Constructivist E-Learning in BC Social Studies 11

ETEC 530-65a

Danny Leeming
Part A:

Purpose

Is Constructivism a fit for the modern social studies classroom?

For many students, like myself, who graduated from the British Columbia social studies
curriculum the idea of an open ended, exploratory, student led learning experience would
probably seem like a far cry from the purpose and goals of the classes that formed their
experience. Speaking from personal experience as a former BC student, the majority of
classes such as History 12, Social Studies 11, and Law 12 were spent memorizing names,
dates, locations and reciting historical narrative back to the teacher in the form of essays or,
sometimes, a presentation. While this was an enjoyable experience for me, for many
students it may undercut their ability properly understand and interact with material to make
their own choices. Despite this background, the deeper learning goals of social studies
involve a lot of skills which are prime candidates for a constructivist approach based on
student exploration (Jadallah, 2003).

The new BC Curriculum seems to be in agreement with my premise. The draft BC

Curriculum emphasizes a series of competencies that focus on students constructing their
own understanding from a variety of content options that allow flexibility for both teacher and
student to pursue their interests and strengths (Ministry of Education, 2017). The flexibility
focuses on skills described in other work, such as that of Seixas and Morton, which
encourages an emphasis of life long historical thinking skills to best prepare students to be
future, critical citizens of democracy upon graduation (2013). These skills range from topics
such as historical perspective, to ethical dimensions, and continuation and change (Seixas
and Morton, 2013). The goals of this curricula would be what Pritchard defines as
propositional knowledge (Pritchard, 2018, p. 3). To fully embrace these skills, students must
believe in them and construct the justification for those beliefs, as part of the learning
(Pritchard, 2018, p. 4). Therefore, these are very hard to teach without students having to
engage with, discover, and reflect to make values based judgements of historical narratives
and information. This provides an exciting and fruitful area, in my opinion, to engage
students with a constructivist approach to allow them the freedom and support to do exactly
that.

Literature Review:

Research that has sought to explore the impact of a constructivist approach to learning in
the social studies realm have provided many positive results. Furthermore, research done
across the curriculum have given us promising examples of pedagogical approaches and
can provide and inspire approaches in the social studies classroom.

In his paper addressing this topic, Jadallah provides the example of a parent and child
hearing a racially charged argument in public which provides the parent an opportunity to
break down and analyze the situation in depth, and apply thinking concepts from a social
studies classroom that are applicable to this real life situation such as stereotyping, historical
context, perspective, etc. (2003, p. 222). This provides an opportunity for the student to
engage in personal reflection, assimilation and accommodation of new information and
engage in social conversation to learn new perspectives and knowledge about the situation
to help build on previous experience (Jadallah, 2003, p.222). This mirrors the arguments of
other researchers who focus on the complementary nature of sociocultural and cognitive
constructivist theorists (Fosnot, 2005). As Jadellah succinctly states, “[t]his type of
interrelationship between knowledge and experience is the foundation of constructivist
teaching and learning” (2003, p. 222). To accomplish this teachers, as experts, must focus
on creating guided and structured experiences for students to scaffold from prior knowledge
and construct new understandings rather than focus on memorizing content and facts
(Jadellah, 2003, p. 223).
How can this be accomplished? A key component of a truly constructivist approach is
to confront students with things outside of their existing perspectives and be given the
opportunity to see that reality can be viewed in many different ways (Fosnot, 2005). The use
of technology can be a potential way to expose students , or communities with homogenous
viewpoints, to new perspectives and to allow “students to develop the intellectual skills
necessary to critically unpack primary sources and to work with datasets, while investigating
and inquiring into past and present issue” (Dolittle & Hicks, 2003, p.74). Dolittle and Hicks
point out several concrete examples in which technology can be used with constructivist
approaches to build toward a numbers of goals such as: using technology to help students
create “autonomous and creative” thought (2003, p. 92), creating local to global information
exchanges, lived authentic learning, and capitalizing on class experience and prior
knowledge (2003, p.90).
Stemming from that, it is crucial for any constructivist approach to be carefully
considered and designed to best suit the students in question. One can envision a nightmare
scenario where students, given ample freedom to inquire without scaffolding and structure,
head home for the day full of poor source material and espousing conspiracy theories as
fact. This greatly increases the thoughtful design required by the teacher to be successful
and requires a proper understanding of relativism with regards to their curriculum (Dolittle &
Hicks, 2003, p. 94).

