John K. Lee describes his content area as complicated and lacking lacking clear academic and disciplinary structure. The subject matter comes from history, geography, political science, economics, behavioral sciences, cultural studies and other content areas.
I found it interesting how the author referenced Schwab's 1964 work that considered structures in academic disciplines as enablers of new knowledge contributions by scholars. Schwab also attributes those structures to being able to verify the legitimacy of the new knowledge. Is the author saying that new knowledge in social studies can not be contributed or verified? I do not think so. I believe he is just trying to set up a social studies framework as one that grows not from the traditional ill-defined subject of social studies but from Thorton's (2001) idea of selecting, adapting and transforming disciplinary content for teaching.
In the authors second of six technological pedagogical actions he describes how to facilitate students' work in non-linear environments where students select from many resources and navigate many interfaces. My colleagues and I have been experiencing this in our graduate class. Dr. Grace has been teaching us how to use many tools and resources in a non-linear environment. I like to learn in this kind of environment. I find non-linear class environments similar to how Landlow (1992) describes hypertext. It is empowering and gives the reader (or student) the freedom to navigate various nodes according to their needs. And navigating non-linear web resources is an active process that I find engaging.
Finally, I see incredible opportunities for using technological pedagogy in social studies with online survey and poll tools to make civic decisions. We have been using online surveys with our staff and students to help guide decisions about the day to day environment at our school. Surveys that fully disclose the results to all participants are great springboards for discussion and allow more people to contribute meaningfully to important issues. Our active survey includes issues about teen pregnancy, school health clinics, birth control distribution, student academic apathy and student run winter carnival events. Online survey tools really can help facilitate active and authentic interactions. I would like to use the online survey tools for our spring student council elections.
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I found that James' resources are extensive. I particularly like the http://www.internet4classrooms.com/physics_standard.htm site the most because you can sort by standard and level. Many of the sites were familiar rich resources but by having them organized by standard (even if it was the Tennessee State Stds.) and level was very useful.
ReplyDeleteCharmaine's http://www.4teachers.org/tools/ resource did have many web based tools. The http://classroom.4teachers.org/ is excellent for making a class floor plan. I have been looking for an easy way to work with potential room rearrangements. This tool is it. I sent the link on to my science colleagues that are working on a new science lab classroom layout for our anticipated new high school. Thanks Charmaine!
Social Studies…it is all about communicating and sharing of ideas. It is finding a fit in design, comfort, economy and usefulness. A person’s thoughts gravitates toward what he/she knows best and has an interest in.
ReplyDeleteI try to touch base with people when ever i can to share sites and resources. Students can also be a viable resource. they are always finding cool and interesting sites. they are also great at finding answers to navigational and blocking issues.
ReplyDeleteCharmaine, your philosophical statements do capture human behavior and the art of teaching that I have observed at Mt. Blue HS.
ReplyDeleteJames, have you ever tried having one student on a computer to support answering any questions that come up during class? I have always wanted to do this in class as a way to answer "parking lot" questions sooner during the point of inquiry, but have not tried it... yet.