Curriculum Standards--Why Social Studies?

I was born in 1954 (mid-century to the modern generation) and thus was the first generation that grew up with TV. My parents were pretty skeptical about the long term intellectual value of TV and I was allowed to watch one program only during Monday through Thursday; I chose the Flintstones. I also loved anything about the olden days. From fairy tales to stories about my mother's youth in the thirties to stories about the colonial days, I gobbled anything historical. My favorite exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City is the armor exhibit. I find it simply spellbinding.

Thus, when I selected the Flintstones, I at age 8 had already combined my love for media with my love for history.

As a history lover, I am always saddened and dismayed by the contempt and utter boredom with which my millennial children and the gen-X'ers hold history. I do not blame them. It has been abysmally taught with scant an ear or eye to how and why what came before is inextricably tied to what is now. I feel an abiding need to be part of the change of curriculum which will bring social sciences, including history, to the forefront of curriculum in secondary school. More specifically, I believe if we can demonstrate for students and assist students to uncover for themselves how the transfer of information has led social movements over time then we can begin to link the Internet to hieroglyphics and perhaps awaken a latent interest in human history.

There is in the Connecticut Social Studies Curriculum Framework (www.ctsocialstudies.org/standards.htm) a very specific standard that is ideal for enhancing the teaching and learning of social studies/history:

Content Standard 3: Historical Themes--"Students will apply their understanding of historical periods, issues and trends to examine such historical themes as ideals, beliefs and institutions; conflict and conflict resolutions; human movement and interaction; and science and technology in order to understand how the world came to be the way it is."

Within this standard are a few sub-standards that give this context, and have the potential to bring history alive for students:

Sub (15) "Explain how a civilization/nation's arts, architecture, music and literature reflect its culture and history."

Sub (16) "Explain the significance of globalization on the world's nations and societies (e.g. cross border migrations, economic trade, cultural exchange)."

Sub (22) "Analyze the impact of technological and scientific change on world civilizations, (e.g. printing press, gun powder, vaccines, computers)."

Sub (26) "Evaluate the impact of major belief systems on societies and nations, ( e.g. religions, philosophies, political theories)."

Each of these sub-standards reflects a respect for the patterns of information transfer among and between people as the nexus of movement and change over time.

Bringing these alive with technology is an unparallelled opportunity to both inculcate the use of technology into the everyday lives of students as well as adding dimension and human experience to the past.

Some curriculum enhancing ideas using technology include (and are not limited to):

Video

1. Embedding video into lessons. PBS and and many education sites have a plethora of well done and educative videos that will enhance the learning experience
2. Many old films reflect biases that have been acknowledged and questioned over time; students can create their own videos revising and revisiting old mythology that has newer interpretations

Audio

1. Music has always been a marvelous connection to the sentiments of a time. Lyrics, instruments, musical beats and tempos, and the performers tell us about the social movements of the time. Having students look for musical themes that unite disparate time periods will both open their ears to music in a new way as well as connecting music both to history and to today.
2. Having students create social movement music for today.

Time and Space

Every development in information transfer alters perceptions of time and space. It is said that a trip to Mars would take six months with today's technology. In 1497, it took Vasco DeGama over months to reach Calcutta from Lisbon.

1. Using GIS and GPS technology students today can calculate routes all around the map using different transportation systems and thus "feel" what it was like to receive a letter, a newspaper and goods from different continents over the centuries versus the instant gratification of today. Moreover, within context, they can begin to understand what instant gratification felt like in 1600, versus 1700, 1800, 1850, etc.
2. Time has changed its meaning over history. Combing mathematics, statistical modeling, and data about the timeline for information transfer, students can begin to develop models for how social movements accelerate their diffusion over time and the implications this has for conflict resolution and political process.