Strategies and approaches:

As advocated by Gould, the teaching of social studies in a constructivist approaches

demands all new tasks, a different looking classroom, and the opportunity to see each other
as the experts and engage in collaborative dialogue and exchange (Fosnot, 2003). The
lesson plan below will use elements of the following approaches, based on a review of
literature:

#Inquiry

Trevor Mackenzie outlines a very practical and personal approach to inquiry learning in his
book, Dive Into Inquiry (Mackenzie, 2016). Inquiry is all about giving students agency, trust,
and power to direct their own learning through asking personal questions that guide their
own construction of knowledge, and facilitate peer learning through sharing work
(Mackenzie, 2016, p. 22).

While often not explicitly focused on educational technology, many forms of inquiry learning
strongly encourage students to connect with professionals, community experts, peer
feedback (Mackenzie, 2016, p. 109). If we are to extend this thinking into the possibilities of
technology there is without question a ton of untapped potential through online services such
as Skype, Google Docs and Classroom, or even older technology such as email. Utilizing
the ability to not only reach out to consolidate learning with community experts who hold
valuable and different perspectives of knowledge, but to also publish and share learning to
the great community, is a powerful step that further improves the inquiry model.

As shown in Figure 1 below, Inquiry takes many forms from very structured, to completely
free and open ended. This reflects skill scaffolding to ensure that students are supported and
grounded in their formation of knowledge and learn not only social studies skills, but
increasing levels of autonomous thinking and knowledge construction to reflect the
increasingly complex propositional skills required.

Figure 1.​ Different types of student inquiry assignments proposed by Trevor Mckenzie
(Mackenzie, 2016, p. 28))

#Jigsaw
Jigsaw teaching encompasses a number of student centered techniques that include group
activities, hands on learning, inquiry based instruction, cooperative exercises and
discussions, etc. (Karacop and Doymus, 2013, p. 187). The goal of these activities is to
engage the “whole student” by allowing them to internally and socially construct knowledge
through joint acquisition of content and shared explaining (Karacop & Doymus, 2013, p.
187). The main approach of the jigsaw technique is broken into four stages:

1) Teacher introduction/initial conversation

2) Students break into subgroups based on interest or curiosity. Then, as a group, they
research and learn about their topic.
3) Reporting and student led teaching to home group (In the case of my lesson, the
class as a whole)
4) The whole class creates a final product based on the shared teaching experience
from steps 1 to 3 (Karacopy & Doymus, 2013, p. 187).

Research has shown that students who partake in this technique are able to “research from
different sources and reconstruct their knowledge according to their own cognitive nature”
(Karacopy & Doymus, 2013, p. 200). The students in this study were found to be more
successful compared to other groups in the research experiment, a reflection of allowing
them to start where their prior learning and knowledge is highest and work collaboratively to
scaffold to more difficult and complex topics. (Karacopy & Doymus, 2013)

#RPT​ (Reciprocal Peer Teaching)

Similar to the other models, RPT is a sociocultural constructivist approach that is focused on
using peers, community, and varying backgrounds to better construct knowledge through
social instruction (​Krych, March, Bryan, Peake, Pawlina, and Carmichael, 2005, p. 298). It
has been shown to improve outcomes such as reading skill and comprehension development
among elementary aged children (Krych, et al, 2005, p. 298). The same study by Krych, et al
also found that one of the unexpected benefits of RPT, that aligns closely with theories of
constructivist epistemology, was the skills and understanding students gained in how to
communicate and organize their own knowledge for distribution to others (Krych, et al, 2005,
p. 300).
Part B:

Mapping the Great Battles 

and Moments of WW2  
Prepared by Mr. Leeming 

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE 

This assignment combines skills related to geography, historical understanding, 

application of your understanding to make reasoned, evidence based decisions about 
the historical record. The goal is to have you engage with primary and secondary 
sources and create your own rankings of which battles, moments, and events of the 
Second World War were most pivotal to our understanding of its impact on the 20th 
Century. 

