Social Studies 4everr

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This week’s reading consisted on the use of primary sources within school, from primary school to high school. The first article  “Kindergarten Students Analyze Primary Sources” discussed the use of primary sources for five and six-year old’s and how using primary sources help create critical thinkers. The researchers conducted three activities for the kindergarteners, ranging from assessing their observations, inferencing and asking questions, and making connects. They found that using primary sources can create critical thinkers if the sources are utilized effectively. In the following reading “Junior Detectives” researcher also conduct activities using fifth grade social studies curriculum to build students’ disciplinary literacy skills through working with primary sources. Both experiments determined that utilizing primary sources can create critical thinkers, whether the students are in primary school or high school. Using primary sources at a young age and continuing to use them will benefit the students in the future. By viewing primary sources, young students can make observations and create inferences based on what they observed. Students are able to extend their knowledge by asking questions that they have acquired after making observations and predictions.

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In this week’s reading of Black Ants and Buddhists, chapter six discussed the concept of teaching citizenship and activism to students. As an educator, I believe that the main goal is to form our students to become law-abiding, good citizens. The chapter discusses how educators tend do “dumb down” the hard truths from students and fear providing too much information. However, I believe that it is important for all students to be aware of the hard truths so that they can avoid the mistakes from the past from occurring in the future. Future students can become future activists that can make the world a better place by addressing the bad and creating the good. Teachers can use education to encourage students to make a difference in their own community and make the United States a better place. The author stated that, “learning through activism also helps children develop a sense of social justice, a sense of fairness and equity that begins with personal and community experience and extends globally and historically” (p 103). It is important for educators to teach students the truth, even if it is bad, and make that students learn from it and from the mistakes that took place in the past. In the quote above, education is a powerful thing and gives young students power. Students are able to apply the knowledge that they acquire to their own lives and make well thought out decisions. They are able to determine what is right and wrong and confront those who are in the wrong.  Teachers should teach in a way that empowers students into future activists who strive to make the world a better place for themselves and for others.

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This week’s reading, A Young People's History of the United States, which brings to light the truths behind those that we regard as heroes and role-models. Its not surprising that people try to cover up the hideous truths of individuals or events that are taught to young children. As years go by, educators are now starting to change the narrative and give students the chance to form their own opinions on historical individuals and events. Even the narrative of Columbus Day has been changed to Indigenous Peoples Day to commemorate the lives lost due to colonialism instead of celebrating the violent and greedy man Christopher Columbus. People like Abraham Lincoln, who was praised for abolishing slavery, never really cared much about whether slavery was abolished after the civil war, his main goal was to bring the south back to the Union. This was not something I learned about this until I was a twenty-one-year-old college student. Now educators have the opportunity to change how students perceive how the historical past occurred and teach them that what we believe is the truth might not be true and that can start by “letting us see the hidden parts of the past” (p.13). It is a big step for our society to change their mindsets about historical heroes and admit that they were not that good of people and should not be celebrated. It is important for us to educate our students about the truth about our history so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. Indigenous Peoples Day should be a day to remember those that were attacked by people like Christopher Columbus and show that the truth will always be revealed.

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This week’s reading, Elementary Social Studies, chapter two discussed the prior knowledge of young students help influence their thinking as well as gives educators the insight of what their students already know.The author discusses how prior knowledge can come from many sources, not only from withing school. Young children acquire knowledge throughout their everyday lives, whether it is from a movie, social media, somewhere they went, or from their own families as illustrated in my picture above. This information builds their knowledge of social studies, even though they are unaware that what they are learning is actually social studies in itself. My drawing shows how the prior knowledge can come from outside sources, such as entertainment and at home, and that prior knowledge can be applied to what is learned in school. This prior knowledge and the knowledge taught in school is transferred into our brains and the cycle continues. It is important for all educators to be aware of what students already know so that they can either confirm or deny their beliefs. It is also important for educators to tell their students that some of the thing that they learn from social media or even from their own parents may not be true and they need to be able to adapt to the new information