Guiding Principles in Teaching Social Studies

Effective teaching of Social Studies (Araling Panlipunan) is characterized as Meaningful, Active,

Value-based, Integrative Challenging (MAVIC).

1. Effective Araling Panlipunan teaching is meaningful. A lesson is meaningful if the students see
the relevance and connection of their lesson to their lives because it has real -world application. It
is also meaningful when new information is connected to prior knowledge and experiences of the
students. Meaning must be made, and understanding must be earned. Meaningful Araling
Panlipunan teaching is more than covering content, learning is more than merely taking in subject
matter and assessment is more than accurate recall. It also becomes meaningful when students
are challenged to use disciplined inquiry or use high-order thinking skills to construct meaning.
Also, the teaching of Araling Panlipunan is meaningful when learning is authentic. Authentic
learning builds on the concept of "learning by doing" to increase the student's engagement. To
succeed, this method needs to have meaning or value to the student, embody in depth learning in
the subject and allow the student to see what he or she learned to produce something new.

Remember that meaningful teaching and learning in Araling Panlipunan means teaching in depth,
avoiding the "one-mile-inch-deep' teaching. It is not just memorizing isolated events, names and
dates for the test. It is connecting lessons to the real life of students. It is making them do real -life
tasks themselves and using high-order-thinking skills for mastery of content.

2. Effective Araling Panlipunan teaching is active. It requires students to process and think about
what they are learning. Active learning is "hands-on-minds-on-hearts-on". In active learning,
students work either individually or collaboratively, using rich and varied sources, to reach
understandings, make decisions, discuss issues and solve problems. Students can also interact
with the teachers by asking and answering questions as teachers explain. Students can also
interact with learning materials.

3. Effective Araling Panlipunan teaching is value-based. A powerful and effective AP teaching is

value driven because its intended outcomes are in the affective domain, the the developmen t of
the mamayang mapanagutan, makalikasan, makabansa at makatao. Students learn democracy by
experiencing democracy right there in the classroom. Its lessons are replete with value - laden
concerns and issues where students listen to competing arguments, assess the merits of
competing arguments and make informed and value-based decisions.

4. Effective Araling Panlipunan teaching is integrative. The subject itself is an integration of

several interrelated disciplines - history, economics, geography, political science, sociology,
anthropology, archeology and psychology. It is sensitive to and integrates multiple intelligences
and learning styles of students. It integrates cognitive skills required in other disciplines as it
provides opportunities for students to conduct inquiry, develop and display data, synthesize
findings, and make judgments.

5. Effective Araling Panlipunan teaching is challenging. Learning task should neither be too easy to
bore the students nor too difficult to discourage them. AP teachers should know their students
more than anything else and so are in the best position to determine when the learning task are
neither too easy nor too difficult.

Standards & Outcomes Based Instruction

Essential knowledge in the social studies is comprised of a broad and comprehensive knowledge base
of history, geography, world cultures, and the events which shaped them. This knowledge base is
aligned to National and State Standards, as well as West Irondequoit Outcomes, and serves to promote
rigorous and transferable conceptual understandings. Social studies instruction is designed with the
end in mind. It uses a decision making model which is reflective, thought provoking, and oriented
toward the formation of reasoned conclusions. Essential Questions and Enduring Understandings
challenge students to think at the highest analytical and evaluative levels. Our program develops
historical thinkers through a vertical alignment of content, concepts, and skills. Our goal is to maximize
the achievement of all learners as they advance through the program. This goal is developed and
sustained by a professional learning community which is collaborative and committed to continuous
improvement.
The social studies classroom is the laboratory of democracy for all citizen learners.

 Effective social studies instruction empowers students to comprehend, appreciate, and

participate in a diverse, complex, global society.

 Student centered classrooms prepare students for the world of work by fostering independence
and cooperative problem solving that deepens cognitive and interpersonal development.
Critical thinking skills are essential to the development of student independence and the
creation of empowered, responsible citizens.

 Through critical thinking experiences students develop historical habits of mind through which
they question, acquire, and categorize evidence, develop hypotheses, and formulate
conclusions which are integral to historiography.

 Scholarship requires the essential knowledge, skills, values, and perspectives to identify hidden
issues as students formulate and substantiate a well reasoned stance.

We are committed to the rigorous development of disciplined inquiry in the research process.

 The research process develops the ability to access, evaluate, and synthesize a wide variety of
information sources through the creation of research projects, papers, and presentations.

 In an age of instant global communication it is imperative that students be competent, critical

consumers of technological information sources

Rich social studies instruction develops critical literacy through the processes and practices of
historiography. This instruction is essential as students make meaning across time, place, and
culture.

