Module 1: Overview and TPACK

Indiana Standards 7^th grade Social Studies

7.2.3    Using a variety of information resources*, describe how major forms of governments of Japan, North Korea, India, South Africa and China currently protect or have protected citizens and their civil and human rights.

*        information resources: print media, such as books, magazines and newspapers; electronic media, such as radio, television, Web sites and databases; and community resources, such as individuals and organizations

7.3.2   Locate capital cities in Africa, Asia and the Southwest Pacific using latitude and longitude on maps and with locational technology such as Global Positioning Systems* and Geographic Information Systems*.

*        Global Positioning Systems (GPS): a system of satellites and ground stations used to locate precise points on the surface of the Earth

*        Geographic Information Systems (GIS): information technology systems used to store, analyze, manipulate and display a wide range of geographic information

7.3.14 Use a variety of information resources* to identify current issues and developments related to the environment in selected countries in Africa, Asia and the Southwest Pacific.

ISTE Standards for 6-8 Social Studies

2.2 sources of geographic information, characteristics and uses of geographic information systems, and geographic tools and technologies

6.8 human perceptions of and responses to natural hazards and catastrophes and the impact they have on human societies

8.8 strategies and skills for effectively assessing student understanding and mastery of essential geographic concepts and skills

Lesson Examples

The standards for the 7^th grade Educator and Social Studies course are very closely aligned. Therefore each of my examples will cover two standards one for content and one for pedagogy.  The lesson I like to use to introduce a new region or chapter uses Google Earth.  This is content standard for students is 7.3.2 and for teachers it is 2.2.  Sometimes I have the students find the latitude and longitude of a physical feature such as Mt. Fuji in Japan, or we fly over the landscape to zoom in at street level of the crowded street of Mumbai, India.  Once when we were in the computer lab I had them to compare physical features of a new region in Africa to regions they were already familiar with to make predictions about what it might be like to live there.  This lesson needs some modifications before I use it again but the students love to use this program which really added to the class participation.  I believe using Google Earth has added a lot of realism ‘you are there’ dimension to the lessons.  The lab activity reminded me of the students in the video Learning Landscape: Kids Monitor Terrain with Tech the program Google Earth was our outdoor lab to visually study far away physical features, buildings, cities, oceans, etc. up close and personal in a way that picture in the book could not. 

My second example would cover content standard for students 7.3.14 and for educators 6.8.  At the beginning of last year I really struggled in helping the students make a connection to what we were studying to their lives in Franklin Township until I started showing CNN Student News Video as a bell ringer exercises.  Then the students seemed to be widening their world view and xenophobia attitudes seemed to decrease.  The types of technology I used to teach these lessons were news media (CNN) Internet sites such as You Tube and other news agencies, to follow-up on various stories such as the tsunami in Japan, the overthrow of the Egyptian government, or floods in Missouri.  Then every few days we would use our clickers (E-Instructor) to take a current event or warm-up quiz to hold them accountable for the videos and class discussions.  By incorporating the quizzes the students seems to take the whole lesson more seriously.  Punya Mishra's Web page the Psychology of Media discusses how the presentation of lessons in different forms of media or design of text can influence memory or learning.  Before incorporating CNN video of Student News we had been scanning the newspaper and students were reading articles of interests to the rest of the class with little success.  However, after the video news the participation was much higher both in and out of the classroom and the student interest also seemed to increase at the same time. 

 In reflection I have a lot to learn about integrating technology in the Social Studies classroom after spending so long in the math classes.  There are so much more than just the graphing calculators and sketchpad to learn.  I am looking forward to it.