Constructivist Methods in the Social Studies Classroom

Constructivist Methods in Social Studies

Kaiser, C. (2010, February). Redrawing the boundaries: A constructivist approach to combating student apathy in the secondary history classroom. The History Teacher, 43(2), 223-232.

Kaiser argues that there is really nothing terribly tidy or accurate about the divisions that teachers use to teach and study history. The author suggests that teachers need to know both why and how the divisions in the study of history occur -- this lends a level of self-consciousness to history as a discipline. Kaiser proposes using alternative perspectives for the study of history that capitalize on the individual interests of adolescent students. Kaiser suggests that each student should select a unique perspective -- a stand-alone thematic approach -- for the study of history for the duration of the coursework. Being able to unpack the traditional divisions in history will help me explain to my history students what my assignment is asking of them with regard to having a unique perspective for studying history -- I won't feel that I have violated anything sacrosanct by diverging from the traditional divisions used in the study of history.

The key to engaging more students in an active study of history, according to Kaiser (2010), is to guide them "to find relevance in the events of the past, and finally to analyze the effects of change over time" (p. 223). Kaiser concedes that this is not an easy task for a history teacher to accomplish. But the task is made easier through the influence of human physiology which suggests that the divisions in history support learning, and may offer utility for meeting diverse approaches to learning. This is true, in part, because "the adolescent brain…is developing, it prefers information in smaller pieces" (Kaiser, 2010, p). Listening to the presentations from their peers offers a more diverse view of past events, which can add to students' ability to synthesize and build on these new conceptual frameworks for the study of history.

Article Review

Scheuerell, S. (2010). Virtual Warrensburg: Using cooperative learning and the internet in the social studies classroom. The Social Studies, 101, 194-199.

Scheuerell's use of cooperative learning in his approach to the virtual Warrensburg project emphasizes the social negotiation of knowledge aspect of constructivist learning. Through dialog with other students in the learning group, negotiation and testing of knowledge could occur. Scheuerell's goal in the social studies project was to integrated use of the internet with a cooperative learning approach, the synthesis of which produces a superior learning experience for the students. The PIES cooperative learning structure is based on four linked components that together achieve an elegant balance between individual autonomous learning and collaboration with other learners. PIES is an acronym for "positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation, and simultaneous interaction among the group members" (Scheuerell, 2010, p. 194). A specific subtopic was given to each student to investigate; taken together, the collective topics all related to a broader historical investigation. The students were truly able to test their constructs in their learning team because, for most of the local history topics, a Web page had never been published. The students in Scheuerell's project found this to be authentic construction of learning, which gave the entire project a robust measure of appeal -- they were using technology to help them generate ideas and information. The idea of having students produce their own Web pages has great appeal for me. I like the idea of using the internet for an activity less ethereal than simply carrying out research. Also, the project lent itself well to a cooperative learning project as students all had different levels of technology expertise and could collaborate in order to fulfill their obligations to the assigned technology job.

Yilmaz, K. (2008, December/2009, January). A vision of history teaching and learning: Though on history education in secondary schools. The High School Journal, 37-46.