 Students as historians and social scientists strive to be fair and impartial as they analyze and
evaluate primary and secondary documents from multiple perspectives.

 As students internalize historical habits of mind they will transfer these skills across content and
disciplines.

Social studies assessment is a process of ongoing, formative evaluation designed to provide

targeted feedback toward mastery of the social studies standards.

 Social studies assessment is multi-faceted and includes on demand summative assessments, as

well as Capstone projects, research papers, and presentations.

 Timely feedback supports student centered reflection and growth as well as providing teachers
with the data needed to adjust instruction.

Approaches in Teaching Social Studies

A. Discovery Approach
• Places the teacher as a facilitator
• Requires mental processes, such as:
 observing
 measuring
 classifying
 guessing
 explaining
 drawing conclusions.
 Puts students in their own learning and developing creativity in solving problems.
 Encourages the students:
 To learn the facts
 Develop their own skills
 Acquire the knowledge by actively working with the information gathered.
 The instructor encourages the learners to generate modules that demonstrate students’
creativity

ADVANTAGES

 Development of meta cognitive skills (including some higher level cognitive strategies) useful in
lifelong learning.
 Motivation

DISADVANTAGES

 (Sometimes huge) cognitive overload

 Potential to confuse the learner if no initial framework is available.
 Measurable performance is worse for most learning situations.
 Creations of misconceptions - Weak students have a tendency to "fly under the radar" (Aleven
et al. 2003) and
 Teacher's failure to detect situations needing
B. Process Approach

 Focuses on the writing process rather than the final product

 Indicates an awareness of the linkage between writing, thinking, and learning.
ADVANTAGES

 Students can also develop skills, such as drafting and editing texts, which are required when
writing
  The process approach evolved out of dissatisfaction with more traditional product approaches,
which view the end product as their focus, with the supporters of the former rejecting the latter
as old fashioned and ineffective

DISADVANTAGES

 It requires a significant investment of class time to be successful.

 It was developed to meet the needs of the native classroom, where learners, who were already
verbally fluent, needed to address the issue of the writing process and as a result, it neglects
the linguistic element of written language.
 Requires an additional investment of a teacher's time as every student is likely to have his own
unique mix of problems and therefore each
C. Inquiry Approach

 Allows students to be curious, to wonder and ask questions

 Lows students to pursue questions they have and topics they find personally relevant or
interesting.
 Aids in differentiation of learning without stigmatizing students
 They create an active and engaged classroom by offering a diverse set of learning opportunities
designed to appeal to the varying learning styles of the students in the classroom.

ADVANTAGES

 Greater Interest
 Teaches problem- solving
 Enhances teamwork skills
 Long-term knowledge retention
DISADVANTAGES

 Poorer standardized testing performance

 Student embarrassment.
 Teacher unpreparedness
D. Multimedia Approach

 Provide the students chances for interacting with diverse texts that give them a solid
background in the tasks and content of mainstream college courses.
 One of the important innovations in the field of educational technology to improve the process
and product of teaching – learning .
 The use of appropriate and carefully selected varieties of learning experiences which when
presented to the learner through selected teaching strategies, will reinforce and strengthen one
another in such a way that the learner will achieve predetermined objectives in an effective
way.
  An approach of teaching in which different mediums are incorporated to make the teaching-
learning more effective, enthusiastic, inspirational, meaningful & interesting.
ADVANTAGES

 Creativity
 Variety
 Cost-effective
 Evaluation
 Realistic Approach
 Wide Variety of Support
 Trendy
DISADVANTAGES

 Accessibility
 Distracting
 Costly
 Time Consuming
 Requires Mastery
 Limited Support/Compatibility Fragile
E. Value Clarification Approach

 Helps students clarify their goals, priorities and values, make decisions, and implement changes
in their studies.
 Has to be a rational process
 Important aspect of value clarification in education is moral development of a child
 Helps an individual to relate their thoughts and their feelings which results in awareness of their
own values.
 An integral part of our education system helps children to identify their core personality and it
directs them in right path to choose the type of person they want to be.
 Value clarification provides a role model for the students not for outer world but within
themselves.
 It provides an insight on one’s own personality
ADVANTAGES

 Values clarification is an analysis technique that can often assist individuals increase awareness
of any values that may have an attitude on lifestyle decisions and actions.
 This technique can deliver an opportunity for a person to reflect on personal moral problems
and allow for values to be analyzed and clarified.

