and students are increasingly gaining access to more sophisticated cell phones. From such basic functions as planners, clocks, and cameras to more smart functions like searching online encyclopedias and browsing the Internet, cell phones are evolving everyday. This article described ways in which social studies teachers can harness the potential of cell phones in the classroom. The discussed applications included: Using SMS (text-messaging) to search and translate, sending out free reminders to students and parents, making Power Point presentations interactive, and using cell phones to add commentary to slideshows.

As students’ access to cell phones increase (Lehnart, 2010), and as new applications and software becomes available, cell phones will continue to grow in their functionality and capability. While it is true that cell phones can be distractions, much like watches and comic books of previous generations, the real test comes in social studies teachers harnessing the massive potential of cell phones in the social studies classroom. Instead of banning all cell phone use, teachers and administrators should encourage proper cell phone etiquette and their appropriate usage as learning tools. Like any classroom technologies, students should learn that having the ability to use this tool is a privilege that can be taken away if used inappropriately. Simply disallowing and prohibiting the use of cell phones by students, especially, as they grow in educational capabilities, marginalizes their ability to serve as 21st century tools that allow students to access information, communicate, and present new information.

The State of Social Studies Education in Ohio

2010-09-03T20:26:00.000-04:00

Ohio has recently completed the revision of its social studies standards. While the standards have been adopted (ODE, 2010), school districts will be given some time to transition from the old social studies standards to the new standards. Under the previous model, students were expected to pass an end of the year high school graduate test in social studies (The Ohio Graduate Test). This assessment was/is aligned to the Ohio Academic Content Standards for the Social Studies (OACSSS). These standards included such areas as American History, World History, Economics, American Government, Geography, and People’s in Societies, Citizen Rights and Responsibilities, and Social Studies Skills and Methods. Ohio’s standards were amongst the first in the nation to be both content and skills based. Besides encouraging 21st Century skills and understandings, the Ohio Academic Content Standards in the Social Studies promoted an interdisciplinary approach to teaching the social studies.

Besides updating the Ohio Academic Content Standard for the Social studies, the state is also in the process of updating its high school graduation requirements. While the final requirements are still in flux most social studies professionals believe the new assessment system will be a big change from its predecessor. The old graduation requirements required that all students:

1. Complete 3 Units of Social Studies: ½ a unit must be in American History and another ½ must be in American Government.

2. Successfully pass an Ohio Graduation Test in the Social Studies. This assessment gauged students’ knowledge in American History, World History, Economics, American Government, Geography, and People’s in Societies, Citizen Rights and Responsibilities, and Social Studies Skills and Methods.

As a result of these previous graduation requirements, school districts found it essential to offer many social studies options to students. These options included: American History, World History, American Government, Economics, Geography, Sociology, Psychology, and Problems of Democracy/Current Events. These course offerings were essential in having students meet state graduation requirements AND prepare students to pass the social studies section of the Ohio Graduate Test.

However, the new standards and proposed assessment system makes significant cuts to the social studies curriculum. In the new system, students are still expected to complete 3 units of social studies for graduation: ½ unit must be in American History, ½ unit must be in American Government, and ½ unit must be in Economics/Financial Literacy. This means that students are able to take another 1 ½ units in Geography, Sociology, Anthropology, etc.

Open publication - Free publishing - More social studies

Most troubling to social studies educators and researchers in Ohio is the disregard for world history and global issues in the new social studies standards and proposed assessment system. For high school students to graduate in the new assessment system, students are not required to take world history nor are they assessed in world history in an end of the year exam. The new assessment system is very nationalistic and will only test student knowledge in American History and American Government. In the previous assessment system, all students were assessed on their knowledge in world history. Thus, school districts found themselves having to offer students world history in order to prepare them for the state graduation test. Since it’s not tested or required for graduation, many fear world history will not be taught. Simply put, social studies course offerings will dry up and valuable resources and teachers will be reduced. This reduction will have a significant negative influence on student understanding of world events, global issues, and the profound impact globalization has and continues to have politically, economically, environmentally, and socially. All this at a time when students in Ohio and around the United States need to understand the influence of global and international forces the most (i.e. Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the current global economic recovery).

In order to call concern to this issue, I along with the Ohio Council for the Social Studies (OCSS) am advocating changes to the proposed social studies graduation and assessment requirements. The stakes are too high for students not to have the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate a complicated and connected global system. In order to turn out informed, active, and responsible citizens in a global age we must ensure all students receive training in world history and global studies.

(Below is a copy of a letter sent to my Ohio House and Senate representatives emphasizing the importance of their support for a strong P-12 Social Studies curriculum in Ohio Schools. Feel free to use my letter as a template in contacting members of the Ohio State House)

As a teacher educator, an avid voter, and a citizen deeply concerned about the future of the State of Ohio, I’m asking that you work to curtail the cuts made to social studies education in Ohio. At a time when our nation needs the cultivation of historically aware and geographically literate and economically attune citizens, the Ohio Legislature has weakened social studies instruction in k-12 education.

I ask that you work together with your colleagues to introduce the following measures to restore the vitality of the social studies for our youth. This Educating Ohio’s Citizen’s for a Globally Interconnected Age Bill should do the following:

o Restore K-8 assessments
There is ample research and evidence to illustrate that schools reduce the instructional time and resources for social studies when it is not part of the state assessment program. The “suspension” of the 5th and 8th grade Ohio Achievement Tests for social studies will likely continue (according to legislators) in the next biennium and will erode the social studies program K-8, leaving Ohio’s students unprepared for more rigorous studies at the high school or college level.

o Require world studies as part of the 3 required social studies credits
By including world studies in the Ohio Graduation Test, Ohio assures that all Ohio public school students will receive a survey course in modern world studies. The assessment program that is replacing the OGT may focus only on American History and American Government, relegating world studies to an elective status. We believe that students cannot be prepared for college, careers, or engaged citizenship without a basic understanding of modern world events and trends, such as globalization. Currently, Ohio Revised Code lists ½ credit in American History and ½ credit in American Government as requirements. Since there are three Carnegie Units in social studies required, adding world studies to the required courses would not add to what schools currently offer, and because schools already staff for world studies, it would not add costs to schools.

o Require assessment of world studies as part of the high school assessment program. World studies is currently assessed on the OGT and needs to remain part of the assessment program as Ohio transitions to the end-of-course exams.

