Education 497: K-8 Social Studies MethodsPhyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human SciencesThe University of MontanaSpring 2014Instructor: Jason NeifferOffice: EDUC 315CPhone: 406-480-6832 (Texting and voicemails welcome)Email: jason.neiffer (at) mso.umt.edu
This schedule has been updated for the Spring 2014 offering of this course.

Class Expectations and Overall Syllabus

The first-day syllabus document is posted here.

Week-by-Week Schedule

Scheduling Philosophy
This course will ten weeks of in-class content at the University of Montana following by your 400 block field experience along with faculty-lead discussion seminars.

Our class will meet twice a week, mostly face-to-face. There will be handful of classes where my commitments to my day job in the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences will move our class to an online class format in Moodle. I will clearly note these in the schedule.

This syllabus document, while planned by topic week-by-week, will stay flexible to meet the needs of you as the students in the course. You are welcome to work ahead, understanding that the schedule is subject to change until the label next to the date is changed from "PROPOSED" to "FINAL."

Emergency Announcements

In the spirit of communication, I have set up a Remind 101 system that I strongly encourage you to sign up for. This is a service that will allow me to send text messages to all those that sign up for purposes of announcements, etc. I will only use it for useful reminders and emergencies. You can download instructions here:

invite.pdf

Class by Class Schedule

Monday, January 27, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Course Introduction
Class introduction
Lecture/Discussion: Compelling Content in a Complex World
For next time:
- Read: "The Condition of History in Elementary Schools," from Katy Swalwell, George Mason University
- Read: "Making Difficult Decisions: How Much Do We Value Elementary History Education?," from Stacy Hoeflich
- Read: "What to do about laptops in lectures?" from Daniel Willingham

Wednesday, January 29, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: What are the social studies?
Discussion: Electronic Devices in the K-20 Classroom
Lecture/Discussion: What are the social studies?
For next time:
- Core Academic Skills Testing
  - Information Literacy Tutorial (from American University)
  - Plagiarism Test (from Indiana University)
  - Take a sceenshot or a PDF of the completion certificate for both and email to me as jason.neiffer (at) mso.umt.edu. These must be successfully completed before any other assignments will be graded or assessed.
- Review:
  - "What is Inquiry-Based Instruction?" from Warner and Myers (2013)
  - "Inquiry: Inquiring Minds Want to Know" from Stripling (2008)

Monday, February 3, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Inquiry
Lecture/Discussion: What is inquiry and how does it relate to the social studies?
- Review (and print out of you need to):
  - Montana Standards for Social Studies (last revised 2000)
  - Connecting Cultures & Classrooms: K-12 Curriculum Guide for Indian Education for All
  - National Council for the Social Studies Standards (no full text available; summary available here)

Wednesday, February 5, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Standards
For next time:
- Read "Why do students remember everything..." from Why Don't Students Like School? by Daniel Wilingham
- Review Missoula County Public Schools Social Studies Curriculum
  - Please more carefully read your particular sections concerning grade levels you anticipate teaching

Monday, February 10, 2014 - FINAL

(Class will end a few minutes early today, around 10:25am)

Topic: Curriculum Design
For next time:
- Review the NCCS C3 Framework
- Review the OPI Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians Framework
- Read "The Past as a Puzzle: How Essential Questions Can Piece Together a Meaningful Investigation of History," by Obenchain et al
- Read "Thoughts on the C3 Framework" by VanSledright

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Curriculum Design
For next time:
- Review:
  - Phase I of the Curricular Module (due by February 19 in MOODLE)
  - History Standards from the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA
  - "What does it mean to think historically?" by VanSledright (2004)

Monday, February 17, 2014

(No school today, President's Day)

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Historical Thinking and Teaching
Introduction: Art of the Renaissance
Discussion: Students as Historians with Examples
For next time:
- Read The Atomic Bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki (all of the individual pages, please)
- Read "Using Library of Congress Sources to Assess Historical Understanding," by Wineburg et al

