Teaching+for+Meaningful+Learning+in+Social+Studies+Part+2

event. Such consolidation is particularly important when the learning cycle takes place over more than one day. Students should be asked to give the summary, including the important ideas and events in each phase of the learning cycle just completed. When students are involved in constructing the summary, the teacher is able to check on their understanding of the events of the lesson, how they were related, and their purpose. Choosing Activities Appropriate to Each Phase of the Learning Cycle Lesson Now try recognizing which actions belong to which phase in a lesson designed to teach the map skill of using the grid system and gaining information through observation. Two sets of activities describing ways to teach grid systems usage are presented. The first set is for elementary students, and the second set is for middle childhood students. From each set, select one activity to use for the exploratory introduction phase, one to use during the development phase, and a third to use in the expansion phase. Record the numeral of each choice on the line provided at the end of the list of activities. When you have made your choices for each lesson, reflect on your reasons for the selections or discuss your selections with a classmate. Usethe following questions to reflect on the expansion phase of the learning cycle on scale earlier in this chapter. Respondto each question. Then, discussyour ideaswith a peer, if possible. 1. What activities serve as expansion experiences that involve students in applying their understanding of the social studies idea? 2. What activities serve as expansion experiences that involve students in analyzing a problem situation with the new social studies idea? 3. How can the expansion experiences involve students in considering tentative solutions to a problem situation based on their previous experiences with the new idea? 4. How can the expansion experiences involve students in trying out the tentative solutions to a problem situation with the new social studies idea? 5. How can the expansion experiences involve students in evaluating the effectiveness of the tentative solutions to the problem situation with the new social studies idea? 6. What activities serve as expansion experiences to involve students in using the new solutions to the problem situation in different and increasingly real-world contexts? 1. The teacher says: "Think about where you are sitting. For example, I am sitting in front of Ellen and next to the sink. I will ask some students to tell the class where they are sitting in the room." Have each student pick another student's name from a jar and describe where that student is sitting. The teacher asks: "Did anyone have any problems in trying to describe the locations or in deciding who the person was whose location was being described?" Discuss student responses. 2. Create a grid on all or much of the classroom floor. Move students' desks so that each is in a square of the grid. Tape cards to the floor that identify rows with numbers and columns with letters. Ask students to identify their "address" by using a number and a letter. Have them put their address on any drawings or other papers they turn in. At the end of each day, select one or two students to act as mail carriers for the day, using the addresses to deliver finished papers and drawings for students to take home. 3. Using masking tape, make two columns on the floor. Divide them both by another tape strip to create four squares. Identify each row with a picture of a bird (e.g., robin and cardinal) and each column with a picture of a piece of clothing (e.g., pants and sweatshirt). Ask one student to stand in a square. Ask the other students to tell you which square the student is standing in. Repeat with students standing in different squares. Students should soon discover that each square has two names (it can be robin-pants, robin-sweatshirt, cardinal-pants, or cardinal-sweatshirt). Encourage them to use both names. Repeat on another day with six squares, and later with eight squares. Eventually, introduce letters and numerals so the squares can be identified as AI, A2, BI, and so on. 4. Introduce students to the game bingo. Use cards that have letters and numerals identifying rows and columns. Play the game several times over a few weeks. Write the number of the activity you choose from those above on the line beside the phase in which you would use that activity. Exploratory Introduction Development Expansion The first activity in the list is the approach that best represents an exploratory introduction activity. The development phase of a lesson formally introduces the new idea or skill, guiding students to construct new knowledge from their experiences. Therefore, a combination of discussion and a floor grid, found in elementary lesson activity 3, forms an effective development activity for defining a grid system, a concept essential to eventually understanding latitude and longitude. The expansion phase is the final part of any effective lesson designed for meaningful learning. Students apply the new idea in additional situations. Activity 2, in which students act as mail carriers, is an effective expansion activity with which to conclude the lesson. A follow-up to activity 2 for the expansion phase could be activity 4. Because it is more abstract than is activity 2, it is not preferred as a first expansion activity. 1. Provide students with travel magazines and other magazines with pictures of interesting places to visit. Have them select one they would most like to visit, but keep it a secret. Help them find it on a world map. Ask them to plan a lor 2-minute presentation for the class describing the place they would most like to visit, their "mystery place," without naming it. Next, tell them to give the other students clues by describing where it is located using two neighboring places. Have the other students try to guess what the mystery place is. Discuss problems that arose as they tried to guess each mystery place. 