I look forward to your support and vote towards successfully educating the youth of Ohio in a globally interconnected age.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brad M. Maguth
Professor of Teacher Education
Social Studies Program Coordinator
Hiram College

Using Technology in the Social Studies Classroom

2010-07-27T00:52:00.005-04:00

I have been experimenting with a few different digital technologies that teachers of the social studies can infuse in their classrooms. Here's an example of one technology (xtranormal) that allows students and teachers to create short animated videos on different topics. Users control the characters, the audio, the script, and even camera angels. Also, after publishing their video, users can use Microsoft Movie Maker to add titles, additional audio, and edit the footage. Here's an example of one video I created using these programs. In this video, Larry King Interviews Sarah Palin on the current state of social studies education in k-12 education.

Social Studies & GLBT Issues: It's Time for a Celebration

2010-07-05T14:43:00.028-04:00

Social Studies and Controversial Issues:

If there ever was a discipline predicated on the development of citizens that are equipped to reasonably address controversial issues it’s the social studies (NCSS, 2010). Dianna Hess at the University of Wisconsin is at the forefront of this march to help prepare social studies teachers in addressing controversial issues. One of the key features Dr. Hess discusses is the need for students to audit their biases and approach issues with an open mind.

Analyzing My Preconceived Notions: Gay Pride 2010

The reason I bring this up is I yielded this advice as I attended the 2010 Columbus Gay Pride Festival. Knowing that issues like gay marriage and gay family rights are controversial in many parts of the United States, especially, here in Ohio, I sought to better inform myself of this controversy. To better understand my perceptions on this issue, I drew on my initial impressions of what this parade/festival might look like. This included images of a massive amount of angry religious protesters yielding hateful signs and ugly rhetoric. In fact, I envisioned the Stonewall Riots and clashes with police. I also imagined overt expressions of same-sex sexuality and loud dance music (mainly Cher and Madonna). This is the picture painted in my mind as a result of being socialized into this issue, mainly through the media. I can’t help but think of how many students and citizens today hold this stereotypical image in their mind.

Bearing Witness: Gay Pride 2010

What I encountered at the Columbus Gay Pride Festival was nothing like I had imagined. With more than 200,000 people attending this celebration (yes, that’s more that the seating capacity at The Ohio State University’s Football Stadium), it was clear that this was a celebration. In fact, the theme of the festival was ‘Celebrate Our Families’. I came away from this parade with a sense of guilt and frustration that stemmed from the media distorting what these celebrations/festivals were about. What I discovered was that Gay Pride was more than music, parades, and a few protesters. It was about the GLBT community telling their neighbors, their community, and their world ‘we exist’ and we’re good, law-abiding, tax-paying individuals that for too long have been treated as second-class citizens. What was even more impressive was that a vast number of those in attendance were heterosexuals telling their fellow citizens, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, and grandchildren we know you ‘exist’ and we love you.

What I Learned: Who Gets to Define The Controversy?

This year’s theme, Celebrate Our Families, served as an opportunity for the GLBT community to showcase their families to the world. I define family not as one mother and one father but as something more powerful and important. I see a family as an exclusive group of people that love and care for one another during times of joy and even distress. When I think of family, I think of an underage son knowing that he’s made a mistake and had too much to drink, can’t drive, and ops to call the person he trusts the most in this world, his father. While at the Pride Festival, I saw lesbian mothers reading to their children, gay fathers playing Frisbee with their children, and moreover, I witnessed family members having fun and taking solace in their membership in a loving family unit. I think it's time for the social studies, which has been largely quiet on this issue, to embrace, accept, and foster this healthy sense of family. Attending this Pride Festival allowed me to gain a clearer image of what it means to be a family (even if the care-givers are GLBT). Upon leaving the festival, I gained a new picture of family. This picture is one of a proud grandmother holding a sign the read, “My grandson’s gay and I love him”.

The Social Studies & Controversial GLTB Issues: Running with its Tail between its Legs

While scholars like Dr. Hess have done a wonderful job depicting the need to embed best practice in addressing controversial issues in the social studies, the field as a whole has “Run like a dog with its tail between its legs” in addressing GLTB issues. In a recent search of Social Education, the Social Studies’ most influential journal for teachers of the social studies, there was an appalling lack of attention to this vital issue. One could attest that the journal has failed in ALL areas to acknowledge the existence of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender citizens, let alone their families. Thus, the field predicated on citizenship education only facilitates the second class citizenship or marginalization of GLBT individuals.

In my review of the literature in Social Education, only one manuscript published back in 2003 spoke to this issue directly. Ironically enough, this article by Stephen J. Thornton, Silence on Gays and Lesbians in Social Studies Curriculum (see Social Education 67(4) p. 226-230) described the lack of attention to GLBT history in the social studies. Furthermore, it was placed near the back of the journal. One could argue that the editors should have read Dr. Thornton’s article more closely. While scholars like Stephen Thornton and Margret Crocco (See Gender and Sexuality in the Social Studies, Handbook of Research in Social Studies Education, p. 172-196.) have spoken directly to GLBT issues in the social studies, there’s still a lack of support, vision, and research on this topic. No longer should the social studies muddle and closet GLBT citizens, their families, and their histories under the classification of ‘controversial issues’. Much like I witnessed at the Columbus Gay Pride & Festival, it’s time that the social studies begin to celebrate the contributions of GLBT citizens, their history, and their families. Especially, since today’s media tends to be more concerned with fueling the social wars to sell newspapers than accurately informing the next wave of America’s citizens. All members of the social studies community should demand greater resources to help teachers educate their students on the existence of GLTB citizens, their families and their histories. These resources should include more lesson plans, activities, research, and even a Bulletin from NCSS.

To learn more about GLBT History See:
GLBT History

To learn more about GLBT Issues in Teaching the Social Studies, see:

At the Elementary Level:

Wade, R. (1995). Diversity Taboos: Religion and Sexual Orientation in the Social Studies, Social Studies and the Young Learner, 7(4), pp. 19-22.

At the Middle/ High School Level:

Teaching Tolerance (2010). Anti-Gay Discrimination in Schools. A project by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Accessed on 7-5-2010 at http://www.tolerance.org/activity/anti-gay-discrimination-schools

Current Research on GLTB Issues:

Crocco, M.S. (2008). Gender and Sexuality in the Social Studies. In Levstik & Tyson (Eds.), Handbook of Research in Social Studies Education (pp. 172-196). New York, NY: Routledge.

Crocco, M.S. (2002). Homophobic Hallways: Is Anyone Listening?” Theory and Research in Social Education, 30(2), p. 217-232.

Mayo, J.B. (2007). Negotiating sexual orientation and classroom practice(s) at school. Theory and Research in Social Education, 35(3), p. 447-464.

