Practice
Marzano argues that "one of the most significant decisions a teacher makes is to identify what skills are important enough to practice". What do you think the 3 most important specific skills are in social studies, and why? (Be specific; avoid generalizations like "critical thinking" or "literacy").
Remember, you must respond to at least one of your peers as well.
posted by Tanya Judd Pucella @ 12:41 PM
13 Comments:
I believe that the three most important skills that students should have for social studies are being able to distinguish between fact and opinion, being able to see cause and effect relationships, and using context clues and appropriate sources such as glossaries, texts, and dictionaries in order to gain meaning. I believe being able to distinguish between fact and opinion is an important skill to have because history is about trying to uncover the truth about the past. History is full of opinions, but it the ability to recognize and pick out the supporting facts of that opinion that will help students gain enough knowledge to create their own supported opinion. Being able to see cause and effect relationships is important because history is a series of causes that leads up to a series of effects. The ability to see multiple cause for different events will allow the students gain a better perspective on the event itself. It is from the multiple causes that multiple effects often time leak out and result in change. It is vital for students to see what caused the changes and being able to, in the future, maybe see patterns to prevent certain events from happening. Finally being able to see context clues and using resources allows the students to better understand the event that is unfolding in front of their eyes. It is necessary for students to be able to understand the terms that describe some part of the topic or event. Seeing context clues and using the resources available to the students, is vital to being able to fully understand the topic or event.
I think to be successful in social studies students need to be organized note takers, be able to read a variety of materials (i.e. maps, charts, graphs, etc.), and to be open to a variety of interpretations.
Organized notes are important in all areas of study, but for social studies students must be able to find the information they are looking for easily. There is too much information for students to get confused while studying if their notes are out of order. Social studies classes also tend to rely on multiple texts and lectures for one topic. If students' notes are unorganized they may miss valuable information on a topic because it is in the wrong place. I personally like to outline, but I understand that everyone takes notes in different ways. Therefore, I think it is very important for teachers to take the time to show students how to take notes.
As stated earlier, social studies teachers and texts use a variety of ways to show information. This means that students must be able to read many different types of documents. Maps, charts, and graphs are just a few of the resources that students need to be able to interpret. If students can't read a map, for example, they will be unable to follow a text that describes where the Oregon Trail went.
To be successful in social studies, students must also be taught that there are many sides to a story and many different interpretations of events. If students do not understand this, they may become confused and frustrated when they read an account that is opposite of what they had learned previously. When students become frustrated then they may shut down and stop learning.
I also agree that the skills Geoff has selected are important for students. He makes very good points, especially when discussing understanding fact and opinion.
I think that the three main skills necessary for the Social Studies student are organizational skills, the ability to make connections with the past to today, and developing an appreciation for who they are individually as well as who who are as a country (sense of nationalism.
Organizational skills a key to a student not only in a historical perspective but in their note taking skills and cognitively as well. The student must learn to take historical information and put it on a cognitive time line so they can organize information. Not necessarily understanding dates but knowing what happened when and it happened after this and before this. Hopefully students can then organize history and understand the cause and effect relationships (as Geoff said. In addition the student must be able to organize their notes because there is so much information that they need to develop a systematic way of organizing that information to provide a reliable resource when needed.
Making connections between the past and today is a skill I think many teachers forget to help their students develop. Taking the time to link the past to what is going on today will help many students stay interested and realize that history is important. Linking history with reality is a significant way in helping students remember the past and identify specific event that happened if they can link it to what is going on today.
Finally, I think instilling some sense of nationalism into the students and encouraging them to develop a sense of nationalism and appreciation for our country and the people around them is an essential skill. I think that students lack this appreciation and linking the past today is a great way to help them gain an appreciation for history and realize its importance.
Although the above may not be "skills" in the sense that we would normally define the word, I feel that they really are skills that we need to encourage in our classrooms and try and get our students to develop.
I totally agree with Geoff about the idea of opinion and fact. History has such a variety of interpretations that I feel textbooks do not support. For some reason it seems that The United States always wins the wars and its because of some dead white guy who made our country better. I think providing students with resources (as Geoff says) and making sure they understand how to properly use those resources and create their own ideas based on what they learn is essential in the classroom.
I believe the three most important skills in social studies are 1) being able to investigate to find answers 2) connecting the past, present, and future 3) appreciating the differences in our world.
