Gretchen VanMeter

Social Studies is an area of content that can be connected across the curriculum.  It is our job as educators to explore the strategies that engage our students interest and expand on their learning abilities to know how to be successful when studying social studies.  Social Studies textbooks are often overwhelming to students because they are full of facts. 

According to our textbook (Brozo, W.G.,  Simpson, M.L. (1999). Knowing the Format and Organization of a Textbook (3^rd edition), it is important for the student to become familiar with the layout of the textbook and a good tool to use is the example given in figure 9.1 of the textbook.  This is a good teaching strategy that is suggested by many when employing reading strategies.  I found several on-line resources that make the connection of study strategies and note-taking strategies a key to success in Social Studies.

http://muckingum.edu/~cal/database/Hist3.html

This site provides four strategies that relate to reading the text and taking notes from the text.  It has a wide variety of strategies for memory as well.  This site could be helpful to students, parents, and teachers.  The following are a some examples: 

1.     SQ3R:  Survey the chapter by looking at the subheadings, reading the summaries, and reading the questions at the end of each section.  Go back and turn the subheadings into Questions.  Then read each section, recite important facts, and finally review the introduction along with the summary to pull all the information together. 

2.     Supporting Materials:  These materials include time lines, maps, and diagrams, which are important to a visual learner.  According to Dr. Taylor Stults of the History Department at Muskingum College, he feels “it is very important to study the supporting materials provided in most history texts.”

According to our textbook (Brozo, W.G.,  Simpson, M.L. (1999). Knowing the Format and Organization of a Textbook (3^rd edition),  in chapter 9, mapping can take different forms depending on the material.  However, there are some common features: major theme, other imporantant concepts that are in boxes or squares, lines that connect information that is relate and information becomes more specific as the lines lead from major theme.  Figure 9.6, in our textbook shows an example of Map for the Causes of the Revolutionary War.  Timelines are also very useful in history and Figure 9.8 in our textbook shows an example of Civil Rights Time Line During the 1960s and Early 1970s.

3.     Margin Notes: This keeps students active while reading and is similar to split-page notes (Figure 9.4) discussed in the our textbook. 

4.     Reading Grid: This strategy helps students breakdown the chapter by sections and allows them to see the main points in their own words.  This grid can be used after the student has used the SQ3R method.  This is a example :

Chapter Number and Title

http://www.teachnet.com

There are a number a lesson plan ideas for the following subjects:  Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Health/PE, Technology, Seasonal, Arts/Creativity.  The Social Studies is divided into sub-categories that include:

·        History

·        Personal Growth

·        Countries, States, Capitols, Flags

·        Government

·        Economics

·        Society

·        Geography

The Personal growth section gave an example of flow charts to use to help students organize information.  Social Studies is a subject that involves a lot of facts about different topics and this flow chart strategy will help students to sort information.  This site gives a whole page of unique ways for students to respond personally to a novel that they have read.  It has excellent ideas for each subject and would be a great source for beginning teachers because it also gives suggestions on interactive bulletin boards and classroom management.

www.eduplace.com

This site provides teachers with several strategies to engage students in active learning.  This is an amazing site that highlights current events for social studies and reading scene for all teachers. The reading scene section provides teachers with printable multiple-choice quizzes over novels.  Some special features include: activity search, link library, monthly themes, eduGames, textbook support, and graphic organizers.  Some of the graphic organizers include:  persuasion map, veen diagram, time lines, and the list goes on. All of which are  printable worksheets from the Acrobat reader.  This site is excellent and can be used to help anyone teach any subject.

www.knownet.net/users/Ackley/readreport.html

Many teachers assign book reports over topics or important figures in history and this site gives an excellent example for a “A book Report Recipe”.  Several examples are given that are compatible for different subject areas.  Another strategy that can be used for social studies is “Mini Flap Charts”.  Each strategy gives step-by-step instructions on how to implement these strategies in the classroom and suggestions on how they can be used for different subjects.

The Teacher’s Desk gives the suggestions for 5^th and 6^th grade, but are applicable to this age and older.  This site provides spelling, reading, writing, and English ideas. 

www.isss.stthomas.edu/studyguides/

This site gives several study guides and strategies that are also found in our textbook.  One section includes “Preparing to learn”. It points out that students must be motivated to learn which will help them have effective study strategies.  Chapter 2 in our textbook mentions that students “will” or motivation, is as important as their strategy “skill” (Paris, Lipson, & Wixson, 1983).   Not all students will be able to learn from the same strategies, that is why it is important to open their eyes to a variety of strategies in our classroom.  One strategy that I found unique was M.U.R.D.E.R.—a Study System.

Mood:
Set a positive mood for yourself to study in.
Select the appropriate time, environment, and attitude
Understand:
Mark any information you don't understand in a particular unit;
Keep a focus on one unit or a manageable group of exercises
Recall:
After studying the unit,
stop and put what you have learned into your own words
Digest:
Go back to what you did not understand and reconsider the information;
Contact external expert sources (e.g., other books or an instructor) if you still cannot understand it
Expand:
In this step, ask three kinds of questions concerning the studied material:

·        If I could speak to the author, what questions would I ask or what criticism would I offer?

·        How could I apply this material to what I am interested in?

·        How could I make this information interesting and understandable to other students?

Review:
Go over the material you've covered,
Review what strategies helped you understand and/or retain information in the past and apply these to your current studies.

  “History has been a continuous exercise in creative problem solving.”

                                              --Michael J. Gelb

References

Brozo, W.G., & Simpson, M.L. (1999) Readers, teacher, learners:  Expanding

          Literacy across the content areas (3^rd Edition).  New Jersey: Merrill

          Prentice Hall.

Paris, S. G., Lipson, M.Y., & Wixson, K. K. (1983) Becoming a strategic reader. 

          Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8, 293-316.