Thornton, S.J. (2002). “Does Everybody Count as Human?” Theory and Research in Social Education, 30(3), p. 178-189.

OCSS 2010 Presentation: Researching, Producing, Presenting

2010-04-15T12:30:00.007-04:00

On April 15th, 2010, over 45 social studies educators and professionals from around Ohio and the United States showed up to participate in a discussion on the role of technology and global education in the social studies at The Annual Conference of the Ohio Council for the Social Studies. This discussion stemmed from a recently published article in Social Education entitled, Researching, Producing, Presenting: Students’ Use of Technology for Global Advocacy in Social Studies (Maguth, Yamaguchi, & Elliott, 2010).

OCSS Res Prod Presenting Tech and Global 2010

In this session, Dr. Maguth discussed the importance of teachers getting students to use technology constructively to forge a global perspective in the social studies. In order to make the presentation as interactive as possible, and to demonstrate the use of a new technology, Dr. Maguth used PollEverywhere. As discussed in an earlier posting (see below), PollEverywhere is a free program whereby teachers can create online polls that students can respond to through the use of their cell phones/text messaging. These polls can be embedded in Power Point presentations, and hold great instructional utility.

While the use of PollEverywhere added life to the discussion, the bulk of Brad's presentation focused on the Global Advocacy Project, a project implemented by a STEM High School in the Columbus, Ohio area. In this project, students used technology meaningfully throughout three different phases of the project:

Stage 1: Students as Researchers- Students used technology (mainly, the Internet) to research the eight UN Millennium Development Goals. This included researching the progress/lack of progress some states are making towards achieving the goals. Students were encouraged to access multiple sources, thinking critically about the data collected, and use SKYPE and e-mail to interview experts on their topic.

Stage 2: Students as Producers- After using technology to research state progress towards fulfilling the MDGs, students were asked to create a proposal to help accelerate progress on one specific MDG. For instance, after researching a lack of progress in regards to Ensuring Environmental Sustainability (MDG 7), one student proposed a potential multilayered solution to help developing states (mainly, in Sub Saharan Africa) achieve access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Then, she used iMovie to create a digital documentary on her proposal.

Stage 3: After using technology to create a digital artifact (i.e. Narrated Slideshow, digital documentary, website, etc.), students were asked to use their work for advocacy and to encourage greater societal awareness on this issue. Thus, the teacher created a YouTube channel whereby all students uploaded their artifact. Besides uploading these videos to YouTube for public display, the teacher embedded student videos on the school's webpage. Furthermore, many students embedded these movies on their Facebook and Myspace pages to draw attention towards their research. Besides presenting their artifacts digitally, the students also presented their research in person to members of their local community.

Students used technology appropriate and constructively in all three phases of the project. With over 87% of all students aged 12-17 using the Internet (Pew Research, 2010), and 80% of all teachers believing students' use of technology positively influences their learning, Dr. Maguth encouraged all social studies educators to devise instructional methods and assessments that both foster 21st Century Skills (Researching, Producing, Presenting), and appeal to the interests of students living in a digital and global age. Especially, since the majority of student technology use in the social studies encourages low level thinking (Friedman, 2008).

To access Dr. Maguth's presentation at the 2010 OCSS Annual Conference, Click Here

To access Dr. Maguth's global education lesson plans and activities, Click Here

Social Studies: Fostering the Next Wave of Consumer Citizens, Investors, and Entrepreneurs

2010-02-25T11:11:00.007-05:00

In the midst of one of our nation’s worst economic disasters, employment and job creation have been at the forefront of national, state, and local agendas. With unemployment well over 10%, citizens are demanding more out of their government to put people back to work and do more to improve wages. This was evident in President’s Barrack Obama’s State of the Union Address in January that almost entirely focused on job creation in the United States. As our nation’s businesses work to rebound, it’s clear that as a nation we have to look long and hard at creating the type of jobs that put Americans back to work, and pay a livable salary. Due to an increase in global forces, countries are now competing with one another for these ‘jobs’ of the future (‘green’ jobs, technology, marketing, etc.)

Knowing that k-12 education is the most fundamental national apparatus to prepare the next wave of citizens and business owners/managers with the skills, understandings, and attitudes necessary to help bolster the national economy, there needs to be a thorough examination of where ‘economic education’ fits into the curriculum. Furthermore, knowing that the marketplace is changing (due to both global and technological forces) we must ask our self as a nation whether our students are ready for this new global environment.

When looking closely at the different content areas, it’s clear that one area of study stands out in preparing the next wave of informed and skilled entrepreneurs and consumer citizens needed in these challenging economic times. Economics, public policy courses, global studies courses, and many other financial literacy courses are often housed in the social studies. For instance, as of 2010, all Ohio high school students must take course work in both economics and finances. The Ohio Department of Education has placed these courses under the umbrella of the social studies. The field charged with the preparation of informed and active democratic citizens has embraced the importance of students learning about key economic literacies such as consumption, production, and distribution (NCSS, Curriculum Standards, 2008). Now, under current economic pressures, states and national organizations are advocating the importance of the social studies to job creation and the nation’s economic health.

Harnessing the power of the social studies in a time of national need is not new. In fact, during WWII, the federal government used the social studies to “Mobilize a Nation to War.” No other discipline holds the capability to inform students and citizens of their rights and responsibilities in strengthening the republic. Thus, it is no surprise that the business community, legislatures, administrators, teachers, and institutions of the social studies are advocating a strong social studies education in bolster our nation’s economy.

What is a surprise is that while a strong social studies education holds so much promise in equipping future business owners/entrepreneurs and consumer citizens with the skills needed to invest in our country, the social studies has come under attack. In a time when the United States is engaged in two wars, an economic crisis, and critical political debates over the future of the nation, the social studies is being squeezed out of the curriculum. In elementary schools, the social studies is being eliminated due to an increased focus on reading, writing, and math (Wills, 2007; McGuire, 2007). What is most disturbing is that even when social studies is taught at the elementary level, it is often used only as an apparatus for literacy development (Maguth, Pending). This sort of approach completely ignores the call by the National Council for the Social Studies for elementary school teachers to infuse the many integrated disciplines of the social studies (history, geography, economics, global studies, etc.) in their teaching. The most influential journal for elementary school teachers, Social Studies and the Young Learning, advocates the importance of teaching key economic skills in their February, 2010 issue (see http://www.socialstudies.org/publications/ssyl ). However, with the social studies being marginalized and hijacked by an exclusive focus on literacy development in many elementary schools, these vital called forth economic literacies are often left out of teachers’ instruction.

