CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Johnny Tremain and Primary Sources: Using Strategies to Make Elementary Social Studies Personal and Engaging A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts in Education, Elementary Education By Jennifer Allison Spence August 2012 The graduate project of Jennifer A. Spence is approved by: ___________________________ _______________________ Dr. Greg Knotts Date ___________________________ _______________________ Dr. Connie White Date ___________________________ _______________________ Dr. Joyce Burstein, Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii Dedication For my mom, who first ignited the thirst for sharing knowledge. For my dad, whose determination inspired me. For Poppy, who opened the door to discovery. For Nanny, who loved and supported unconditionally. For Dr. Burstein, whose advice, support, and understanding made all the difference. For those teachers who helped a little girl dream big, achieve much, and started me on this journey of learning. iii Table of Contents Signature Page ii Dedication iii Abstract vii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Theories, Theorists, and Rationale 3 The Project Plan 6 Chapter Two: Literature Review 12 What is Social Studies? 15 Why Social Studies? 17 What is Inquiry in Social Studies? 25 The Case for Inquiry-Based Social Studies 29 Multiple Pathways for Doing Inquiry 35 Primary Sources 36 Historical Fiction 45 Chapter Three: Graduate Project Description 49 Theoretical Foundations 49 iv Personal Foundations 50 Lesson Design and Materials 52 Chapter Four: Lesson Plans 55 Lesson One 55 Lesson Two 63 Lesson Three 71 Lesson Four 82 Lesson Five 90 Lesson Six 100 Lesson Seven 107 Lesson Eight 116 Lesson Nine 124 Lesson Ten 136 References 145 Appendix A 153 Appendix B 157 Appendix C 159 v Appendix D 162 Appendix E 165 Appendix F 171 Appendix G 173 Appendix H 177 Appendix I 187 Appendix J 191 vi ABSTRACT JOHNNY TREMAIN AND PRIMARY SOURCES: USING STRATEGIES TO MAKE ELEMENTARY SOCIAL STUDIES PERSONAL AND ENGAGING By Jennifer Allison Spence Master of Arts in Education, Elementary Education Engaging elementary school students in social studies education has long been a difficult task for the upper grade teacher. American theorists such as Bruner and Dewey and as far back as President Thomas Jefferson have discussed the need for students to become historically and civically educated future democratic citizens. Specifically, Dewey had ideas that in order to perpetuate a successful democratic society, students need experiences with democratic ideas such as social efficiency, civic duties, and participation in society. Bruner and Thomas Jefferson also wrote about the need for a “democratic” education where learners have experiences with the social studies vii beginning at a young age to build knowledge, understanding, interest, and desire to play a role in one’s society. In the same breath, students also need to understand the historical aspects and background of their society. The United States’ origins are important to help add value to the process of educating future citizens. This graduate project centers on the historical period leading up the American Revolution in the British American colonies. Using a variety of strategies to connect students to the social studies will help students develop an interest in and make meaning of the wide array of topics covered in social studies. For the purposes of this paper, inquiry based learning through the use of primary sources and historical fiction will be discussed. A chapter on lesson planning for a unit of American history can be found in the final chapter. This document focuses on educating and engaging elementary school students in the social studies based on theory by the likes of Dewey, Bruner, and Thomas Jefferson; among others. Using the constructivist theory of inquiry based education; this graduate project seeks to set up an example of one way to make social studies education meaningful and engaging to young learners. The unit plan takes the strategy of discovery learning which capitalizes on a child’s natural sense of curiosity and takes that idea one step further along with the use of Multiple Intelligences of Gardner to create pathways for constructing meaning within the social studies curriculum. The activities are created to use in conjunction with a narrative pieces of literature and build critical thinking skills through the use of primary sources and the process of inquiry to draw conclusions about a volatile time in American history. viii Chapter 1 Introduction According to some research literature, social studies education in the elementary classroom can be described in several words – “boring”, “unrelatable”, and “missing the human experience and emotions necessary to make connections between learner and content” (Hope, 1996; Levstik, 1989). Not only has social studies become a textbook- driven, often “read and answer the questions at end of the chapter” subject area (Hope, 1996), but due to the assessment-driven climate that reigns in American public school in response