Observational Case Study: Student Learning in the Social Sciences

High school history textbooks are seen, by students, as presenting the last word on American History. Rarely, if ever, do they question what their text tells them about our collective past. According to James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, they should be. Loewen has spent considerable time and effort reviewing history texts that were written for high school students. In Lies, he has reviewed twenty texts and has compared them to the actual history. Sadly, not one text measures up to the author's expectation of teaching students to think. What is worse, though, is that students come away from their classes without "having developed the ability to think coherently about social

Graff starts out his work, hooking the audience, by saying what multiple students think about their school, that schools are making mistakes teaching us the things they do. Graff essentially calls out schools for the pickle that they have put their students in. Graff describes some curriculum, using Plato, Shakespeare, the French Revolution and Nuclear fission as examples of the mind-numbing topics that schools teach about. Graff then brings up topics, such as Cars, Dating, Fashion, Sports, TV, and Video Games, that many kids today enjoy talking about and discussing with one another. Graff emphasizes that despite the lack of “connection… established between any text or subject and the educational depth and weight of the discussion it can generate,” schools continue to assume that there is a connection (par. 3).

She carries the audience through her argument in a logical sequence. First, she makes her claim that student do not know history and explains her reasons (250). She then elaborates on what history students are taught and what exactly is wrong with the methods by which they learn (251). After this, she explains the job of a historian to the reader – how historians confront primary sources to “make some sense of what once happened” (252). To end the article, Simon describes how students can better learn history through exploring primary sources (253). This structuring and organization helps the reader to understand and to believe Simon’s

Throughout the master 's program, I have learned from a variety of classes about educational reforms, shifts in pedagogical practices, technology integration and the role of American education among other things. Authentic intellectual work has an important role to play in all of those areas. In BEF 503, we studied reform movements during the Progressive Era which called for school centralization, curriculum differentiation, and social reform through education. Those reform movements laid the foundation for future educational changes, and many of the things that drive politics in education today saw their beginnings during the Progressive Era. Even today, educational reformers are pushing for a change in educational standards and practices through common core. The biggest affect the common core has had on social studies is through the literacy standards, and the implementation of authentic intellectual work could increase the rigor, as well as student engagement in the social studies classroom. We also studied the National Assessment of Educational Progress which is a national report of student progress over time. Researchers argue that students who engage in authentic intellectual work show an increase in their standardized test scores. Therefore, students can only benefit from authentic intellectual work if implemented and assessed correctly. Since authentic intellectual work provides students with the opportunity to present information in a variety of

There are a great number of things that can create problems for students in regards to their academics. One such issue is misunderstandings. There are some that are more common than others and will be identified in order to recognize potential problem areas and solutions. In addition, there are some misconceptions that are associated with particular content areas. One content area that will be under scrutiny will be the Social Studies classroom. These potentially problematic instances will be identified and methods will be devised using the “Backward Design” (Wiggins, & McTighe, 2005) approach in an attempt to reduce issues the teacher may face.

An American Education has drastically changed over time, and it is widely known that things have changed. Students in their generation and ones prior are acutely aware and morally affected about subjects regarding

The students are right; the textbooks are boring, and they find American history in general is so “boring”.(pg.13) Everything in all the textbooks are already solved; the literature in the textbooks have no suspense; there is no drama to keep the students intertwined in the textbooks. “No wonder the

The book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, begins with an introduction in which author James W. Loewen empathizes with the students. He discusses how History, specifically American History, is taught incorrectly. Loewen is able to share his understanding of why high school students think history is boring. He begins his argument with facts and numbers by saying that out of all the subjects in school, history is almost every student's least favorite subject. He goes on to say that teachers also misrepresent history to students by teaching history as a ¨set of facts¨ rather than ¨showing how we got to this point.¨ Loewen’s writing style is much more relaxed than a typical non-fiction

History is a remarkable subject that offers and eagles eye view into the past. With textbooks such as, Hist3, a great deal of interesting information can be acquired. However, a common misconception runs rampant through students minds; the idealism that history is useless and that the subject is that of a drag. Who can blame them? Our text books can only do so much in terms of providing the means in educating ourselves when we’re not in a class room and when given the opportunity to appear in class we have the luxury of (hopefully) having and interesting professor to enlighten us on all the side conflicts, affairs, and bloodshed that has happened. Even so, when we as students have exhausted the book and our instructors, we have the privilege

The Australian Curriculum for the Humanities and Social Sciences plays an important role in harnessing students’ curiosity and imagination about the world they live in and empowers them to actively shape their lives; make reflective, informed decisions; value their belonging in a diverse and dynamic society; and positively contribute locally, nationally, regionally and

As a student of the Lee Honors College, I utilized these principles found within my respective fields of Education, English, and History to develop an undergraduate thesis that utilized the strengths of each. For my thesis, which resulted in the unit plan “Future Historiographers: A Unit Plan for Progressive History Classrooms,” I emphasized critical thinking and freedom of expression to assimilate individuals with the transferable ideas within the unit.

Students come to the classroom with their own ideas and pre-conceived notions. As a future educator it is important for me to understand what students know and where there are misunderstandings. These incorrect ideas about our world and history translate into misconceptions, gaps in knowledge, and stereotypes that will be taken as fact until otherwise taught. To better understand the missing pieces in social studies education and to find ways to address these gaps, I delved into the minds of two third-graders, one male, Sawyer, and one female, Brooke. After conducting my interview I have a better understanding of topics that students are not clear on and would benefit from more instruction. One topic students have missing information about is knowledge of famous women in history. A second topic students seem to be confusing is basic geography understanding.

Every day as people journey through their lives, they are so focused on tiny details that the bigger, more important, picture is entirely overlooked. One dilemma that is being ignored pertains to education. In her article, Nussbaum brings attention to the fact that the humanities and the arts are falling by the wayside

The aim of Social Studies is the promotion of civic competence the knowledge, intellectual processes, and democratic dispositions required of students to be active and engaged participants in public life. Proverbs 19:2 (ESV) states," Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way."For example it is essential for there to be commonalities across the grade levels so that there is a scaffolding of concepts to build from one grade level to the next.

The names in this Observation Report have been changed to protect the privacy of the parents and the child.