At the high school and middle school level, the social studies has also come under attack. Due to a greater emphasis on teaching to standardized tests, social studies teachers often teach for rote memorization to increase scores on yearly tests (Heafner, 2006). Thus, the quality of social studies instruction can suffer greatly, making students dread their time in class (Shaughnessy & Haladyana,1985). This does little to further the mission of the social studies of fostering informed and active democratic citizens. Furthermore, with a national call to bolster STEM Education, and an increase in charter schools devoted entirely to Science and Math, the social studies is increasingly held hostage to a movement that devalues its worth and, at times, its existence.

Using Our Communities as Learning Laboratories in Social Studies

2009-11-18T15:50:00.012-05:00

One of the greatest features of attending The Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies is having the ability to talk with other social studies teachers from around the United States and world. As I sit here in the massive Georgia World Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia, I find myself reflecting on a conversation I recently had with a high school social studies teacher in Atlanta. This was one of those conversations that really got me thinking about actual teacher practice and student learning. The high school social studies teacher from Atlanta informed me of a recent movement in his district to implement ‘pre-packaged’ social studies curricula. All teachers have been instructed to use a curriculum guide, which is supposedly aligned to the state standards. This guide is filled with worksheets, lecture notes, and a thorough pacing guide to accompany the district mandated social studies textbook. When asked about how his students feel about this ‘pre-packaged’ curriculum, the social studies teacher in Atlanta told me they often find the lessons and activities dry and boring. He went on to inform me of how the curriculum encourages low level memorization and employs more of a traditional framework whereby students work independently to complete assignments. Administrators should be able to stop into any American History classroom in the district and all teachers should be covering the same material. Despite the obvious concern of not all students learning at similar rates and in like styles, I was even more troubled at the implications of this sort of ‘pre-packaging’ and abuse of lecture/ the textbook on student learning.

This was the very point I emphasized in my presentation at the NCSS Annual Conference (see attached Power Point below). The abuse of lecture, worksheets, and textbooks fails to connect students to their community and world (Loewen, 2009). In fact, this type of social studies curriculum is often perceived by students as boring and irrelevant (Schug, Todd, & Berry, 1984; Shaughnessy & Haladyana, 1985). Having had the opportunity to visit and learn about the wonders of this historically rich city (Atlanta), I was a bit perplexed at how teachers are often left incapacitated and ignorant on ways of using their community to teach students important concepts and skills in the social studies. For instance, students in Atlanta are often left to learn about the Civil Rights Movement through boring, outdated, and politically charged textbooks. Yes, in one of this nation’s most historically significant areas in regards to civil rights, students are left to learn these concepts through a textbook. It was in an upstairs bedroom of 501 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia whereby one of this nation’s greatest Civil Rights leaders was born. From his pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church, it was this king who inspired us to serve a great cause and be a “Drum Major for Justice.” This rich Atlanta, national, and world history is lost in a dependence upon textbooks (most of which are published in New York, Texas, and California).

In the social studies we have to rethink the ways in which we go about connecting future citizens to their community. Pre-packaged curriculums that treat the art of teaching like a science or the abuse of textbooks often discourage student interest in their community. Social studies teachers have an obligation to get students excited about participating in the social, economic, political, and environmental institutions in their community to make it a better place. With so much history, resources, and opportunities, teachers must begin to use the students’ local community as a learning laboratory. Through place-based education, teachers afford students authentic opportunities to serve, participate in, and engage their local community. For instance, in a study of globalization, students could examine the economic impact of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Students could interview city residents and business owners. In fact, students could even develop a walking tour of Olympic Park to see firsthand how their city is connected to the rest of the world. Students around the nation should be asked to explore and investigate their own communities. Teachers should ask students to study local politics, economics, geography, socio-cultural forces, and environmental issues.

Having taught high school social studies in rural Ohio, I can’t help but to think about ways in which I brought community leaders and activists into the classroom to discuss important local issues with students. This ranged from in class political debates with members of city council to students learning about ways to organize comunity projects from a experienced leader of a local nonprofit. In one activity, students interviewed local farmers on the influences of globalization. The students were amazed to learn how local farmers were very attuned to and dependent upon the global marketplace. These students began to think about the social studies in a whole new light. Instead of seeing history, economics, or government as a series of disconnected facts, names, and dates in a textbook, students were beginning to understand how concepts in the social studies influenced their everyday life. In fact, the social studies was being used to get students invested in and passionate about their community.

Place based education is one way in which students can learn concepts in the social studies through real life exploration in their community. This sort of learning is often authentic and meaningful to students. Students are usually excited about having these learning opportunities and are therefore more engaged (Promise of Place, 2009). Instead of fostering rote memorization from boring textbooks, place based education provides students with the opportunity to build connections between students and their community and from citizen to citizen. As social studies teachers, we need to take advantage of the learning opportunities afforded to us by our local communities. Ranging from returning war veterans, local business owners, neighboring organizations and institutions, to seniors that have watched their community grow, there’s so much promise in using 'place' and its people. This promise is predicated on social studies teachers using their community to foster those skills vital to informed, active, and responsible citizenship.

Presentation at the Annual Conference for the Social Studies: Place Based Education

The State of the Social Studies: Rhetoric and Reality

2009-10-30T10:58:00.011-04:00

Recently, I have been visiting social studies classrooms all across Northeast Ohio. These visits range from interviewing teachers, students, and principals about their views towards the social studies to actually observing social studies teachers. I must say that the greatest part of my job as Assistant Professor of Education is that I have the opportunity to make such visits and have these substantive conversations. All too often the theories we advocate for in teacher education are seen as disconnected and irrelevant to the ‘realities’ of the needs of today’s schools and students.

I’m reminded of an interaction I had with a pre-service social studies student at the conclusion of a college course. He asked me if I really believed that it was possible to “…hold all students to high expectations”, and to “… use the social studies to foster informed and active democratic citizens despite the challenges families, schools, and the field face.” My answer was short and to the point, “… I do believe we as teachers can never give up on any student… I believe a strong education to be the last best hope for a better and brighter future.” This sort of questioning the value and relevance of educational theory is all too common amongst both pre-service education students and actual social studies teachers. This really bothers me as it is my passion and profession to help prepare the knowledgeable, caring, and devoted social studies teachers; the kind we need to fulfill the goals enlisted by the social studies.