Monday, February 24, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Historical Thinking and Teaching
Discussion: Using Primary Sources, Using Oral Histories and Personal Historical Exploration
- Primary Sources
  - Resource: Concordia University's Primary Source Guide
  - Resource: Library of Congress Using Primary Sources
  - Resource: Library of Congress Using Primary Source Guides
  - Resource: Library of Congress Primary Source Sets
  - Resource: National Archive Document Analysis Worksheets
  - Lab: Andrew Jackson Analysis
- Graphic Organizers/Timelines
  - Resource: National Geographic's Graphic Organizer Page

Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Historical Thinking and Teaching
Discussion: Using Films and Field Studies
Additional excellent primary source example: the New York Tenement Museum
For next time:
- Read: "Spatial Thinking by Young Children: Neurological Evidence..." by Gersmehl and Gersmehl
- Review:
  - "National Geography Standards" by the National Council for Geographical Education
  - "National Geography Standards Index" by the National Geographic Society

Monday, March 3, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Geographic/Spacial Thinking and Teaching
Curricular Module: Phase 2
For next time:
- Read Chapter 4 ("Cornerstones") in Teaching Geography, 2nd Edition, by Gersmehl
- Read "Developing Historical Questions" from Schmidt and Treppa

Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - FINAL

Monday, March 10, 2014 - FINAL

(Class will end a few minutes early today, around 10:25am)

Due Today: Bibliographical Essay
Topic: Geographic/Spacial Thinking and Teaching
Activity: The Sanborn Maps
- Educational Access to the Sanborn Maps
- Questions Looking at Missoula County
For next time
- Spacial Thinking at Grade Level

Wednesday, March 12, 2014 - FINAL

Due by Saturday: Phase II

Monday, March 17, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Geographical/Spacial Thinking and Teaching
- Discuss Sanborn Maps from last week
- Modern Tools: Google Maps/Google Earth
  - Project Spreadsheet: here.
For next time:
- Review: National Standards for Civics and Government from the Center for Civic Education (K-4 here; 5-8 here)
- Read: Thinking Civically by Schneider and Fuerstein (2013)
- Read: The Role of the Elementary Teacher in Fostering Civic Efficacy by Serriere (2014)

Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Civics Thinking and Teaching
Strategies:
- Mock Trials, Elections and Simulations
  - Example Mock Trial Lesson Plan from Obenchain and Morris (2015)
  - iCivics
  - 270 to Win
  - SimCity Edu
- Current Events in the Classroom
  - Weekly Reader (commercial)
  - CNN Student News (free)
  - NewsHour (free)
  - Newspapers in Education Program
  - Other ideas (actually pretty good :) )

Monday, March 24, 2014 - FINAL

Topic: Civics Thinking and Teaching
For next time:
- Review:

Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - PROPOSED

Topic: Economic Thinking and Teaching
For Friday (or later if you don't want feedback before Monday of the week after)
- Phase III
For after break:
- Complete Phase IV (due Friday, April 11, 2014)
  - Calendar
  - Individual Lessons

Monday, March 31, 2014-Wednesday April 2, 2014 (Spring Break)

(No class)

Monday, April 7, 2014 - PROPOSED

Topic: Other Social Studies Topics
Today:
- Sociology and Psychology in the K-8 Classroom
  - The Wave/Lesson Plan: The Movie
  - Jane Elliott Blue Eye/Brown Eye Experiment
- Technology in K-8 Social Studies
  - Teacher-centered vs. Student-centered technology
  - Example mobile technologies:
    - iPad/Tablet Apps/Social Studies Specific
      - Google Earth/Google Maps
      - Say Hi
      - Word Lens
    - GPS Units (Chelsie Jolley)
    - Apps with help with teacher efficiency
      - ZipGrade
      - Plickers
      - Class Dojo
    - Examples of using a tool like Google Forms for assessments:
    - Exit Slip - http://bit.ly/NeifSlip
    - Short Quiz with Instant Feedback - http://bit.ly/quizcheese
    - Object Test with Instant Grading - http://bit.ly/politicaltest
For next time:
- This is the last time for any questions... bring 'em!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - PROPOSED

Topic: Philosophy for Children

Field Experience Lesson Plan Format HERE.

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