Beyond Inert Facts: Teaching for Understanding in Elementary Social Studies

Author: Roland Case

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In addition, students might be asked to think critically about questions they would ask of people who were alive at the time as another information-gathering strategy requiring critical thinking. The following critical challenges can be used to invite students to think critically as they acquire background information:

Select the five most important facts or events from the chapter.
Decode the contents of the picture (answer the 5Ws, who, what, where, when, and why).
Rank the causes or benefits in order of importance.
Rate the effect of a particular event or policy from the perspective of various groups.
Which of the provided sources offers the least reliable information?
Think of a powerful question and a thoughtful answer on an assigned topic.

Conclusion

The focus of this chapter is on using critical thinking as a method for teaching content knowledge. I have argued that knowledge acquisition is not a matter of transmitting bits of information, but of developing student understanding of the ideas behind the facts. Superficial coverage of information or acquisition of facts for their own sake is of marginal value—if for no other reason than it appears that much of it is forgotten almost as soon as it is taught. Our primary task is not to present students with prepackaged information for mental storage but to help them internalize, question, and utilize relevant information. I have suggested that engaging students in thinking critically about and with the content of the curriculum is most effectively accomplished through meaningful, focussed challenges for students to address.

Using a curriculum guide or learning resource as a focus, create several critical challenge questions or tasks. Endeavour to meet all of the following criteria when framing each critical challenge:

Does it invite students to make a reasoned judgment?

Is it likely to be perceived as meaningful by students?

Does it promote understanding of curriculum content?

Is it focussed to limit the amount of background knowledge?

Endnotes

Surveys throughout the twentieth century show repeatedly that students remember very little of the history learned in schools (Osborne 2004, 35–36).
The word “concept” is used ambiguously in social studies by some to refer to generalizations and by others to refer to the ideas or meanings captured by words such as “justice,” “table,” “sustainable,” and “community.” We use “concept” exclusively in this latter sense.
For further information about The Critical Thinking Consortium, which has worked with many thousands of social studies teachers and published numerous resources, go to www.tc2.ca.
This example was developed by The Critical Thinking Consortium for Alberta Education as part of its online guide to support implementation of the provincial social studies curriculum. Many other critical challenges can be found on the LearnAlberta website: http://www.learnalberta.ca/.

References

Antonelli, F. 2004. From applied to applause. Toronto: Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, November.

Barr, R.D., J.L. Barth, and S.S. Shermis. 1977. Defining the social studies. Arlington, VA: National Council for the Social Studies.

Campbell, M. 2000. Our young show dismal ignorance of history. Globe and Mail, July 1. Canadian Council for Geographic Education. 2005. GeoForum: About geographic education online. Available online at http://www .geoforum.ca. Accessed November 26, 2005.

Carswell, R. 1990. Social studies through students’ eyes. One World 27 (2): 14–16.

Case, R. 1993. Summary of the 1992 social studies needs assessment. Victoria, BC: Queen’s Printer.

Engle, S.H. 1960. Decision making: The heart of social studies instruction. Social Education 34 (8): 301–306.

Evenden, L.J., ed. 1995. The suburb of happy homes—Burnaby: Centennial themes. Burnaby, BC: Community Economic Development Centre and the Centre for Canadian Studies, Simon Fraser University.

Fraenkel, J.R. 1992. Hilda Taba’s contributions to social education. Social Education 56 (3): 172–178.

Hare, W. 1994. Content and criticism: The aims of schooling. In Papers of the annual conference of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, ed. J. Tooley, 72–89. Oxford: New College, University of Oxford.

Kohn, A. 2004. Challenging students—and how to have more of them. Phi Delta Kappan 86 (3), November: 184–194.

Lederer, R. 1987. The world according to student bloopers. Verbatim: The Language Quarterly 13 (4). Available online at http://www .verbatimmag.com/sampler.html.

Lipman, M. 1992. Criteria and judgment in critical thinking. Inquiry 9 (2), May: 3–4.

Onosko, J. 1989. Comparing teachers’ thinking about promoting students’ thinking. Theory and Research in Social Education 17 (3): 174–195.

Osborne, K. 2000. Who killed Granatstein’s sense of history? Misguided criticisms. National Post, May 27. ———. 2004. Canadian history in the schools: A report prepared for Historica Foundation, Toronto. Available online at www.histori .ca.

Parker, W. 1988. Thinking to learn concepts. Social Studies 79 (2): 70–73.

———. 1989. How to help students learn history and geography. Educational Leadership 47 (3): 39–43.

Perkins, D. 1993. The connected curriculum. Educational Leadership 51(2): 90–91.

Ryerson, E. 1847. Report on a system of public education for Upper Canada. Montreal: Lovell and Gibson.

Whitehead, A.N. 1929/1967. The aims of education and other essays. New York: Free Press.

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This article, written by Roland Case, explains how students can better retain and understand the content of the curriculum through meaningful questions and tasks that invite critical thinking and require reasoned judgment. Such questions may involve critiquing a piece of writing, judging which historical figure is a better leader, or reworking a piece from a different group’s perspective. Questions also need to motivate students; this is possible when they are personal, real-life, and focused on compelling themes. Focused topics and carefully selected information help students engage in interesting, in-depth thinking without being overwhelmed. The content of the article is applicable at all grade levels. Examples provided by the author focus on elementary grades.

Dr. Roland Case is currently on leave from his position of professor of curriculum and social studies at Simon Fraser University. He is a co-founder of TC²-The Critical Thinking Consortium-an association of 35 school districts, post-secondary institutions and teacher organizations working to support critical thinking from kindergarten to graduate school. Over the last ten years, Roland has worked with over 15,000 educators to embed critical thinking into their teaching practices. Roland is co-editor of the Canadian Anthology of Social Studies and of the Critical Challenges Across the Curriculum-an award winning series of 20 teaching resources for critical thinking.

Published in: The Anthology of Social Studies: Issues and Strategies for Elementary Teachers, 2008

This article reproduced from Roland Case, “Beyond Inert Facts: Teaching for Understanding in Elementary Social Studies,” in Roland Case and Penney Clark (eds.) The Canadian Anthology of Social Studies: Issues and Strategies for Teachers (Elementary Edition) (Vancouver, BC: Pacific Educational Press, 2008), pp. 33–47. Reproduced with permission from Pacific Educational Press. Permission to reproduce is limited to individual teacher use only. Contact the publisher for permission to reproduce multiple copies.

Last updated: March 31, 2009 | (Revision History)
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Beyond Inert Facts: Teaching for Understanding in Elementary Social Studies

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