Harry and Rosemary Wong, in The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher (2009), describes how teacher education programs often fail to teach pre-service teachers what they really need to know in order to become good teachers. Being bothered and agitated by what is seen as the irrelevance of traditional teacher education programs, I have opted to spend as much time as possible during the past 4 months ‘living in the realities of social studies teachers and students.’ My goal was to better understand teacher practice, and student engagement in the social studies. Also, to better understand how schools, teachers, and students have changed since I last taught five years ago as a high school social studies teacher. I was amazed at what I found, especially, in regards to the value of a good social studies education.

The first question I asked myself as I conducted my observation was “Based upon students’ experiences in the social studies, what’s its relationship to their learning the skills, understanding, and attitudes necessary for democratic citizenship? What I found was that the majority of students either had their heads buried in social studies textbooks (being asked to jot down every important ‘fact’ on a worksheet) or they were bored out of their minds taking notes from uneventful lectures. I must say that at times I found it difficult to stay attentive. I can’t even tell how many times I heard the teacher disciplining students as they drifted off-task to remind them, “You’re going to need to know this for college.” Like it or not, students in the social studies are predominantly being asked to learn from textbooks and lecture. There was nothing social about these social studies classes. Students were being inundated with what textbooks and their teachers perceived as facts and universal truths. In these classrooms, the social studies was being used to teach a disdain for all things social. Students learned the importance of obedience, obeying authority, and writing down what others told them (i.e. textbook or teacher) without thinking critically about it. I now ask, given the rhetoric of the social studies (“fostering informed and active democratic citizens”), how close are we to fulfilling that purpose in America’s schools?

On the brighter side, I found many instances where students were actually being taught essential skills for good citizenship. What’s interesting is that many of these instances occurred OUTISDE of social studies instruction. One such instance included a group of students standing up against a bully. Before entering their social studies classroom, a group of students were waiting for their teacher to open the door. Upon waiting to enter, one of the male students in the class began to make fun of and ridicule a special needs student for her physical appearance. Which I thought was horrible on many levels, ESPCIALLY, since all the students just completed a section in their social studies text on discrimination and the Holocaust. Just as I was walking over to confront the student on his comments, I witnessed something amazing. Two girls at their locker close to the incident, who were non-participants in the class, confronted the bully. The two girls told the male student that words hurt, and they found his comments to be completely inappropriate. While their initiative to confront this bullying was inspiring, I found that the many students that witnessed this incident learning from the courage of these ladies. These bystanders had learned something very valuable about good citizenship from these two girls, something missing in many traditional social studies classrooms. These students, through their experience, came to understand how being a good citizen often means making the right and sometimes difficult decision.

As we consider the future of the social studies, we have to contemplate the type of future we say we want versus the one we’re actually creating. The rhetoric of using the social studies to inspire, to engage, and to better our Planet is quite strong. However, we should always measure this against reality (teacher practice). With growing teacher, student, and school accountability for increases in standardized tests scores, and with a growing gap between the schools that have and the have nots, we have to reflect upon how these challenges influence our overall mission. We as a profession have to demand more out of ourselves and one another. We have to understand, much like those students that witnessed the courageous civic acts by those female students, we all have to be the change we wish to see in this world. The time is now for the social studies and its teachers to reach for praxis and a higher ground. This includes embracing methods and approaches that align to our stated civic purpose.

Social Networking & The Social Studies For Citizenship Education

2009-07-03T22:11:00.008-04:00

Young people today have grown accustomed to living portions of their life online, shopping , socializing, and learning. According to a 2005 survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, over 87% of those between the ages of 12 and 17 are online. As youth increasingly access and use the Internet, this creates an ideal opportunity for civic educators to help students use the tools they are most familiar with to learn about and advocate for certain causes. Traditionalists have often questioned and brushed off youth civic efforts in cyberspace (Putnam, 2002). This includes discounting youth researching, organization, collaborating, and even protesting issues online. In fact, as Earl and Schusssman assert, “One must question whether existing (traditional) notions of what encompasses civic engagement tend to ignore, devalue, and otherwise marginalize ways in which young people are connecting with one another to collectively make a difference in their worlds.” The fact remains, youth are using the devices they are familiar with, namely the Internet and other electronic technologies, to learn about and advocate for certain civic causes (Maguth, 2009; Bennett, 2008).

The field predicated on citizenship education, the social studies (NCSS, 2009), must reexamine the ways in which it aims to prepare citizens in the wake of massive technological gains. For instance, the White House, CNN, and many local governments and police departments are becoming even more dependent upon social networking tools to inform and learn from citizens (Charitier, 2008). As protests erupted after the 2009 Iranian Presidential elections, and mainstream international journalists were banned from the streets, citizens of the world became increasingly dependent upon digital savvy citizens inside Iran using their cell phones and laptops to upload information to social networking sites, and to inform outsiders about any governmental instability and human rights violations. In fact, U.S. officials even claimed that the Internet, namely social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, provided the United States government with critical information (Labott, 2009). As digital natives uploaded pictures of peaceful protesters being abused and murdered by Iranian authorities (i.e. ‘Nada’), the world watch as these brave enraged Iranian citizens spoke of their quest for fair and free elections.

Even the White House has turned to social networking technologies to open up the lines of governmental transparency and to inform citizens. One of the first Executive Orders of President Obama was for the federal government to “establish a system of transparency, public participation and collaboration.” Citizens can now participate in discussions with governmental agencies and officials about particular issues through Facebook and MySpace. Besides reading about and commenting on civic issues through social networking sites, the Obama Administration has asked citizens to help submit their insights via the Internet to improve the efficiency of government. On May 1, 2009, the Obama Administration sent out its first tweet warning American citizens about the H1N1 flue (a.k.a. ‘Swine Flue’). Routine tweets from the White House have also informed citizens about other domestic and foreign issues. In fact, twenty-five federal agencies now have YouTube Channels (Scherer, 2009).

As the federal government has turned to the Internet to educate citizens, one would assume the field predicated on citizenship education, the social studies, would do so as well. However, as indicated by the latest research (VanFossen, 2008; Berson, 2002), teachers’ and students’ use of technology in the social studies for civic education has been ‘lackluster’ at best. The field is still heavily dependent upon textbooks, lecture, and rote memorization. Despite the Internet allowing for greater access in learning about and communicating with others on current civic issues, the social studies has opted to maintain its traditional course. Future citizens are not learning in the social studies how to use those tools they are most familiar with to contribution to their community and world. However, as evident by the large gains made by today’s youth in cyberspace, the real gains in civic education come outside the social studies. In order for the social studies to stay relevant in a digital and global age, a deeper examination of the ways in which it goes about educating future citizens in necessary.