to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation passed in the early 2000s, social studies has become a marginalized content area (NEA Today, 2004). Social studies education is part of the content areas made mandatory by NCLB, yet it has become an afterthought to all of the other concepts that must be taught to students so that they reach school, district, state, and national accountability goals (Grey, 2010). American history is especially important for today’s students. This graduate project’s lesson plans address the beginning and importance of the establishment of the United States of America. Currently, every time there is an election, it is reported those turning out to vote has dwindled. In fact, according to United States Election Project, 2011, only 40.1% of Americans who were eligible to vote in the 2010 elections turned out to vote. Many Americans, often young adults, do not take the time to vote because they have no idea why they should to vote in elections and what a privilege they have to be living in a free country were their rights are guaranteed (Parker, 2005). The growing 1 trend of apathy in Americans is a problem. Who will continue the traditions of democracy that the American Founding Fathers fought so hard to establish? It is essential that the story of America and the importance of each citizen’s role in our country’s democracy be addressed from a young age. Social studies education is important for several reasons, but first and foremost, young learners need experience with history and other social sciences to become productive citizens (Gradwell, 2010). It all starts with the story of the events leading up to the American Revolution, including distrust of the mother country’s monarchy and “no taxation without representation”. Students need to know how our country’s role as a colony of Great Britain and the demand for rights and representation drove the Founding Fathers to give up so much such as life, safety, prosperity, among other personal comforts to create a new, free nation. It is essential that today’s learners know the history of the making of American to genuinely value the democratic process and freedoms guaranteed to citizens of such. In addition to creating socially and ethically-minded citizens, social studies is a content area that lends itself to integration with other content areas. Social studies is about the story of humanity, and creating engaging and child-centered curriculum that uses multiple modalities (Samples, 1992) that Bruner first discussed in the 1960s is a logical way of involving learners in high-quality, thought provoking, and experienced- driven activities. Using a variety of learning modalities and hands-on strategies in social studies is important to engage students in this content area. Using such techniques that use more than just pencil and paper learning will create a deeper interest and desire to learn more in students as they delve into the realm of social studies curriculum. 2 Theories, Theorists, and Rationale According to the Experiential Theoretical Background, students need high quality experiences to learn and develop (Posner, 1995). Theorists within the experiential theoretical background such as Dewey and Bruner, among others, discussed that learning objectives such as “meeting each student’s individual needs” are essential because not everyone learns the same way (1995). They see school curriculum as a means by which productive citizens can be created as long as there is balance between the academic, social, and individual development. To create productive citizens who will contribute to the larger society as a whole, students must have high-quality experiences in the social sciences in order to place importance on the functions of an adult citizen (1995). What better place to start than with the place in history where American democracy was created? The ideas of teaching students to be good citizens, or the idea that social studies exists in the elementary school curriculum to begin to teach students about democracy, government, and the story of our country’s history is due in part to the theorist John Dewey and his research and theories that intelligence is directly connected to democracy (Stanley & Stanley, 1977). Dewey saw education as an experiential event in the development of a child and noted that learning is a very social experience (1977). In addition, Dewey’s theories of education are based on the idea that high quality educational experiences would transform a child’s intelligence into one that considered social justice, among other ideas (Posner, 1995; Stanley & Stanley, 1997). Dewey and his contemporaries believed that the result of this type of education would create social efficiency as students grew up and became part of the larger society (Fallace, 2009). 3 Dewey’s thoughts on education centered on social justice and social efficiency and suggested that students should be educated in such a way that they became interested and engaged in curriculum instead of being indoctrinated, (as social studies curriculums had done in the past) (Shaver, 1997).