This semester in Social Studies has been full of new discoveries and surprises. For me, I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, even if it was challenging at times and pushed me to do things that make me uncomfortable. I cannot believe that this experience is almost over. And I cannot tell you how much I have gained from this semester and I guess I will be able to put it to good use in student teaching when I am there. This entry is a reflection on the information learned in this semester. So here goes!
When discussing our own curriculum ideologies, we discovered that there are four and they are leaner centered, social efficiency, social reconstruction, and scholar academic. I discovered that I am learner centered first, followed by social reconstruction. We learned that not one of them is better than another and that a good mix of all is a good thing.
Before this semester, I think that teaching social studies in my classroom would have resembled the tourist model, but now I feel that I am equipped to encourage exploration instead of skimming the surface. Students need to be able to explore other cultures and use the natural process of inquiry to learn about things that they may not ever hear about until a lot later maybe. Social studies consists of many aspects among which are geography, culture, citizenship, and history. Students can have active learning during social studies. Possibly one of the reasons that social studies is not popular is because there is a disconnect between the unknown and what is right now and right in front of us. Students can hear about events in other parts of the world and not be able to visualize where it is happening, or they may hear someone reference a person or event from history but if they have never heard of it, they will not be able to make a connection to that particular thing. It is so important for students to be aware of the world around them. And it is important for students to know where they come from and where they are going.
The bottom line is this: Social Studies needs to be taught in school. Students benefit from it because it equips them with the information that makes life more colorful and understandable.
Thank you, Dr. Meier for showing us the wonderful world of social studies. The experience of being a democratic class and making up our own class rules, climbing Mount Everest, creating our own town, while learning how to integrate social studies with other subjects has been so beneficial for all of us. Through this semester we created our own community and became a family. Before this class, I thought that Social Studies just consisted of geography- pointing out land formations and locations on a map, history- memorizing facts and dates across a timeline…. And that’s pretty much it. But now I know that I do not have to limited to that! I love Social Studies! And I will definitely be teaching it in my classroom.