2. Ask groups of three students to plan a treasure hunt through five cities. Each city can be identified only by its location using latitude and longitude. Students should do some library research to identify an item that is made in each city. They should draw the item or find a picture of it, then place it in an envelope identified with the name of the city. Each team goes on a treasure hunt designed by another team. Using a world map, they find each city by using its latitude and longitude coordinates. When all five cities have been located, each team makes a list of the names of the cities found at particular pairs of coordinates. Then they claim the envelopes printed with the names of these cities. They glue the items found in the envelopes onto a map, identify the city that belongs with each item, and display the map on a Treasure Hunt bulletin board. 3. Tape yarn onto a world map, forming a grid with 10 rows and 10 columns. Ask students to suggest a way of labeling the grid. (They might suggest, for example, letters and numerals.) Label the ends of each row and column with the system 1 '.:!i~!r~fL~'::':._Pf'!'_..?.( The learning cycle format offers many opportunities to build on the cultural diversity represented by students. Because the Exploratory Introduction phase is open ended, it is expected that students' prior knowledge is diverse. As each student's prior knowledge is brought out, other students often discover varying perspectives among their classmates, setting up a confrontation to what the student currently thinks. During the Development phase, the focus is on reconstructing prior knowledge into a new idea or skill level or attitude. So, all students have equal opportunities to reconstruct their prior knowledge. The different perspectives and skill levels among the students are used to both broaden and deepen the reconstruction. During Expansion, students use their newly reconstructed idea, skill level, or attitude in a new application that is different from the context in which they learned it The more 'diverse the students, the wider is the possible set of applications. suggested. Then, have pairs of students pull a card out of a box and try to find the city named on the card. After finding it, ask the students to identify its location as closely as possible using the grid. Talk about problems they encounter, such as not being able to pinpoint a location well if it is in the center of a square or not directly on a grid line. Ask whether anyone can tell the class what the equator is and where it is on the grid. Identify the equator for the students, if necessary, and label it. Ask them to identify whether their city is above (north) or below (south) of the equator on this map. Repeat this procedure with the prime meridian. Discuss whether these designations help students identify the location of their city or make it more confusing. Ask whether anybody can share something about latitude and longitude. Discuss comments. Then describe how the grid system currently on the map relates to latitude and longitude. Introduce finding locations with latitude and longitude. Introduce a globe and find latitude and longitude lines on it. Are these lines easier to understand with the globe? Practice finding their cities on the globe. 4. Ask students to find a city oftheir choice on the globe and then write down only its latitude and longitude on a strip of paper and place that in a jar. Ask each student to select a strip out of the jar, use the coordinates given to find a city, and write the name of the city on the strip of paper. Offer to assist any student who is having difficulty. Then have the class generate a list of cities they have heard of in the news. Ask students to choose five cities, find their coordinates, and write them on a sheet of paper. Check papers for accuracy. The first activity in the list is the approach that best represents an exploratory introduction activity. For the development phase of the lesson, activity 3 is a good choice. It starts with a map and a simple grid system and uses it as a beginning point for helping students invent for themselves an appropriate understanding of latitude and longitude. For the expansion phase, asking students to construct their own situation, as in the treasure hunt in activity 2, is an effective expansion activity with which to conclude the lesson. Activity 4 would also serve as a useful expansion activity because it engages students in demonstrating and practicing their own construction of the idea just explained in the development phase of the lesson. Formative assessment occurs throughout a learning cycle. Assessment in the exploratory introduction phase primarily involves diagnosing prior knowledge. In the development phase, assessment focuses on monitoring students' actions and statements that indicate that they are developing a meaningful understanding of the key social studies idea or skill. During the expansion phase, assessment checks for students' understanding of the new social studies idea or skill and their ability to apply and transfer it, leading to the summative evaluation of each student. Chapter 3 discusses assessment and evaluation of students' meaningful learning in depth. Individual and small-group assessment usually is performed through informal student interviews and teacher observation of student responses, actions, and products during learning activities. These are ways of monitoring individual students and student groups during the exploratory introduction and development phases ofthe lesson. Small and whole groups can be monitored by having students respond to teacher questions with a yes or no card that they hold up. The teacher can ask a question of the class, have student groups discuss the question, and then get responses from group representatives. Students can quiz each other on the main idea during the development's closure. Checklists and lists of performance levels can serve as