Social Studies

Social Studies can be a difficult subject to get kids excited about because "most" of social studies is dates, times, places, events, and people. With a lot of it being in the past, students question why and how it affects them, why are we studying something that happened 100 years ago? Unless students can make a connection with what the material has to do with them, there is a potential for them to lose interest which is probably why the subject can get a bad name. Students then memorize what they need to know for the test/quiz/assignment and then forget about it. The big question is how do we as teachers make social students topics a little more interesting and engaging for students? There isn't one correct answer for this, I think we all need to use the resources we have and be creative. The text we used for class, "50 Social Studies Strategies," is a great tool to use. I think kids could act out things that are being discussed in class and implememnt more of an interactive approach to teaching social studies. Have kids get in groups and research a particular topic and then have them present what they found to the class, so the class can learn several different subjects and have fun in the process. A very important for understanding our world today and where it is going in the future, we must understand our past, how our world has changed, what has caused those changes, etc.