Audience Response Systems in the Social Studies

2009-01-31T12:04:00.008-05:00

Students are increasingly turning to the use of technology to access information, communicate and to create digital artifacts (Bennett, 2007). As society’s demand for technologically literate citizens grows, schools must contemplate the degree to which they empower future citizens with these necessary 21st century skills. As a social studies researcher and doctoral student, I must side with those researchers conclude there's often a lackluster use of technology for civic purposes in many of America’s classrooms. With a lack of resources and training, teacher education programs and professional developments must aim to help teachers use those technologies they do have access to more meaningfully.

In order to illustrate my point, I wish to describe the all too common use of the never-ending PowerPoint presentation. Students are often forced to listen to and record insurmountable groupings of text and facts. They are often then asked to memorize these facts for passage on a standardized test. This usually involves students being forced to stay quite, and nearly half of them falling asleep! Even though research points to the necessity of higher-level thinking and participation in meaningful learning (see Benjamin Bloom), many teachers inappropriately use this technology to encourage rote memorization and lower-level thinking. With PowerPoint being as popular a tool as it is, teacher educators must ask themselves ‘how can we help teachers better use the tools they do have access to in promoting higher-level thinking?” Thus, what can teachers due to make a common technology like PowerPoint more relevant and engaging for students?

While there are a lot of ways to entice student learning with PowerPoint (limiting text, asking frequent questions, the infusion of visuals and sounds, and making these presentations participatory), I wish to identify and explain another piece of technology that holds promise towards engaging student learners. Polleverywhere.com is a devise that allows teachers to instantaneously poll students on their views and opinions. Students can respond to important questions posed by the teacher by using their cell phone or the Internet. Imagine, students actually using their cell phones to text their votes and opinions into a PowerPoint presentation. With the number of students owning cell phone increasing, teachers are frequently telling students to put away their cell phones away in class. But, what if cell phones could actually contribute to class discussions? What I like best about polleverwhere.com is that it’s easy to use and has a FREE plan that works well for teachers. The free plan requires that visitors sign-up for an account (they ask for the usual information: name, e-mail address). The free plan is also limited in that only 30 votes can be recorded per poll (so if you have a class of under 30 students each student could vote once and you would be ok).

After signing up for an account, the teacher has a choice of what type of poll they want to create and infuse into a PowerPoint presentation. They can include a fixed response poll whereby students selected from possible choices (much like when the audience is asked to text their responses to American Idol). Another type of poll offered is opened responses. After the teacher poses a question to students (such as ‘What are your feelings on global warming?’), students can use their cell phones to text their response into the presentation. As student respond, their answers are automatically uploaded in real time into a PowerPoint presentation. This devise holds promise in making PowerPoint presentations more interactive and student-centered. Student response could serve as a catalyst into a richer classroom discussion.

While this possible tool holds promise, teachers must understand that well constructed and engaging PowerPoint presentations does not mean throwing one slide or question from pollingeverwhere.com into a presentation. This tool is simply one additional way to make the presentation more student-friendly and interactive. It also provides teachers with a way to document and check for student understanding/ perspectives. If the presentation is systematically flawed with overabundant text, disengaging content, and sour presentation, this audience response device will do little to promote learning. However, if used in the right way, this audience response devise holds great promise in making PowerPoint presentations more interactive and engaging. Furthermore, it seizes those digital tools a growing amount of students use to access information, communicate, and construct digital artifacts with.

For more information, see the following websites:
1. Polleverywhere
2. Polleverywhere inserted into PowerPoint 2003
3. Youtube video on ways to use Pollingeverwhere for academia

Video Games for Citizenship Education in a Digital Era

2008-12-21T02:02:00.008-05:00

A growing number of today’s students are turning towards digital media to participate socially, economically and politically. W. Lance Bennett, in a study commissioned by the MacArthur Foundation on digital media and learning, entitled Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age (2008), describes how digital natives are using new technologies to impact their world. Using the Internet to access information, communicate, and organize, today’s youth have demonstrated the power of electronic technologies in making a difference. As evident in the 1999 protest of the WTO in Seattle, young activists are seizing these lines of communicate to arouse bottom-up civic participation. Bennett (2008) describes how many students disengage in traditional top-down politics. Moreover, these same students often find bottom-up politics more relevant and authentic (As evident in increased levels of student participation in volunteering, study abroad and community commitments). Favoring loose networks of community action, these students frequently turn towards electronic technologies like social networking sites to access and discuss economic, social and political issues.

Today’s digital natives are frequently turning towards electronic communications to learn about and discuss important issues. However, the infusion of these technologies inside the classroom has been lackluster at best. Particular, the area predicated on fostering strong and active democratic citizens, the social studies, has failed to make effective use of electronic technologies (Diem, 2004; Berson, 2005; VanFossen, 2008). There seems to be a mounting divide in the realities of how digital natives are using technology for informed and active democratic citizenship inside versus outside of the social studies classroom (See Maguth, 2008). Thus, the use of outdated mediums for civic education in the social studies results in young people finding them irrelevant and unauthentic. This reinforces a greater divide in teaching and learning. My dissertation research begins to examine this issue more in-depth.

With over 90% of students in a recent survey indicating they frequently play video games (Friedman, 2008), advocacy groups have been moving fast to construct video games for educative purposes. This has led to the creation of ‘serious games’. Serious games aim to teach students by realistically simulating some aspect of a given situation. Some examples include: business training games, flight or driving simulators, games that help patients understand how their bodies work, and games the allow players to navigate through and make decisions on a contemporary global issue. Serious games hold great promise in education because they allow users to test and experiment with systems, and develop a better understanding on relationships embedded in the system (See www.seriousgames.org )

Examples of Serious Games:
1. Stop Disasters Game

-(Middle to High School) This is a free online single player game developed by the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Students navigate around a Sim like environment to make important decisions that involve saving lives and reducing the impacts of hazards resulting from natural disasters. Students are given a set amount of time (usually 10-15 minutes) to ready their city to confront five possible scenarios (Tsunami, Earthquake, Wildfire, Hurricane, and Flood). When students are done preparing their city, a news report breaks describing the aftermath.

2. Darfur is Dying
-Developed through a partnership with Reebok Human Rights Foundation and the International Crisis Group, mtvU sponsored an unprecedented competition bringing together student technology and activism to stop the genocide in Darfur. The winning design produced Darfur is Dying. The game is a narrative-based simulation where the user, from the perspective of a displaced Darfurian, negotiates forces that threaten the survival of his or her refugee camp. It offers a glimpse into the horrors faced by more than 2.5 million internally displaced people by the crisis in Sudan.