1) I don’t believe that students should memorize every event in history. However, students should be taught how to investigate to find the answers. This includes using the computer (Internet), encyclopedia, maps, primary resources, interviews, etc.. as ways of investigation. Students should also be taught to analyze the data and distinguish fact from opinion.
2) Connecting the past with current events and future events allows students to see that the past is important. Those students that only see history as being in the past, should be able to see that in many cases the past repeats itself and discover ways in which the past has influenced our decisions today and in the future.
3) Appreciating the differences in our world I feel in very important to achieving understanding in social studies. You may not agree with something, but you cannot argue the idea unless you understand it, and you cannot understand unless you are able to appreciate it. Students at the middle grade levels are beginning to form their own beliefs and it is important to teach them that everyone has their own beliefs. They may not agree with President Bush’s policies, however they need to first understand his point of view before injecting their bias. This is a very important concept when it comes to studying religion. Those students that do not accept differences may not participate in the lesson. Teach students that it is okay to not agree with something, but that does not mean you should not appreciate it.
I agree with rmp001 that “organizational skills are key to a student not only in a historical perspective but in their note taking skills and cognitively as well. The student must learn to take historical information and put it on a cognitive time line so they can organize information. Not necessarily understanding dates but knowing what happened when and it happened after this and before this”. If you are not able to organize your thoughts and what you have investigated you will not be able to share with others your findings and understand yourself.
Successful social studies students must be able to see the continuity of history-how it continues in a cyclical manner and that the repetition helps us to learn from the past for the future. I think another would be to see cause and effect events only happen because of catalyst-otherwise things would remain the same. Successful students need to recognize this and what that means for society and the people of each. Finally, I think students need to value learning. History is always continuing. Only the moment you live in is the present-most of the time we are talking about history. THerefore we must continue to study and learn, question and answer, research and find. Without continually searching we lose ground and remain stagnant because we do not learn from past mistakes therefore connecting to my first skill-of recognizing continuity of history.
I think that the three most important skills that students should have for social studies are the ability to distinguish between credible sources and those that are not, an appreciation for other cultures and beliefs (and going along with that is geographical awareness), and the ability to make connections between the past and the present.
History is all about facts, opinions, causes, effects, biases, etc. There are so many events that are controversial and that many people have an opinion on. There is a lot of published work, specifically on the internet, that is not credible. Students need to be aware of this so they can be sure that the information they are receiving is actually true. If no attention is paid to the credibility of sources, the study of history is almost irrelevant because we don't know what is true and what isn't.
An appreciation for cultures/beliefs and geographical awareness is also important because history didn't just happen in the US or whatever culture the student may be from. When teachers teach a concept that happened in Asia, it is important for students to know where Asia is in relation to other aspects in the concept, or they might not get the full meaning. Also, beliefs in Asia are different, so students need to understand that maybe what the Asian government did might not be offensive in that country. Without this knowledge and appreciation, students may not be able to fully comprehend material.
Finally, students need to be able to make connections between past and present because history is on-going. Is Vietnam anything like Iraq? What happened in Vietnam? What could the outcome of Iraq be? There are connections everywhere that could help us govern the present and future.
I think everyone else had really good points as well. Jessica and Rebecca made points about note-taking and organization, which I also think are very important to the comprehension of concepts in Social Studies.
I think the three most important skills in s.s. are being able to read a variety of material (book, graphs, charts, maps), organized note taking, and developing an understanding of importance.
Being able to read a variety of text is important. It will allow students to comprehend all the information the textbook has to offer. S.S. is presented in a variety of ways so it is important for students to be able to take the variety in stride.
S.S. is an area that requires good note taking skills. Many times a teacher finds a different way to get the point across but if the student cannot understand his/her notes they might not get it. Many concepts in s.s. are complicated so as a student it is easy to quickly write down as much as you can without organizing or understanding the material.
I think the reason many students are not interested in s.s. is because although it seems easy to us to see the connection between concepts and the real world for younger students it can be difficult. They do not understand the importance of things that have happened in the past and how they effect us now.
I also agree with rmp that it is important for students to find themselves individually and nationally.
I believe that the three most important skills that a social studies student should have are good note taking skills, the ability to distinguish between opinion and fact, and the ability to relate past events to present events.
