676: The Importance of Search: An Ideological Stance for How to Approach Secondary Social Science

In Social Science, I believe one of the most important skills to teach our students is how to effectively use search. From my experience in a seventh grade class, I have discovered that students do not have the funds of knowledge when it comes to researching credible sources on the internet.

This is not just a skill that is pertinent to Social Sciences. It is a life skill that can create job opportunities in the future for many students that come from a resource challenged background.

In order to do so, I have decided that there will be two approaches, behaviorist and 
constructivist. 

The best feature about a constructivist approach is using the funds of knowledge from all students in the class. In all cases of learning, there is always inequity in a given class. The higher level learners are known as more knowledgable others, or MKOs. Jamarillo (1996) illustrates the importance that this student role “ is therefore vital to the learning process for all initiates who learn higher forms of mental activity via more knowledgeable peers and adults who jointly construct and transfer this activity primarily through language.”  Students that have more technology literacy can help the students that do not quite have the funds of knowledge yet.

I have witnessed firsthand on how vital MKOs are in an EL setting, especially as an instructor whose Spanish is very limited. This method allows students who are soon to be reclassified to help students that do not have the same language capabilities. As a social science instructor, it is my understanding that I may have an entire class dedicated to ELD students. A sociocultural environment allows for these students to talk about subject material in their L1 and L2.

Jamarillo (1996) describes the behaviorist approach by stating: “Those educators who adhere to behavioristic, cognitivistic, and positivistic theoretical frameworks tend to instruct their students in a teacher-centered mode, whereas those who adhere to constructivism, collectivistic, and thematic holistic theories tend to teach students in a collective learning environment.”

This sounds contradictory, but it is my philosophy that students need several ways to see something done before they use their peers as a source.  Some skills need to be taught directly by the instructor, namely the skill of properly using the internet as source.

In my future lessons, I believe I will strive for a 50% balance between sociocultural and behaviorist methods.  This will be altered based on the needs of the whole group. If the class does not adhere to the norms that are required in a sociocultural environment, the direct behaviorist approach will take precedent.

While there is also a contradiction between both learning methods,  but there is a way to use them in one lesson. I have witnessed firsthand the value of a sociocultural learning environment. This is why I will incorporate the Gradual Release model more often than any other instruction method. This flexible method of planning lessons allows for a way to incorporating both approaches. Students can use think-pair-share after mimicking the behaviors of the instructor.

During direct instruction, I plan to often check for understanding by using questioning. This will allow students to have a voice, and hear the correct responses from their peers in a time where they may not be used to having an opportunity to share.

In social sciences, it is necessary to create a sociocultural learning environment so that students investigate cause and effect, collaboratively. However, in order to teach real life skills, such as search, students will need to receive direct instruction before learning from one another, so that the more advanced students may then help their peers.

How does this environment look?
My classroom will be arranged in quadrants. I plan to address each quadrant equally. The quadrant closest to me, will be the one behind me. during group, or pair work, I will have my back facing students that are closest to me, and talk at a distance to other groups. This way, I am facing the students furthest from me, but I maintain a close proximity. It was suggested by my curriculum professor, Dr. Botz, that this is the ideal seating chart when trying to implement a constructivist learning model. I also had a seating chart similar, but the students were divided in half, not in quadrants.I look forward to finding the ideal seating arrangement. This is what it may look like when I enter my first year of teaching:

References

Jaramillo, James A. "Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and contributions to the development of constructivist curricula." Education, vol. 117, no. 1, 1996, p. 133+. Biography in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A18960235/BIC1?u=usocal_m ain&xid=e850616a. Accessed 9 February 2019.