OBJECTIVES 

1. Collaboratively build an interactive map with your classmates on a single 

battlefront per group 
2. Appreciate the scale and scope of WW2, and the global impact it had. 
3. Apply understanding of historical fact to make historical judgements based the 
six major historical thinking skills (See attached info) 

MATERIALS NEEDED 

1. Google Classroom and Google Docs 

2. Google MyMaps - ​This Map 

VERIFICATION 

Steps to check for student understanding 

1. See attached Rubric below (sample) 

ACTIVITY 
This assignment has a few major pieces you can do in order, or simultaneously, in 
your groups (max 3) 
 
You will be assigned one of the following in your group: 
a) Western Front
b) Eastern Front
c) Pacific
d) Africa
e) Italy  

Phase 1 - Research and Understanding 

Ranking the battles:
2) Students will engage in a period of research on their battle front in which they will
analyze the major events in that theater of war against the following criteria:
a) Historical Perspective - how do current or traditional perspectives on this
event change how we view it and increase its historical significance? Is this
battle important for BOTH fighting sides in the war, or just through our own
lense?
b) Ethical Dimension - Has the moral or humanitarian qualities of these battles
made us appreciate how important they are/were in the minds of our society?
c) Context - Given the way things were going at the time, how important was this
event?
d) Cause and Consequence - Was this victory important because it caused
change or new developments in the war effort?
e) Continuity and Change - Does this battle represent a shift in the way battles
were fought or the way in which the events were viewed as a whole
f) Historical Significance - What makes this event so historically significant and
important - this will encompass all the previous qualities1 (Seixas & Morton,
2013).

Students will rank their ​TOP 5​ battles/campaigns in their theater of war and will present each
battle with a google slides presentation discussing their ​argument​ as to why, using the
above terms, their rankings are justified2

You should also be prepared to include “honorable mentions” of battles that you decided
were not major or impactful enough to make your top 5.

Students are encouraged to include video and picture artefacts (WITH EXPLANATION)

Full Bibliography and citations required (MLA Format) - Footnote citations in the “Speaker
notes” section of each slide, bibliography on the last slide of each battle.

1
#inquiry #jigsaw
2
#inquiry
 Assessment:
Once the assignment is introduced, the instructor and students should then create a rubric
together that best exemplifies what this would look like done well, what skills are required to
make it proficient, etc. An example of a possible rubric is below, as well as example:3

Rubric Categories Great, 5 Good, 4 Average, 3 Needs More, 2 Not Ready, 1

Clearly related
Related several Concepts not well
several concepts Concept answered Concepts do not
Ideas to answer
concepts to
question
related to answer
answer question
answer question question
question

Main Idea,7 to 5
Main Idea,4 to 3 Missing Main Idea
Organization and Supporting Main Idea,2 Supporting Main Idea,1
Supporting and/or Supporting
structure Details, Details Supporting Detail
Details Detail
Conclusion

Few Issues:
Professional:
Visual & Text
Visual & Text
white space Some Issues: Visual &
white space Many Issues: Visual
balance, Font Text white space
balance, Font & Text white space
Size, Spacing, balance, Font Size,
Size, Spacing, balance, Font Size,
Borders, Overall Spacing, Borders,
Borders, Overall Spacing, Borders,
Appearance Overall Appearance
Appearance Overall Appearance

Some Few video/visual

Lots of Visual elements are Not yet ready for
Presentation video/visual
video/visual elements, some may
lacking or ineffective assessment
elements from be out of place.
elements added in context
history
and used
Presentation meets
appropriately Presentation requires
Organized, goal, could have more
more practice and
confident, may organization or better
Pacing, planning to achieve
need a bit more pacing, confidence
organization, goal
practice, but may fluctuate,etc
clearly practiced
strong
and articulated.
presentation

Very Strong-> Strong->

Convincing, Convincing,
Writer's voice Writer's voice Is-> Convincing, Mildly-> Convincing,
heard, correct heard, most Writer's voice heard, Writer's voice
Core Concepts of vocab from Big 6 concepts could have more heard,lacks enough Not ready for
History concepts, well represented, most evidence and stronger evidence, needs assessment yet.
argued, ample evidence strong ties to historical better sourcing, etc to
evidence from a to great, may not thinking skills be more successful
variety of strong fully support
sources judgements

Choice of sources Citations etc done Citations are mostly

is strong and correctly, may be correct and majority of
reliable, citations some citations sources are considered There was an Not ready for
Sources and Citations are done in lacking but overall “legitimate”. Some attempt. assessment yet.
proper format and sources and errors in formatting and
order, and all citations are done ordering may appear.