Good note taking is a must in the subject of social studies. A lot of material is covered in this subject and therefore a lot of notes are taken. If these notes are not good notes then students are not able to review and study correctly.
Also in this subject we are always dealing with opinion vs. fact. Sometimes it is hard to tell which is which. Students must have a clear understanding and be able to distinguish the two.
An important part of social studies is relating the past to present events so we will not make the mistakes of the past. This should be a skill that students have.
I agree with rpm that students should have a sense of nationalism. Students need this to appreciate history.
I fully agree with Pam that students should values learning. The quote "you learn something new everyday" applies to everybody. History is something that continues to grow because everyday that goes by is another day added to history. We must continue to question and research history because the truth can only come about through the eyes many.
I feel that the three most important skills for a social studies student are understanding cause and effect, researching or investigating to find answers, and connecting present events to ones in the past. Cause and effect is a huge skill in history because everything was caused by something else, and then the effect usually cause another reaction, and the line continues. It isn't really that important to know the dates of exact events, but to be able to understand that because event A happened, event B was caused. This helps students tie things together and gives a better example of the whole picture. Next, is research. Again, I am not a real huge fan of textbooks because there is so much information to be covered that the majority of the time, the most interesting or most debated stories are left out. While it is important to understand the basic format of what happened, when students are really interested in a topic it is important to dig deeper and let them research it. However, as a teacher, you must teach the student effective research involving distinguishing between fact and opinion, primary and secondary sources, note-taking, and so on. Lastly, connecting present events to the past is also important. A lot of students question why history is important. By keeping up with current events and connecting them to something else, students can relate to things that are happening in their own life to things that happened a long time ago.
I also agree with Pam on the value of learning. I am a victim of thinking the things I learned in high school would not get me anywhere...however, I now see that I was wrong and want to convey how important learning about things like history really is.
I think three of the most important skills are 1. Recognize bias/propaganda, 2. Evaluate cause and effect relationships, and 3. Understand fact and opinion. I think all of the core social studies skills are crucially important, but I think these three can really cover many of the ones.
1. Students need to be able to recognize bias when they see it and recognize that it is everywhere, especially in the media and that it is in their textbooks. Students need to be aware of what propaganda is and be able to become informed consumers and know and understand that when a Crest commercial says 4 out of 5 dentists recommend it, there were probably many groups of five interviewed before reaching those four proponents.
2. Evaluating cause and effect relationships is a crucial social studies skill and will be vital to students throughout there lives; Geoff made a very good example of this. When a student has this skill and can understand that actions lead to consequences, s/he will better be able to make historical connections (past/present/future), another important skill.
3. Understanding fact and opinion is really important because students need to be able to use the information they have (and know how to find the info they need) to make educated decisions about whether something is true or someone’s opinion. This skill ties in with the bias/propaganda as students will need to dig into what they are reading/hearing and think about what is true.
Jessica was the first to mention it, but organized notes and general organization skills in social studies is necessary as there is so much information from so many sources.
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1) Organization/Note Taking Skills.
2) The ability to read a chart/graphic organizer
3) The ability to differentiate between fact/opinion.
1) There is so much information in the field of Social Studies. If you are unable to take notes effectively and sift through information, it can be very overwhelming. Students that are better prepared to dig through the information and keep track of what they need to know are going to learn more and perform better than their peers.
2) There are so many different charts, maps, and diagrams that present information in social studies. Graphs are used to display cultural, economic, political, and historical information. If you can't read them, you won't get the full understanding of the other information a text/article may provide. You need to have these skills to fully understand Social Studies.
3)Everything is biased, at least slightly, in the media these days. Historians themselves are biased, based on their personal experiences they may choose a certain writing style/words that change the way a student interprets things. Too many students buy into what is fed to them. It is absolutely necessary to students to learn to research as much as they can and read as many sources that they can, not just to be successful in the classroom but to be a successful citizen. I'm still shocked by things I hear my PROFESSORS at a college level say about different current events, because they automatically assume what a certain news source, author, political candidate, etc. says is correct. This generation specifically needs to learn to pick apart information because of the high influence the media has on the nation.
To respond to Rebecca's post:
I also agree with the idea of instilling a sense of nationalism in our students. Too many students take what they have for granted and don't appreciate what has been given to them here in this country.
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