4. Play Against All Odds
-Developed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, players take on the role of a citizen that is detained and forced to flee a repressive country. Set up in different acts, students must work to escape the country, try to establish refugee status in a host country, and strive to adjust to life in a new country. More of a documentary with interactive elements then a full blow interactive game, the game still provides wonderful visuals and context for the experiences of many displaced refugees.

5. The Arcade Wire: Airport Security

- The first in a series of newsgames called The Arcade Wire, Airport Security offers a satirical critique of airport security practices circa early fall 2006, when security agencies in the US and abroad changed their policies to prohibit common items like toothpaste and hair gel. Getting the user to think through such questions as do knee-jerk reactions that limit our freedom of expression and travel make us safer? In The Arcade Wire: Airport Security you inspect each passenger and his luggage and remove the forbidden items before allowing the passenger to go through -- but the list of forbidden items changes on a moment-to-moment basis. Prohibited items may include pants, mouthwash, and hummus.

6.

11. September 11th: Newsgaming
-More controversial due to its having users fire at possible terrorist targets, the simulation can be used to prompt a broad discussion on terrorism post 9/11. As students fire at potential terrorist threats, they’ll notice that the number of terrorists increase. This could prompt a further discussion into how violence perpetuates more violence, and the best means to win a war on terror.

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Active Learning: Using Simulations to Stimulate the Social Studies

2008-11-17T18:07:00.008-05:00

For those of you that either missed our presentation at the 2008 NCSS Annual Conference in Houston, Texas or could not squeeze into the jam packed room (over 75 audience members), I have posted our PowerPoint presentation and any distributed resources to my blog. In an age where teachers are searching for ways to authentically engage students, many of us can attest to the power of a good simulation. Feel free to access the resources, and make constructive comments. For those of you that plan on using the distributed “Daily Show” lesson plan, be looking for the soon to be posted video on Youtube.com that shows my social studies methods students and I journeying through its use. I’ll be sure to link to it when it’s edited and uploaded.

1. Active Learning: Infusing Simulations to Stimulate the Social Studies

2. Use of Child Soldiers in Uganda Simulation

3. Election of 1800 Simulation (Can use with other important elections)

4. A Nation of Immigrants Simulation

5. Daily Show Lesson Plan

6. United Nations Simulation

7. Iraq Debate Format

Election 2008 & PBS

2008-10-02T09:43:00.004-04:00

PBS has been at the forefront of election and campaign coverage striving to provide ‘unfiltered access’ to both the workings of government and its representatives. In an age where partisan politics and analysis have infiltrated television, which tends to pass itself off as ‘the truth’, having a station dedicated to providing a balanced perspective is important. This PBS webpage provides teachers with lesson plans on elections, the political process, and voting (all of which are important topics to be covered in the Social Studies as the election approaches). Streaming video, images, historical documents are just some of the artifacts students examine when using these PBS lessons.

My favorite lessons include:

1. How does the economy effect the election
-With the crisis on Wall Street impacting Main Street this lesson takes a historical look of the relationship between economics and voting. In fact, many new commentators and politicians have called the economy “Issue Number 1” in this year’s election (Over such issues as health care, armed conflicts abroad, and social conservative issues). Do voters have more in common than the media portrays?

2. The 2008 Election: Technology and the Internet

-Yes, it’s true, both Barrack Obama and John McCain our seizing the potential of social network sites such as Myspace and Youtube. Both of the candidates are using technology (the internet) to get their messages across to voters. This website asks how does the use of these technologies both hinder and help the election process. For those of you that know Neil Postman (See his work Technopoloy), his view of technology promoting information glut, spectatorship, and appeasing corporate agendas would be a great point of reference.

Democracy and Citizenship

2008-08-22T14:56:00.006-04:00

Having just returned from my studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, I must say that I have developed a new outlook on both democracy and citizenship. Benjamin Barber, in Strong Democracy (1984), describes the challenges of forging a participatory politics in a consumer driven and technological sophisticated new age. With over one-third of internet traffic driven by access to inappropriate sexual content, Barber outlines a position that technology is driven by capitalistic impulses and runs quite contrary to a democratic mission. Seeing the internet as another potent technology to get people to consume, the author's words encourages one to re-examine the possibilities of using new technologies for democratic discourse.

When people access the internet do they do so to expand their political and cultural horizons or to narrow them? For instance, do citizens only turn to one conservative blogg or news source (much like my grandfather that loves to watch TV but never strays from the History Channel and Fox News). Even though these technologies hold the potential to expand minds and promote a new form of participatory politic, are they transformative? Postman and Barber both would urge us to look at the agendas and interests affixed to new technologies before we advocate their uncritical usage to students.

One final story from my summer in London. Having had the opportunity to interact with an MP at a local cafe in London, I was drawn to the difference in constituent accountability between the states and the UK. Everyday to and from work, MP's (Members of Parliament) ride bikes, walk, and take the Underground (subway) to and from Westminster. This means that everyday these government officials must interact with and listen to the views of the people. This MP was quick to describe an interaction with a grieving mother that had lost a son in the UK assisted war in Iraq. After listing to this MP’s story, I was a bit disillusioned at the fact that most U.S. Congressional members fail to have this 'in-your face' type of public interaction.

With chauffeurs, interns that field e-mails and phone calls, suburban houses, and security that limit the degree of public interaction, maybe this is a problem in getting Congress to open their eyes and ears to the American people. In fact, it seems like the only time one gets to interact with their elected officials on a face-face level is around election time. Just a point to consider: Should we begin to mandate Congressional members walk, ride their bike, or take public transportation to work? If this argument doesn't suffice, just think how great it would look as part of an eco-friendly campaign platform!

Citizenship Education and Websites

2008-06-11T22:21:00.013-04:00

Knowing that new technologies can often mediate, and yes, even complicate, teachers' efforts of helping their students become more informed and active, I wish to include a few helpful websites that could be of great use in the civic mission of the social studies. Knowing that the social studies can play such an important part in getting students involved in bettering their communities and world, hopefully, teachers seize the educative tools around them to develop future citizens capable and willing to address current and future challenges. Please, feel free to share other websites and resources with social studies educators by replying to this tread.

1. Soldiers Angles & Grace is Gone (for a review)

-After viewing the movie Grace is Gone, PG (2007), which describes the hardships of a father in telling his two little girls that their mother, a soldier serving in Iraq, has passed away in battle, my students were overcome with emotion in trying to help those families affected by the horror of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While is true that the movie tugs at one's emotions (thus recommended for emotionally ready high school audiences), it does a great job in articulating the hardships families encounter when a member is sent overseas. As a result of the movies' ability to serve as a discussion piece, students sought a way to make a difference in the lives of soldiers and their families.

