Meaningful Social Studies Lessons

Meaningful well-planned social students lessons go beyond explanations provided in national and state standards and school textbooks. Although these tools provide a great (and mandatory) starting place, they do not offer ideal opportunities for higher-level thinking and learning on their own. First and foremost, meaningful social studies lessons revolve around authentic questions that students can explore as if they are social scientists. Students should be encouraged to explore topics that are relevant and interesting to them; then, students will hopefully be intrinsically motivated to find answers to proposed questions. Students should further be given the opportunity to collect data, have discussions, which challenge students to use and explain their critical reasoning, and chose appropriate products to demonstrate their understanding. Such an exploration should challenge students’ misconceptions, over generalizations, and prejudices. A meaningful lesson will further allow students to conduct their exploration of a topic through hands-on experiences. This means that students should have access to real materials, such as globes, maps etc., as well as first hand experiences such as going on field trips and or meeting people in the community who can share their insights and perspectives. Maxim points out that students should have the opportunity to explore such materials, replicate them in an authentic way, and create materials that reflect their understanding of original materials as well as their individuality. In that way, students become apart of the history and communities they are learning about. Lastly, it is important to note that the experience of perusing answers to social studies questions can be greatly augmented through interdisciplinary explorations. This means that students should study social studies in conjunction with learning about reading, mathematics, science, and the arts, which include music, drama, dance and visual arts. This will allow students to study questions as they would in the real world, as the real world is not compartmentalized but complex and multifaceted. Thus, I think that meaningful social studies lessons will provide students with tools to better explore and understand the world throughout their lives.