3
#inquiry
 evidence cited well.
correctly

Grade

What the finished maps will (kind of) look like:

WW2 Timeline Map

Leeming Test Map  
 

Phase 2 - Mapping
Map and rank the major battles of the many
fronts of the war
Rank the top 5 battles of your region
i) In a seperate color, make sure to define the the territorial regions of
theater - E.G. Where were the German borders, Austrian Borders, US
Territories, etc at the time period you are working on
ii) Each Region and Battle marker should have embedded in it - visual
elements/photos and/or documents from the event and a short
summary of the event, the key dates, etc and a link to your slides
presentation detailing your argument for why the event you are
focusing on meets the below ranking criteria
4

3) Mapping component: Students will map out their front of the war with shifting battle
lines, key dates, important battle sites etc.
a) Students will also include their top 5 important battles marked on the map,
with an embedded Google Slides component discussing the battle, some of
its major features/storylines,
b) Students will use the same shared map to create a global picture of WW2 and
each group will use a specific set of colors to reduce confusion5

Phase 3- Presentation 
Each group will present their findings and make their arguments as to why their top 5 battles
are their top 5 battles, backed up by evidence. They should also be prepared to discuss
Honourable Mentions​ and explain why some battles ​did not​ make their list. They should also
be prepared to answer questions from their classmates.6

4
#rpt #jigsaw
5
#rpt
6
#rpt #jigsaw #inquiry
Once all groups are done - The class will decide in group conversation - What are the top 5
battles of the ENTIRE war, all fronts, based on what we’ve learned.
References

Driver, R., Asoko, H., Leach, J., Mortimer, E., & Scott, P. (2008). Constructing scientific
knowledge in the classroom. Reconsidering Science Learning, 13(1), 1986th ser.,
105-122. doi:10.4324/9780203464021_chapter_2.2

Doolittle, E., & Hicks, D. (2003). Constructivism as a Theoretical Foundation for the Use of
Technology in Social Studies. ​Theory & Research in Social Education,​ ​31(​ 1), 72–104.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2003.10473216

Fosnot, C. T. (2005). ​Constructivism: theory, perspectives, and practice​. New York:

Teachers College Press.

Jadallah, Edward. (2000). Constructivist Learning Experiences for Social Studies Education.
The Social Studies, 91(5), 221–225. ​https://doi.org/10.1080/00377990009602469

Karacop, A., & Doymus, K. (2013). Effects of Jigsaw Cooperative Learning and Animation
Techniques on Students' Understanding of Chemical Bonding and Their Conceptions of
the Particulate Nature of Matter. ​Journal of Science Education and Technology,22​(2),
186-203. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/23442286

Krych, A. J., March, C. N., Bryan, R. E., Peake, B. J., Pawlina, W. and Carmichael, S. W.
(2005), Reciprocal peer teaching: Students teaching students in the gross anatomy
laboratory. Clin. Anat., 18: 296–301. doi:10.1002/ca.20090

MacKenzie, T. (2016). ​Dive into inquiry: amplify learning and empower student voice​.
Irvine, CA: EdTechTeam Press.

Ministry of Education. (2017, December 1). BC's New Curriculum. Retrieved January 06,
2018, from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/social-studies/whats-new

Pritchard, D. (2018). ​What Is This Thing Called Knowledge?​ New York: Routledge.

RAY, B., FAURE, C., & KELLE, F. (2013). Using Social Impact Games (SIGS) to Support
Constructivist Learning: Creating a Foundation for Effective Use in the Secondary
Social Studies Education. American Secondary Education, 41(2), 60-70.

Seixas, P. C., & Morton, T. (2013). ​The big six historical thinking concepts​. Toronto:
Nelson Education.