This strong desire to make a difference led my students to the Soldiers Angeles website (see above). This website allows students and citizens the opportunity to adopt soldiers, send care packages, letters, blankets, make donations, and even phone cards to displaced U.S. soldiers. Providing both financial and emotional support to U.S. soldiers and their families, students really seized the educative potential of this website in becoming active and caring in their community.

2. Free Rice
-This website is a wonderful way to both build students' vocabulary and allow them the opportunity to make a difference. When students visit the site the first thing they see is a word with four possible definitions. If students chose the correct definition from the possible choices, the foundation donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. While many students are frustrated because they lack the financial resources to make a difference, this website goes a long way in suggesting just one of many other ways students can help those in need. With over 36 billion grains donated as of June, 2008, the funds come from advertisers whose names are listed on the bottom of the screen. As students answer words correctly, the words will get progressively hardly. When students answer incorrectly, the difficulty resets itself. I am a frequent visitor to this website and I can only hope that both my vocabulary and civic spirits have grown as a result!

3. World News
-Advocating the need for teachers to infuse a global perspective in their teaching, I have found the website World News helpful. With articles and headlines from newspapers from around the world, including such news organizations as BBC, CNN, Reuters, Washington Post, Al-Jazeera, The Times of India, The Independent, The Peoples Daily, The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, New Zealand Herald, Khaleej Times, and The Guardian. The website does a good job of offering regional and global, political, economic, entertainment, scientific, and business news. It MUST be said that in no mean is this website a substitute for reading the country of interests' local newspaper. However, it does a good job of compiling a diverse array of news from around the world utilizing global sources (even though, as expected, there's a detected Western bias is the sites' presentation). The pictures from around the world section could be a useful educative tool in debunking and clarifying stereotypes. Also, the site provides the opportunity for students to utilize their foreign language skills in news from around the world. There is also a section where students can locate headlines and news from major international cities.

4. One Campaign
- A foundation that has set out to 'make global poverty history'. Besides raising awareness and contributions to help accomplish this mission, the website does a wonderful job of describing the many ways students can get involved (see http://www.one.org/takeaction/ )

5. Bullying and Lawrence King

- After coming across an article on the brutal and senseless death of a 15 year transgender student, I found myself looking for sources to talk to students about bullying and difference. While gay rights (i.e. marriage and civil unions) are often controversial topics in the curriculum, no one can dismiss the topic of defending and protecting human rights. Shouldn't the social studies have an obligation to encourage critical discourse? After having students read an article on the tragic killing of Lawrence King by a classmate, students began to make larger connections to issues of bullying and discrimination. In fact, many students advocated a desire to speak out against and halt bullying in all its many forms. To get more ideas in developing an awareness campaign to speak out against bullying, students turned to the website Stop Bullying Now: Information, Prevention Tip, and Games. This website is a product of the U.S. Health and Human Services: Health Resources and Services Administration, and is geared for a variety of grade levels. With advice for those being bullies, bullies, and those that witness bullying, the website serves as an effective information and discussion tool. If you would like to review more websites on bullying, feel free to review teaching tolerance

6. Play the News Game

-Ever wish you could make current events more interactive and engaging. Impact Games may be able to assist in this quest. As report after report critisize the degree of U.S. citizens' knowledge about the rest of the world (i.e. as in 1 in 7 U.S. citizens being able to identify Iraq on a map), the social studies must take bold measures to teach students about our planet and diffent global perspectives. One way of doing that is through the use of current events. This website allows students the opportunity to learn about important events from newsheadlines from around the world. After chosing what story most interests them, students are then able to play an interactive game based on the features of their chosen story. In June, the games included Oil Prices Soar (where students could learn about, forecast and even side with different parties involved in higher engergy costs), No Confidence in Lee (which took students inside of the Korean Beef Protests), and The Olympics as a Global Stage (depicts the contraversy of the 2008 Beijing Olympics). The strategy of the game is to educate students on the situation, and then, to get students to chose a role, take action, and predict the future. Another great feature of the website is the discussioin threads for each current event. Students can post their views and even respond to the views of others that have played the game. One of my favorite discussion was on Iran Security Talks. However, teachers should also be aware that funding and support comes from advertisers.

7. Zinned Project-For those of you familiar with Howard Zinn's important work A People's History of the United States, Bill Bigelow from Rethinking Schools alongside Zinn have developed a teacher's guide for the text. I am a BIG fan of many of the activities/lessons included in this free download. Ranging from stealing a student's purse to prompt a discussion on Columbus' 'discovery of America' to a U.S. Mexico War Tea Party, this resource provides numerous role plays and questions that encourage students to rethink who writes history and why.

While the teaching packet includes the lesson plans and activities, you will probably want to purchase/borrow a copy of his People's History text and a copy of his documentary Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train Click Here for a preview.

To download the free lesson plans and activities click here

For those of you attending the 2008 Annual Conference of NCSS in Houston, they will be distributing the complete teaching packet (including DVD and text)to some participants.

8. iCue-Ever wish you could use news videos to supplement a current events or social studies lesson? Providing current and historic footage on important economic, political and social conditions, this website does a great job of organizing mined NBC news reports and mini-documentaries.

Federalism, merchantilism, and even a video file on the use of 2008 presidential political campaign commercials placed in video games to reach young voters (YES! It's true), this website correlates to many topics in the social studies. Furthermore, the websites states that all footage and documents have been 'vetted by seasoned teachers'. Besides providing both primary and secondary sources, the website encourages students to participating in monitored forums, special activities and featured learning games. Best of all, there is NO advertising placements.

A Historic Election

2008-06-10T15:30:00.001-04:00

Citizenship in a Global Age

2008-03-31T23:46:00.002-04:00

What skills, attitudes and understandings do students need to function as citizens in a global and multicultural age?

Citizenship Education & the Mitchell Report

2007-12-17T00:17:00.001-05:00

As major league baseball attempts to remidy the damage highlighted by the Mitchell Report, a governmental report that details the proliferation of steriod use, what are the implication for social studies educators' attempts at citizenship education?

Mitchell Report (Click Here)

Our 2007 Visit to LA and San Diego

2007-12-16T23:33:00.001-05:00

The responsibilities of the social studies educator

2007-12-16T22:15:00.001-05:00

As we live in a global and multicultural era, how should social studies teachers respond to such forces? With issues like global warming, conflict, HIV/AIDS, and international trade failing to yield to the bounds of the traditional nation-state, is it important for social studies teachers to teacher future citizens about other cultures and states?