guides for recording assessment information. During the expansion phase ofthe social studies lesson, the teacher continues observing students in group discussions, working with activities, and as they share answers. After the student groups apply the social studies idea in a new situation, the teacher gives students a similar problem to which individuals must develop a response. The lesson summary then gives the teacher information on how the new idea or skill has been constructed by the students. After offering opportunities to apply and transfer the new idea or skill during the expansion phase, the teacher carries out summative evaluation, checking for understanding in assignments or quizzes involving application-type assessment questions and performance activities. Many teachers plan more expansion phase activities than are needed and use the extra activities for summative assignments or quizzes following the lesson. Assessment that probes students' meaningful understanding rather than rote memory enables a teacher to decide whether to move on, to stop and clarify, or to recycle students through another set of activities. Writing Your Own Learning Cycle Lesson Thus far, you have practiced identifying the characteristics of the phases of the learning cycle. Now it is time for you to try to write a learning cycle lesson of your own. Plan a brieflesson to teach the concept offamily groups. For the purpose ofthis exercise, assume that the students come from homes with two parents, homes with a single parent, and homes with an extended family, and present information on only these three forms offamilies. Discuss your results of this activity with a peer. 1. Design an exploratory introduction activity suitable for introducing the topic of family groups and exploring students' prior knowledge of it in a social studies lesson. 2. Design a development activity to follow the exploration above. 3. Describe an expansion activity to follow the activity you gave for developing the idea of family groups. The optimal length of a learning cycle is a single class period. Some social studies ideas, especially very abstract concepts and generalizations, will take longer. Typically, if a more complex concept is to be taught, the lesson begins on day 1with the exploratory introduction and development phases and ends on day 2 with the expansion phase. Other variations are found in Figure 2.5 and include one phase each day, with a learning cycle scheduled over three or four days. When a learning cycle lesson is completed, a new connecting concept is selected, leading to a new learning cycle. For example, a learning cycle on the concept of scale as a ratio can lead to consideration of small-scale microclimates occurring near a lake shore or in a mountain valley versus macroclimates occurring over a region of the country such as the Southwest, or students could work with directions on a map and then with the compass rose. Each learning cycle builds on the previous one (see Figure 2.5). However your teaching is structured, recognize that you will need to begin using the learning cycle slowly at first, through trial lessons. This will provide the time needed for you and your students to become familiar with the learning activities found in learning cycle lessons. The format for planning a complete lesson using the learning cycle is shown in Figure 2.6 on page 53. This basic format identifies the concerns and issues to be considered when planning for meaningful and powerful social studies learning. The learning cycle approach is used best as part of a social studies program that stresses the importance of social studies for all students; effectively uses cooperative learning groups; and assesses and rewards development of thinking skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and the development of self-worth, self-reliance, and respect for the opinions of others. For conceptual restructuring to occur and for meaningful learning to result from a learning cycle strategy, several prerequisites need to be considered: 1. Change in the social studies idea or skill should not be too great; it should be challenging, but not overwhelming, to students. 2. Lesson content must be related to the background experiences and daily lives of the students as much as possible. Such a relationship helps to create a knowledge structure to which the new idea or skill can be connected. This knowledge structure is important ifthe new social studies idea or skill is to be easily retrievable from long-term memory. 3. Many hands-on/minds-on examples are used in real situations during a learning cycle. Using technology can be very helpful. 4. Students should have many opportunities to work through practice situations using real or simulated actions while conceptual learning is occurring. Learning usually takes place in cooperative learning groups. 5. Students should have time to reflect, make mistakes, and form the new ideas or skills in a safe environment. 6. Less coverage of content occurs with increased understanding of basic concepts. 7. Only those critical concepts are selected that are basic to understanding the idea under investigation and are suggested as key ideas in the social studies Day 1 Begi n socia I stud ies lesson on a si ngle concept Exploratory introduction Development Expansion Day 1 Begin social JJ.vP;C'J )C'JJPh' Ph' a single concept Exploratory introduction - Development Day 1 Begin social studies lesson on a single concept Day 1 Social studies lesson on a single concept Day 2 End social studies lesson on a si ngle concept Day 1 Begin social studies lesson on a single concept Day 2 End social studies lesson on a single concept Day 2 Continue social studies lesson on a single concept Exploratory introduction Developm Expansi ~ Day 3 Continue social 5J»P)C'5 )t>55.o».o» a si ngle concept Day 3 End social studies lesson on a single concept Day 2 Continue social JJ.vP;C'J )C'JJPh''?'h' a si ngle concept -F--I-G--U--R--E2--..