Projects in the Social Studies
Brett Bezaire. Novermber 13th, 2012.
"When students become truly engaged in a project they take off in unexpected directions, producing work that is vastly superior to their customary levels of achievement." - Sears, 1999.
In our social studies class this year we have been shown how to
interest children in social studies by creating meaningful lessons. Our class has been shown
how to create many interesting projects for students from an in class field trip
to participating in our own artifact presentations. These ideas are interesting
ways to get children to participate and it is when they are engaged in what they are doing is when they produce their best work.
Everyone has had a project or assignment that has dragged on because we weren’t interested in what we were doing. This is something that everyone goes through and it starts in childhood. As educators it is our job to spark a child's interest in a subject and then maintain that interest throughout a unit. The best way to create this interest is to develop your lessons around the children’s specific interests. One approach that educators have turned to is project based learning. There are many resources online that describe this strategy and even give helpful lessons and ideas (ex: http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning). The idea is giving children real life eperiences to learn from. It is
important to know the learning styles of our students and work to make it engaging for everyone in our classroom. Students must be involved in their own education. We can’t force feed them until they do it "by the book" or else we will have students who fight against what they are being forced to do. We have to be adaptable as teachers and do whatever we can to help students achieve at their highest level. They accomplish this by being self-motivated learners which can be done through a supportive learning environment that would allow a child to tap into their own potential.
interest children in social studies by creating meaningful lessons. Our class has been shown
how to create many interesting projects for students from an in class field trip
to participating in our own artifact presentations. These ideas are interesting
ways to get children to participate and it is when they are engaged in what they are doing is when they produce their best work.
Everyone has had a project or assignment that has dragged on because we weren’t interested in what we were doing. This is something that everyone goes through and it starts in childhood. As educators it is our job to spark a child's interest in a subject and then maintain that interest throughout a unit. The best way to create this interest is to develop your lessons around the children’s specific interests. One approach that educators have turned to is project based learning. There are many resources online that describe this strategy and even give helpful lessons and ideas (ex: http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning). The idea is giving children real life eperiences to learn from. It is
important to know the learning styles of our students and work to make it engaging for everyone in our classroom. Students must be involved in their own education. We can’t force feed them until they do it "by the book" or else we will have students who fight against what they are being forced to do. We have to be adaptable as teachers and do whatever we can to help students achieve at their highest level. They accomplish this by being self-motivated learners which can be done through a supportive learning environment that would allow a child to tap into their own potential.