taking a cat by the tail: middle school social studies, · pdf file1 dr.%shelagh%a.%gallagher...

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Dr. Shelagh A. GallagherEngaged Educa2on

Charlo6e, [email protected]

h6p://www.rfwp.com

Taking A Cat by the Tail: Middle School Social Studies,

Problem-Based Learning, and the Common Core

Wednesday, November 28, 12

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.rfwp.com

http://www.rfwp.com

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An AsideNEW Research Study on MCT

Word Within A WordRoyal Fireworks Press is looking for 16 classrooms.

8 middle or high school teachers of giNed students who have used WWW for three or more years.

8 middle or high school teachers of giNed students who are not using WWW.

Students will take Prac2ce SAT-‐V, Sentence Comple2on Test, and Learning/Language ARtude Survey. No more than two class periods, total.

Teachers will be asked to complete a brief survey about their teaching prac2ces.

ALL par/cipa/ng teachers will receive up to $495.00 of materials of their choice from Royal Fireworks Press.

For more informa/on or to be considered for the study, please contact Royal Fireworks Press [email protected] or Dr. Shelagh Gallagher [email protected]






meaningful education

COMMON CORE

an UNIMAGINABLE future


Unraveling Complexity

Over the course of a year of office practice—which, by definition, excludes the patients seen in the hospital—physicians each evaluated an average of 250 different primary diseases and conditions. Their patients had more than 900 other active medial problems that had to be taken into account.

Atul Gawande


passionate, engagedlife long learners


from

gifted STUDENTS


creative EXPERTS


Stage 1: Romance


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You start to notice what's around you, and you get very curious about how things work. How things interrelate. It's as simple as seeing a bug that intrigues you. You want to know where it goes at night; who its friends are; what it eats.!David Cronenberg


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Historians are leN forever chasing shadows, painfully aware of the inability ever to reconstruct the world in its completeness however thorough or revealing their documenta2on. We are doomed to ve forever hailing someone who has just gone around the corner and out of earshot.

Simon Schama


The causes of events are ever more interesting than the event themselves.

Cicero


Wherever we look upon this earth, the opportunities take shape within problems

Nelson Rockefeller


Stage 2: Precision


The sensation of writing a book is the sensation of spinning, blinded by love and daring. It is the sensation of a stunt pilot's turning barrel rolls, or an inchworm's blind rearing from a stem in search of a route. At its worst, it feels like alligator wrestling, at the level of the sentence.

Write Till You Drop Annie Dillard


http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/03/28/specials/dillard-drop.html?oref=login

http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/03/28/specials/dillard-drop.html?oref=login

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History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.

Napoleon


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Stage 3: Generalization


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Creating a new theory is not like

destroying an old barn and erecting a

skyscraper in its place. It is rather

like climbing a mountain, gaining

new and wider views, discovering

unexpected connections between our

starting points and its rich

environment. But the point from

which we started out still exists and

…forms a tiny part of our broad view

gained by the mastery of the

obstacles on our adventurous way up.

Albert Einstein.


healthyintellectualdispositions


The Importance of DISPOSITIONS

• …a good argument can be made that dispositions are central in generating both the will to think and in developing… qualities of judgment that steer knowledge and skills in productive directions.

• Fred Newmann in Teaching Thinking: An Agenda for the 21st Century.


a different approach


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Welcome toHull House!


Learning Issues Board

What do we know? What are our Learning Issues? What is our Action Plan?

Hunches:


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What is “Problem-Based Learning”?

A form of inquiry-based education,

where learning is initiated with an ill-structured problem and students direct their own course of study.

originally invented for medical school,

learn to


Goals of Problem-Based Learning

Core ContentProblem Solving

Conceptual ReasoningResearch

DispositionsThinking Skills

Ethics


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Key Components of PBL

!  Initiating Instruction with an Ill-Structured Problem

!  Student-as-Stakeholder !  Teacher as (Metacognitive) Coach


The Ill-Structured Problem• Needs more information before it

becomes clear• Can be solved in more than one

way• Has more than one resolution• Changes sometimes with new

information• Is ambiguous and unclear• STIMULATES QUESTIONS


Student-As-Stakeholder

• Real world problem solvers are not objective• Increases ownership• Provides a form of

apprenticeship in a discipline


The PBL “Coach”

• Cruise Director

n Socrates


Engagement

Inquiry and Investigation

Problem Definition

Problem Resolution

Problem Debriefing

The Flow

of

the Problem


Laying out the Plan...Problem Engagement1. A Picture is Worth...2. A Letter from Jane

Inquiry and Investigation• Getting to Know the Neighborhood• Researching Learning Issues• Interactions• What’s the Effect

Problem DefinitionHow to Choose

Resolution• Choosing• (Kicker: Something’s Up-ton)

Debriefing• Many Firsts


Goals for Hull House

PBL Goal Applica/on

Content Progressive Era, Se6lement Movement

Immigra2on

Concept Democracy

Research Primary Resources

Disposi2ons Perspec2ve

Thinking Skills Cri2cal Analysis

Ethics Compe2ng Needs


Embedded Instruction

• Research Skills–Internet Search–Primary Resources

• Analysis–Comparing/Contrasting

Points of View –Cause and Effect

• Creating Criteria• Comparing Options


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COMMON CORE


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Engaging

in

RESEARCH, WRITING, SPEAKING and LISTENING


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CommonCore

Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies


CommonCore

Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, ...


Investigation


Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Common Core Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies


PrimaryResources


Common Core Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies

Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos or maps) with other information in print and digtal texts.


Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content: (a) Introduce claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically (b) Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.


Speaking and Listening


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Present claims and .indings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner, with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, ...


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It’s Still Social Studies!!!


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NCSS Performance Expectations

Civic Ideals andPractices:Middle Grades


Inquiry


Analysis


Conceptual Reasoning


Civic Ideals and Practices

What does it meanto

‘live democracy?’


• Jane Addams believed that being a citizen in a democracy has responsibilities as well as rights. What responsibilities should be a part of living in a democracy?

Problem Log Reflective Moment:

Thinking about Democracy


• According to Jane Addams, “Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men.” How do the different proposals help create an “attitude of equal respect” for immigrants?


Thinking about Democracy



Metacognition

• How has your thinking about the problem changed from the first day? What information has influenced your thinking most? Why do you think it is important to remain open-minded while solving problems like this one?


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Teacher Supports


Thompson’s Truths about Curriculum

• The more academic learning is, the less academic it seems• Students acts as hero willing to become an

unknown self• Creates a quake in the state of

assumptions• Cognition without imagination is shallow• Phasing of engagement and scholarship


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Mosquito Coast

That SinkingFeeling


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