Inquiry-based learning - the right direction for todays students

As a social studies teacher, I find inquiry-based learning an important tool in my classroom. As a student I had limited experience with inquiry-based learning until college. However, I believe students should have experience with inquiry-based learning in my subject area. Inquiry-based learning is an important tool in engaging students when teaching history, and lends itself to historical thinking skills. In addition to teaching the facts of history, giving students assignments that enable them to come up with their own solutions to complex social issues is one way I would use inquiry-based learning in my classroom. For example, see my wiki using on the U.S. Constitution as a living document. http://techsavvygals.wikispaces.com

Copyright Issues: it's complicated

Copyright issues can have serious implications for educators, especially those unaware of the rules surrounding copyright law. As we strive to make our lessons and classrooms more technologically savvy, both teachers and students must be more conscious of copyright issues than ever. While the basic rule of thumb for educators should be – is the purpose I am using this educational? Is my student’s use of this educational? – the internet certainly complicates things. Both educators and students have access to more copyrighted material through the internet than ever before, and the laws governing use of that intellectual property are less concrete for students used to simply copying and pasting items without referencing. As educators we should teach our students to respect copyright laws, by building teaching about copyright issues in our classrooms.  

Photoshop: Bringing Students Around the World (No Visa Required)

Teaching Globalization in Ghana is a difficult undertaking. It is sometimes hard for students in remote areas with limited access to technology to imagine a world outside their own experience.  Photoshop solved that problem and allowed me to bring my students to me. I took a photo from one of our social studies classes, where they were acting out how Ghana became colonized by the British. They posed in front of the school as the 8 Fante Chiefs who signed the Bond of 1844, the first official document of colonial government. The Bond is a key part of their history, and also celebrated on 6 March 1957 when Ghana became the first independent nation in Africa. The Queen granted Ghana's independence on the anniversary of the Bond.

Using Photoshop I was able to put the "8 Fante Chiefs" in Time Square - while the picture is of the small boys I taught - it should illustrate their understanding of government, like one might do for Standard 5. It shows that independence has no limits, globalization is a process, and is fun at the same time. It could have made for a great lesson.

Finding A Standard and Bringing it to Life

For this semester I will be targeting Content Standard 5: United States Constitution and Government from Social Studies Grades 5-8. I intend to link in-class projects, and homework around this standard. This will be difficult, because unlike other standards it has clear outcomes that are difficult when teaching for social justice, as is my plan. However, I choose it because I hope to employ technology to help teach all groups ways to connect with our nations government. As a result, I hope they will become more active citizens that understand America is an ideal as well as a place – and through our government, day after day we are to challenge the status quo, and try to make that ideal a reality. 

STANDARD
United States Constitution and Government

Content Standard 5: Students will apply knowledge of the U S Constitution, how the U S system of government works and how the rule of law and the values of liberty and equality have an impact on individual, local, state and national decisions.   http://tinyurl.com/6cseutg