MAET Bridge: Social Studies
HOW ARE SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS BLENDING THEIR CLASSROOMS?
https://www.youtube.com/embed/mPfyrIRuw9cPilar Quezzaire (@Quezz), Kyle Shack (@ShackKyle) and I had an interesting conversation last week when we participated in an episode of the MAET Bridge webinar series. This episode was devoted to social studies tech integration. The common theme that we centered our discussion on was the power of communication pathways in social studies teaching and learning.I used to tell my students that the course is called social studies because it focuses on human interaction. I think traditionally this has meant a study of the human journey from the audience, passively absorbing the cultures of the world. Something that the three of us recognize, and really promote, is that the internet can be an active learning environment. Students as content curators, constant feedback loops, public revision of work, crowdsourcing artifacts and students as content creators are pedagogical elements that are greatly enhanced by the online environment.I appreciated being able to connect with these educators and discuss connecting social studies students to truly authentic experiences. I encourage you to watch the video above and connect with us to extend the conversation.
Jeff Gerlach
Jeff is passionate about helping teachers enhance learning for students by way of strategic technology integration. This fuels his work as an instructional design coach. Prior to his time at Michigan Virtual, Jeff was a social studies teacher for six school years and he earned a master’s degree from Michigan State University in educational technology. Away from the education world he enjoys spending time at the ice rink, at home with his young family and head nodding to hip-hop music.
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