-5 learning Cycle Planning Patterns on Consecutive Class Days Day 4 Continue social 5J»£J)t>5)t>55.o».o» a single concept Do 5 End 5J»d)B)f5.5i a single co -- Revie\ &: _ Summati Evaluatio standards. As time permits, other less important concepts are taught us· ~-- learning cycle or in a more direct instructional style. 8. All phases ofthe learning cycle are addressed in the order supported by _1.. __ =-" search literature. Deleting a phase will create significantly less mean;-.:: learning. Other prerequisites may exist in various situations, but these eight are tial. Although most students benefit from use of the learning cycle, gifted 5t;-'"' =0-- Thefull learning cycle lesson plan requires the identification of: • Classroom information • Key Idea • Lessongoal • Expected student prior knowledge • Prerequisite skills and concepts needed • Social studies standards to be addressed • Special needs accommodation Procedure: 1. Exploratory Introduction Phase Objectives Materials Introduction to lesson Student activities that • Tryout and confront prior knowledge • Relate previous knowledge to new idea Formative Assessment: monitor and diagnose student needs 2. Lesson Development Phase Objectives Materials Teacher and student activities that provide • Explanations • Examples • Practice • Closure Formative Assessment: monitor and diagnose student needs 3. Expansion Phase Objectives Materials Student activities that provide • Application • Transfer to new settings • Lessonsummary Formative Assessment: monitor and diagnose student needs Summative Evaluation: evaluate student understanding -F--I-G--U--R--E-2--.-6 learning Cycle lesson Plan Format may require less dependence on use of the learning cycle and more open general inquiry activities for conceptual reconstruction to take place. The learning cycle may be planned to teach different types of objectives. Teaching a thinking skill, concept, generalization, attitude, disposition, or value all follow the learning cycle model but use a number of different instructional strategies because the learning objectives focus on different goals. Expansion: Principles of Teaching and Learning that Support the Curriculum Standards for Social Studies In the Curriculum Standards for the Social Studies, the National Council for the Social Studies (1994b) has outlined its principles for teaching and learning. Five main principles tell us that social studies teaching and learning are powerful when they are meaningful, integrative, value based, challenging, and active. This chapter has applied these principles. It has introduced an overview of social studies teaching and learning supported by the five main principles. Other chapters focus on selecting and writing appropriate objectives and assessing student learning. Social studies teaching must be appropriate to students' own prior knowledge if it is to be effective in helping them construct meaningful social studies learning. Before any formal social studies lesson, students are likely to have their own ideas about the concept, skill, or attitude that, until now, enabled them to explain and predict events to their satisfaction. Instead of teaching students entirely new content in social studies, teachers find it necessary to spend much ofthe instructional time helping students restructure their social studies knowledge, fostering conceptual change. When students are presented with ideas in their social studies lessons, they have to modify and reconstruct their prior knowledge to understand the new ideas. This requires a willingness and an effort on the part of the learner to construct her knowledge schema through additional interactive experiences with the social world. It involves reorganizing prior knowledge along with newly acquired knowledge. A student's learning is not passive. Students control their own learning by their willingness to mentally engage in lessons. Teachers help each student construct ideas by using the ideas students bring with them to the classroom. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the teaching of social studies for meaningful learning. The following points summarize teaching as it is used to facilitate students' meaningful learning of social studies. The most worthwhile objectives of social studies units are learning major concepts, generalizations, inquiry skills, values, attitudes, and dispositions. This requires a strategy of instruction different from traditional teaching used to recall facts. For these important social studies ideas and skills, teachers plan activities that encourage meaningful understanding. Teachers identify important key social studies ideas and skills in advance, using a strategy that promotes conceptual change and meaningful learning. Lessons consist of a three-phase sequence of purposeful, interactive activities: exploratory introduction, development, and expansion. These phases help students explore their prior knowledge, integrate new ideas into their thought patterns, and apply new ideas and skills in diverse settings. Teachers continually assess progress toward attaining lesson objectives and may return to an earlier phase if further explanation or application of an idea, skill, or attitude is needed. Examine the social studies course of study used at a specific grade level in your field placement. Then, talk with your cooperating teacher to identify a social studies concept or skill to be taught soon. Finally, examine the national social studies standards to identify how the social studies concept or skill you have identified is addressed. Indicate the social studies concept you have identified through this process. Plan a learning cycle social studies lesson to teach the class, a small group, or a pair of students the concept or skill you have identified. Use the learning cycle lesson plan format in Figure 2.6. Share the lesson with your cooperating teacher and course instructor to obtain feedback. Make revisions to your plan based on the feedback. Teach your lesson plan. Reflect on the following questions. a. What did