Technology and social studies: A conceptual model for integration

Journal of Social Studies Research, Winter 2000 by Fairey, Chad, Lee, John K, Bennett, Clifford

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive rationale for integrating technology with social studies instruction. Five traditional principals of powerful teaching and learning in the social studies are utilized as a conceptual framework to examine the research literature in social studies. Explanations and instructional integration issues are provided for each of the five principles. Results from this comprehensive rationale mesh the literature of technology with the realities of promoting student understanding and civic empowerment.

Introduction

Despite rising incidences of computer use in social studies classrooms, there is an absence of a clear rationale for why teachers should integrate instructional technology. Many educators have taken for granted an assumption that technology can play a pivotal role in making content relevant to the goals, objectives, and strategies of instruction. Some educators have taken for granted the assumption that technology skills are necessary for students in order that they can become active and productive citizens in the next millennium. Other educators have taken for granted the assumption that civic duty and competencies are heightened by mastery of technology.

Teachers' infrequent use of technology in social studies classrooms, in our opinion, is due in large measure to the vague, general, and unresearched assumptions that currently exist in educational circles. Our paper builds on a report submitted to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) in 1992. This report, titled "A Vision of Powerful Teaching and Learning in the Social Studies: Building Understanding and Civic Efficacy," identified five principles of teaching and learning in the social studies. The report asserted that social studies teaching and learning is powerful when it is 1) meaningful, 2) integrative, 3) value-based, 4) challenging, and 5) active.

We have chosen powerful teaching and learning as a conceptual base for developing a comprehensive rationale for integrating technology with social studies. Our objective was to examine the research literature related to social studies and technology and then correlate those findings and conclusions with the five principles of powerful teaching and learning. A conceptual model of this sort should be useful for helping teachers and researchers to develop a plan for the integration of technology in the social studies, and for moving the social studies toward the unrealized potential of technology.

Technology and Theme#1-Meaningful Teaching and Learning

If meaningful social studies are useful both in and outside of the classroom, and if the twenty-first century is to be characterized by the need for technological literacy among its students, then the computer should be a great vehicle for the promotion of powerful social studies learning. The goals of providing relevant content, developing that content, and instilling the methodologies of social scientists should drive our use of technology in social studies. If technology helps meet these criteria, then it should have a place in the social studies curriculum.

Research has shown that using technology boosts student motivation (Berson, 1996; Ehman & Glenn 1991). Increased student motivation can be parlayed into a perceived relevance in lives of students. This hook may lead to more student involvement in the learning process. The wide proliferation of software, simulations, and CD-ROM packages allow teachers (and students) to choose content that is particularly relevant. The portability of these technologies allows students to use them interchangeably in the classroom.

With the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web, technology has become more relevant and important (Braun, 1997; Harp, 1996; Johnson & Rector, 1997; Rose & Fernlung, 1997). Connecting to the internet will provide classrooms with more information, but "realizing the benefits of this gold mine of information depends on the willingness and ability of the teacher to introduce Internet-based projects that connect to the real world, build skills, and are fun to do" (Maskin, 1996). The Internet is replete with thousands of highly specialized, content-rich web sites and resources. But, the mere presence of content does not make it relevant to students. Braun (1997) indicated that social studies curriculum must use the interactive nature of the Internet (and technology) to intimately engage students in the content. Through electronic mail, discussion groups, search engines, and on-line research, students can investigate personally relevant issues and topics of interest. Multimedia, computer-based presentation software, and HTML-authoring tools also allow students to interpret, construct meaning, and present data in a meaningful way to their peers and instructors.

By fostering critical thinking, developing research and analytical skills, and encouraging processes of inquiry and investigation technology can be used as a productive tool. Digital archives like the Library of Congress' American Memory project, the National Archives' Digital Classroom, and the Virginia Center for Digital History's Valley of the Shadow provide a wealth of primary source materials for use in the history classroom. Several researchers contend that unprecedented access to these materials is drastically changing the methods for teaching and learning history (Harp, 1996; Tally, 1996: Yeager & Morris, 1995). By reading, interpreting, collecting, organizing, presenting, and writing about primary source records, students are able to stand, if just for a moment, in the shoes of the historian.