Social Studies 11 |
Introduction
to the Instructional Guide - FAQ Welcome to this Social Studies 11 Instructional Guide! Any questions? |
| Frequently Asked Questions |
What's different about this course? It's a paradigm shift - if you've been using the old distance education course. It's a shift to "spiral development" of themes and critical thinking skills. To fast, focussed mini-lessons. To lesson activities that will enable success on graded work. To relevance to today's issues, studied through today's media. For a fuller picture, please study the How to Explore an Issue manual, which is as essential for instructors as it is for students.
What do we mean by "critical thinking"? It's careful, systematic thinking to determine the most reasonable alternative. It's something that we've aimed to bring out in every lesson, assignment, and project. In B.C., by the way, the Critical Thinking Cooperative, (TC)2, has been providing some fine leadership in fostering critical thinking.
How is the course related to the "community of thinkers" approach advocated by (TC)2? That depends on how the course is offered. Notice that the How to Explore an Issue manual advice about Issues Discussion includes a lengthy example of an online community of critical thinkers in action.
How does the course develop the intellectual tools of critical thinking? The spiral development is gradual, starting at a point that will be review work for most students, but the conscientious student will have a well-stocked toolkit in the end. The students develop their critical thinking vocabulary, thinking strategies, and criteria for judgment in the "Exploring the Issues" activities and some of the "Skill Builder" chapters. The springboard to appropriate habits of mind is the How to Explore an Issue manual, especially "How to Explore an Issue Fairly" and the examples of Issues Log entries and Issues Discussion. The final tool, background knowledge, is naturally required for specific tasks, but we go further: the lessons and assessment also prompt the students to develop broad knowledge of facts, concepts, and vocabulary. It serves as a context for ongoing learning, as well as something to connect to when an issue recurs in a later section, in Issues Log/Discussion inquiry, and in later life.
Is the course intended to include critical challenges? Yes, throughout - though not always in an obvious way. There are significant critical challenges in all of the projects and at least most of the assignments.
The "Exploring the Issues" activities often question the textbook. Why? "Interrogating the textbook" is one way to apply the process and skills for exploring issues. The Canadian Issues textbook is a good starting point for each topic - but only if the students critique it as rigorously as other sources.
How do the matching questions (Part A) on assignments and tests fit into the picture? Most of the students don't have a teacher in front of them to re-create history and bring issues to life, so they need to develop contextual knowledge on their own. If they follow the steps in the lessons, they will fill in the background efficiently and have time to go beyond knowledge, comprehension, and vocabulary development. Allowing a chunk of the course mark (29 percent) for Part A questions sends a message that the steps are useful. To do well, students will need to synthesize the main pieces of information - but not do a lot of memorizing. (Yes, there are worse things in life than memorizing, but you'll probably agree that exploring issues is a more productive use of student time.)
In this course, what's an issue? In one sense, an issue is a question that calls for a value judgment about what should occur. The textbook, IRP, and course materials also use the term in a broad sense, as the textbook explains on page 1.
How does this course fit with the Social Studies 11 IRP? Like a glove. It draws on the Canadian Issues textbook, which draws on the IRP. At the IRP's behest, it's "designed to engage students in critical, reflective inquiry into the challenges facing Canadians at the beginning of the 21st century." The course systematically addresses the IRP "Skills and Processes" outcomes. When we were developing the course, we analyzed those outcomes and came up with sets of enabling skills. We then designed the "Exploring the Issues" lesson activities to provide sufficient instruction and practice. In fact, the IRP skills and processes (a.k.a. steps for exploring an issue) are the backbone of the course.
What's the biggest hurdle for students in this course? Starting well. There's so much to grasp: learning to do a new kind of lesson, beginning to use the How to Explore an Issue manual, looking ahead to the first project and assignment. . . . . . If you're in a position to provide informed advice and encouragement that will get your students through the first week or two with "success experiences," that will be invaluable.
Are there other hurdles? Yes, mainly ones discussed in the How to Explore an Issue manual. For example, time management may be a big hurdle for students used to one-hour lessons, and the concept of making entries in the Issues Log will be a leap for some students.
Why not provide chapter summaries instead of "Getting to Know the Issues" activities? Tried that. The pilot student response to summaries was "Borrring!" The response to the more interactive activities was "Fun!" They can be an engaging way for students to prepare to answer the "Focussing on the Issue" question before exploring at higher cognitive levels.
Why are the activities, assignments, and projects so centred on exploring issues? The B.C. social studies curriculum focuses on developing thoughtful, responsible, active citizens, and the ability to meet critical challenges is at the heart of citizenship skills. Our goal is to enable students to build up those skills and apply them to issues while they are doing the course, rather than to just hope that some sort of skill transfer will occur after they finish the course. It's a demanding goal, and staying "centred" is a key to accomplishing it.
How is the course design related to the levels of educational objectives developed by Bloom and colleagues? In the cognitive domain, the "Getting to Know the Issues" activities help the students to develop a foundation of knowledge and comprehension, and Part A of each assignment and test consolidates the foundation. The other aspects of the lessons, assignments, and projects are mainly at higher levels, including lots of critiquing, or evaluation. Part C of each test implicitly requires the students to select the most relevant information and synthesize it. In the affective domain, the aim is to foster the skills and mental
habits that take the learner from the "responding" level to
"valuing" and beyond.
Why is the course organized by decades, rather than by themes such as French-English relations and Canada's role in world affairs? Actually it's organized in both ways, though primarily by decades. The course has to meet the needs of students who work on their own most of the time, so it has to be structured in an easy-to-follow way. The loose chronological approach meets that need, especially since Canadian Issues uses the same framework well. Thematic organization is most evident in the "Debating an Issue" project. You'll see in the How to Explore an Issue manual that students normally just investigate one of the four themes that are detailed for that project, but there's a nine-page guide to the themes and issues that you could also use as a course plan.
So it's fine to adapt the course? Yes. The course materials are a resource, and the way you offer the course is up to you, your school, or your group of schools. In an assignment, for example, you might add a critical challenge in place of the matching questions. Or your students might conduct an online debate for the "Debating an Issue" project.
If I'm going to facilitate online discussion, how might I start to prepare? Study "Participating in Issues Discussion" in the How to Explore an Issue manual. Begin with one discussion (conference) for each section, plus "General" and "Notes" discussions. Consider whether to have Issues Discussion projects instead of Issues Log projects. If you're going to give marks for Issues Discussion, notice that your system can be fairly parallel to the Issues Log marking system. For example, the Issues Log criterion "Communicated as a responsible member of the community" is even more important for Issues Discussion and can be assessed on the basis of the "10 Guidelines for Participating in Discussion." Also look ahead to the "Debating an Issue" part of the manual.
Is the textbook publisher's Teacher's Resource useful? It's a good source of ideas if you are looking for more ways to facilitate discussion or adapt the course.
Any final advice? Just best wishes for a pleasant adventure! |