the exploratory introduction activities reveal about my students' prior knowledge? How could I change the exploratory introduction to gain a better understanding of my students' prior knowledge? b. What lesson development activities best explained the key concept (or skill)? How could I change the lesson development activities to better explain the key concept or skill through increased student control? c. What expansion activities revealed individual students' level of construction of the new social studies idea or skill? How could I change the expansion to better enable my students to use the idea or skill in another context? Design activities for a lesson teaching the concept of an assembly line. Children should conclude that the benefits of using an assembly line include "speed" and "efficiency" through the "division of labor." a. Describe an exploratory introduction activity. b. Describe a lesson development activity that logically follows your exploratory introduction activity. c. Describe an expansion activity for this lesson on the concept of an assembly line. Teaching with Historic Places www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/ The Awesome Library (of social studies lessons) www.awesomelibrary.org/Classroom/Soeial_Studies/Soeial_Studies.htm I Library of CongresslNational Digital Library www.loc.gov/ Marco Polo: Internet Content for Your Classroom www.marcopolo-edueation.org PES Teacher Source www.pbs.org/teaehersouree/ Visit the companion website at www.ablongman.com/sunaI3e and select Chapter 2. Use the following resources to enhance your understanding of the material covered in this chapter and better prepare for your field experience. • An exploratory introduction activity that will help you reflect on social studies activities youmay have experienced in your elementary and middle school years. • Learning cycle lesson plan, National Memorials and the Display of Power. • Atable is available with additional information on sequencing social studies instruction using the learning cycle. • All of the Time for Reflection: What Do You Think? exercises from this chapter are available online so that you can e-mail your responses to yourself and your instructor. • Additional Applying the Idea essay questions and projects will guide you as you explore social studies standards and curriculum. • URLs are provided so that you can link to recommended websites in this book. • Additional recommended websites are identified to help you locate resources that support your teaching of social studies. Goto www.ablongman.com/ sunal3e to access National Memorials and the Display of Power, another example of a Middle/Intermediate level LClP that promotes meaningfullearning by incorporating strategies for conceptual change. MyLabSchool Activity-New York Times Education News Feed Go to Allyn & Bacon's MyLabSchool (www.mylabschool.com).After logging in, enter Assignment ID NYTNF into the Assignment Finder to go to the New York Times Education News Feed. The New York Times Education News feed is a collction of education-related stories from the New York Times, updated hourly. • Return to the news feed once a day for a week and read as many articles as appear related to social studies and student-centered teaching. Make notes on each article as you read them. At the end of the week, look over your notes and write a page synthesizing the information in the articles and responding about how this information may affect your teaching of the social studies. MyLabSchool supports you in this course, your licensure exams, and your teaching career. Youhave access to video footage of real-life classroom scenarios, an extensive Case Study archive, Allyn & Bacon's Lesson Plan & Portfolio Builder, Research Navigator (which includes EBSCO's ContentSelect Academic Journal Database, New York Times Search by Subject Archive, and "Best of the Web" Link Library, and a Career Center with resources for PRAXIS exams and licensure preparation, professional portfolio development, job search, and interview techniques. Visit the companion website at www.ablongman.com/sunaI3e and select Chapter 2. Use the following resources to enhance your understanding of the material covered in this chapter and better prepare for your field experience . • An exploratory introduction activity that will help you reflect on social studies activities you may have experienced in your elementary and middle school years. • Learning cycle lesson plan, National Memorials and the Display of Power. • A table is available with additional information on sequencing social studies instruction using the learning cycle. • All of the Time for Reflection: What Do You Think? exercises from this chapter are available online so that you can e-mail your responses to yourself and your instructor. • Additional Applying the Idea essay questions and projects will guide you as you explore social studies standards and curriculum. • URLs are provided so that you can link to recommended websites in this book. • Additional recommended websites are identified to help you locate resources that support your teaching of social studies. Goto www.ablongman.com/ sunal3e to accessNational Memorials and the Display oj Power, another example of a Middle/Intermediate level LCLPthat promotes meaningfullearning by incorporating strategies for conceptual change. MyLabSchool Activity-New York Times Education News Feed Go to Allyn & Bacon's MyLabSchool (www.mylabschool.com). After logging in, enter Assignment ID NYTNF into the Assignment Finder to go to the New York Times Education News Feed. The New York Times Education News feed is a collction of education-related stories from the New York Times, updated hourly. • Return to the news feed once a day for a week and read as many articles as appear ,<-.h'>.,-..,~'= ~""\..""'"'--..d.'--<>.'>.. <>..."'-.d.. s.t.u.d..e.n.t-centeretedaching. Make notes on each article (X-';,e';!;~Luser:aarth521_S,_"b:o:..:;'::~-!l~:-:::.: ':5. 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