DISADVANTAGES
  One of the disadvantages of the value clarification method is that informal values clarification
instruments do not always deliver relevant information.
F. Mastery Learning

 Instructional method where students are allowed unlimited opportunities to demonstrate

mastery of content taught
 A involves breaking down the subject matter to be learned into units of learning, each with its
own objectives
 A teaching strategy that involves a pre-specified criterion level of performance which students
must master in order to complete the instruction and move on
 Involves frequent assessment of students’ progress, it provides corrective instruction and
emphasizes on all participation, feedback and reinforcement
 Helps the students to acquire prerequisite skills to move to the next unit.
ADVANTAGES

 Mastery leaning facilitates student learning and often leads to higher achievement than more
traditional classes
 Mastery learning students often retain the things they have learned for longer periods of time
 Enforces better study habits rather than procrastinating and cramming for tests
 Mastery learning can break the cycle of failure
DISADVANTAGES

 Students who learn quickly receive less instruction than their classmates • Teachers must assist
and keep track of multiple students who are at different levels of learning
 Extra time may be required in order to provide slower paced learners time to learn content
 Potentially takes too much of the responsibility for learning away from students creating
students who may not learn how to learn independently
G. Eclectic Approach

 Refers to a teaching approach that is not based on a single method but that draws on several
different method principles that are made use of in practice
 A fusion of knowledge from all sources
 A peculiar type of educational philosophy which harmoniously combines all good ideas and
principles from various schools of thought
 This approach is not rigidly confined to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but draws upon
multiple theories to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in
particular cases.
ADVANTAGES

 Does not restrict to one perspective so allows new ideas to be formed.

  Therapeutic methods treat the entire disorder and not just one symptom.
 Humans are complex and it is not always possible to identify one precise cause.
 Combining methods is a useful way of validating ideas.
 The strengths of one method can be used to offset the weaknesses of another.
 Trying to identify causation precisely risks reinforcing stereotypes.
 Individuals' needs are better matched to treatments when more options are available.
 Provides a fuller, more detailed understanding of human behavior.
 Research design does not have to be dictated by the researcher's paradigmatic stance.
DISADVANTAGES

 It does not lend itself to prediction and control of behavior.

 It's difficult to identify the relative contributions of each approach.
 Explanation of behavior may become "watered down" when combining many perspectives.
 There are practical difficulties in investigating the integration of the approaches.
 It does not lend itself to hypothesis testing.
 Research methods chosen must be compatible with the paradigmatic stance of the researcher.
 Explanations of behavior are not parsimonious so may lead to confusing explanations of
behavior.
 The researcher must have a solid grounding in combining methods to ensure that research is
rigorous and robust.
 There are practical difficulties when providing eclectic therapy. It may be too complex for one
clinician to manage.
Teaching Strategies in Social Studies

What is Teaching? What is Strategy?

 Can be defined as engagement with learners to enable their understanding and application of
knowledge, concepts and processes. It includes design, content selection, delivery, assessment
and reflection.
 Strategy is the intelligent allocation of resources through a unique system of activities to achieve
a goal. Simply put, strategy is how you plan to achieve a goal.
How to Select a Strategy?
1. Begin with the objectives
2. Align your teaching strategies with the objective
3. Align your assessment strategy with the objective

4. Make modifications to the teaching strategies and assessments as you get to know your students and
their strengths
 Begin with the objectives
 Before selecting appropriate teaching strategies, determine the learning objectives for the
course A learning objective is an outcome statement that captures specifically what
knowledge, skills, attitudes learners should be able to exhibit following instruction (Teacher
and Educational Development, 2005)
Example:

 The students will be able to incorporate a range of assessment strategies (formative,

summative, peer, and self) in a unit plan.
 Align your teaching strategies with the objective
 Once the objectives are written, you can focus on selecting teaching strategies and learning
activities that will facilitate students meeting the objectives through the course.
The teaching strategies we use to teach students about assessment include:
1. 1. Reflecting on the types of assessment students experience in the course
2. Reading about a variety of assessment techniques and actively participating in class
discussions related to the readings
3. Presenting an assessment technique to the class
4. Developing assessments in class with their peer
5. Participating in an online environment.
 Align your assessment strategy with the objective
 After learning objectives are written and teaching strategies and activities are chosen,
develop assessment strategies that evaluate the learning objective.
 The assessments of the objectives included:
1. Presentation of an assessment strategy which includes peer assessment (formative)
2. Reflection (formative)
3. Develop lesson plans (formative and summative)
4. Peer teaching (summative)
5. Develop a unit plan (summative)
 Make modifications to the teaching strategies and assessments as you get to know your students
and their strengths
 The first three steps are effective only if the needs, knowledge, and experiences of the
students in the class are considered throughout the class.
 It is necessary for college instructors to plan a course before getting to know their students;
however, this is contradictory to effective teaching literature, which advocates for pretesting
and planning based on the knowledge students bring to class. Instructors can pre-test and
not distribute the syllabus the first day, but they also need to do pre-planning before the
semester begins.
 It is imperative as the semester proceeds to make notes and pay attention to what students
are learning and experiencing and make necessary adjustments to the course schedule,
activities, and
Classifications of Strategies
A. Expository Strategies

 It is a kind of method that interprets or explains a comprehensive topic or subject matter.

 The teacher is completely in charge and guides the lesson. He/she is also in charge of the
discussion and asks questions by calling on students for answers.
 Conditions for Effective Exposition

1. The teacher’s thorough understanding of the subject matter to be explained.

2. The teacher’s comprehension of the students’ ability to understand the explanation.
3. The use of language and illustrations within the students’ experiences and understanding.
 ACTIVITIES THAT CAN BE USED IN EXPOSITORY TEACHING METHOD
1. Teacher talk (lecturing)

2. Demonstration
3. Assignments and homework
4. Memorizing
5. Reviewing
6. Questioning

7. Discussion
B. Enabling Strategy
 Unit method
 The teacher divides the subject to be taught into different units first and then, teaches it one by
one.
 Textbooks may come with units to make teaching and learning easy.
 The teachers prepare their own set of units to give a personalized instruction of their
convenience and by considering the understanding level of particular students in the class.
 Fieldtrip
 An organized trip to a place which has a significant relation with the subjects taught makes
learning more interesting.
 It also helps to improve student-student and student-teacher interactions.
 It is an opportunity for students to observe, ask questions and have an out of the regular
classroom experience.
 Deductive
 In these methods of teaching, learners are given rules first followed by examples and after that,
they practice the lesson
  This is a teacher-centered approach which is ideal for teaching languages. It is really helpful for
lower level learners who require a clear base to start a lesson.
 Inductive method
 In contrast to the deduction method, this is more like a student centric approach.
 This is a reverse model to teach a new language in which examples are given first and the
learners are then asked to find the rules.
 They can detect or notice patterns and work out a personalized rule.
 Lecture method
 He most commonly followed methods in teaching in various educational institutions
 Considered as the most ideal method for a teacher to address large classrooms.
 An oral presentation of lessons to a group of students.
 Project method
 Project-based learning lets students to understand and to remember a subject for a longer
period than just reading the textbook content.
 Working on a project improves their critical thinking, collaboration, communication and self-
management skills.
 Tri-question method
 Used in conducting of current events lessons
 Questions to be asked are:
 What happened?
 Why did it happened?
 What might be the consequences?
 Role playing and socio-drama
 This technique allows students to explore realistic situations as part of their learning process.
 Students get an opportunity to express themselves through dialogues and gestures thus
improving their imagination and memory.
 This is one of the meaningful communication activities that can be tried out in any classroom
that promotes teamwork.
 Moral dilemma method
 Moral dilemmas are situations in which the decision-maker must consider two or more moral
values or duties but can only honor one of them
 Moral dilemma constitute challenges that decision-makers should prepare for
 Debate
 This method of teaching helps to explore the range of views on a subject.
 Students will be split into groups and then, they can debate on the subject provided to them.
 Debate is meant to develop critical thinking.
 Modular
 Modular learning is a form of distance learning that uses Self-Learning Modules (SLM) based on
the most essential learning competencies (MELCS) developed by the teachers with the aid of
curriculum developers.
  The modules include sections on motivation and assessment that serve as teachers’ and
students’ guides to achieve desired competencies.
 Feedback mechanisms aid teachers in monitoring student achievement and identify those who
require follow-up interventions.
 Reporting
 Aims to provide students with information in a direct way and in uninterrupted manner. The
student-reporters act like an authority of the topics assigned to them.
 It is highly cognitive. The aim of the activity is to be able to deliver factual information about a
topic.
 It is student-centered. When a student is assigned to report, he or she has to collect, organize
and share certain information.
 Discussion
 One of the best interactive methods in teaching in which both teachers and students in the
classroom exchange ideas on the topic of discussion.
 When used effectively, it can help students to develop their thinking, learning, understanding
and problem-solving skills.
 Demonstration
 Instead of just giving an oral explanation of a subject, the teacher produces enough materials or
proofs to make things clear.
 It can be a demo of a step-by-step process that helps students to easily connect it to theory.
 Semantic web spider web/ fact storm web/strand web
 The Semantic Web, also known as Web 3.0, is not a separate Web but an extension of the
current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and
people to work in cooperation (Berners-Lee, Hendler and Lassila, 2001)
 The users can search the Web, retrieve easily meaningful information and sort out irrelevant
data
 Semantic Web tools can give each teacher candidate or student the ability to process
information at their own pace.