Social Studies

What do you remember about your elementary social studies experience?

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These are the things you should see in the classrooms during social studies.2

Children love to inquire, explore, and create. They love hands-on experiences where they are in charge of their learning.

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As you know we all learn by doing, even if it may be a little risky at times. The passion and desire to be curious is always there.

7The Sons of Liberty met secretly to plan protests against the British government. In Boston a flagpole was raised in a tree known as the Liberty Tree. When a meeting was to be held, a red flag was flown to signal the nighttime meeting. In NY, a liberty pole was erected to announce upcoming planning sessions of the Sons of Liberty. When the British found out about these meetings, they destroyed the liberty poles.

Sons of Liberty

8Mission:Can your team create a Liberty Pole to announce a meeting of the Sons of Liberty? Dont forget the red flag!

Scoring Guide:2 points for each inch in height for the flagpole20 points if the flagpole is freestandingUp to 10 points for the liberty flagUp to 20 points for positive teamwork

Sons Signal

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Mind Missions are learning experiences where students work in teams to solve challenges based on social studies content. The Mind Mission lessons are aligned to the grade level social studies and language arts TEKS. A list of grade level TEK alignments are available on the IC Planner under the Resources Tab.

Emphasize:21st century learningCollaborative learning situationsStudents are in charge of their own learningCreativitythis is a time of innovationProblem-solving based activity; encourages students to think deeply and make connections

We want students using critical thinking skills as they communicate and collaborate to creatively solve challenges.We want students making connections across all content areas.Mind Missions is just one example of the direction our curriculum is going in order to be relevant in todays age.

Mind Missions give students that opportunity. Students are in charge of their learning. Teachers are the facilitators, asking questions as teams work to solve the challenges.10

CollaborationThese are the things you should see in the classrooms. Students should be actively engaged.11

These are examples of students working on a Mind Missions learning experience.12

Creativity

Critical ThinkingThey collaborate and learn how to work as a team. Theres risk-taking involved .14

Creativity

Communication16

Student ProducersCan your team make a wheel that can be turned without water?Can your team design and construct a house that can stand together or apart?Can your team invent an advertisement skit to promote Austins Colony?Can your team an original flag for Texans to carry into battle?Can your team design and build an oil derrick that stands unsupported and suspends off the ground?Can your team invent a product to make on a 6-step assembly line? Can your team build a home for a bunny community that protects the bunnies from ran and wind?18Examples of MM in the curriculum, first-fifth grade

The next component of a Mind Mission experience is Brainstorming. Students need to learn the rules of brainstorming. Each Mind Mission has a brainstorming piece that connects prior learning to new learning. You dont want to skip this part of the lesson.

Just like there are team building lessons in the beginning of the Mind Missions book, there are also guidelines and examples of how to brainstorm. Spend time with students brainstorming. Help them to understand the difference between common and creative ideas. Have them work on fluency on their own and as a team. Brainstorming helps to get student brains warmed up. At the beginning, middle, or end of class, hold up a random object and ask students to think of as many things as that object could be or be used for. The more students brainstorm, the better they become.Remind students that creative ideas come after all other ideas are gone. Creative ideas cause you to think deeply about a topic. Thats the difference between in the box and out of the box thinking!19

Just as important as the mission itself is the fourth component: Reflection. Students need metacognition time. That is they need time to think about their thinking. This is the time to ingrain the learning in the brainReflective questions help solidify the learning.. This can be accomplished in whole group, partners, or small groups. Not all of the questions on the reflection page need to be asked. Choose questions that make students really think and reflect. Do not give students all of the questions on the Mind Missions reflection page. Choose a couple of questions that really get students to think deeply about the mission, the content, and their learning. Think of quality and not quantity when deciding.The reflection part of the lesson should afford students time to think about what worked and what didnt, It is important to give students time to go back and change their solution based on what they have learned. If there isnt time to physically make changes to their solution, have them talk about the changes they would make to improve it.

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Mind Mission training videos are located on the Wiki.21Increasing DifficultyIn todays ever-changing world we need to work with students to increase the cognitive complexity of their thinking and create relevant learning experiences. Mind Missions allows students to think at higher levels as they create, evaluate, analyze, and apply their knowledge to solve the challenges.In looking at the Blooms Taxonomy levels of thinking, which levels apply to Mind Missions and why?

22Authentic Application

MeaningTransferAcquisitionUnderstandingKnowledge & SkillsAcquisition of knowledge and skills is not the long-term learning goal but the means for students to illustrate understanding and transferUBD SlideAcquisition: To inform the learners through explicit instruction in targeted knowledge and skills; differentiating as needed:LectureGraphic organizersDemonstration or modelingGuided practice, feedback, corrections

Meaning: To engage the learners in actively processing the informationand guide their inquiry into problems, texts, or simulations,differentiating as needed:Graphic organizersConcept attainmentProblem based learningFormative assessmentsRethinking and reflection promptsUsing analogies

Transfer:To coach the learners to independently perform in increasingly complex situations, provide models, and give ongoing feedback (as personalized as possible):Ongoing assessment--providing specific feedback in the context of authentic application / creation

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More connections to LASummer writers are working on those LA connectionsAdding writing opportunitiesFind connections to the McGraw Hill Reading Anthology, Stories, Time for Kids24

Social Studies Resources-Glossary-K-8 Tek Alignment-Events-Mind Mission docs: materials, MM in the curriculum, MM mission cards, responsibility cards, criteria cards, etc25

We want students to know where they came from and where they are goingWe want students to be good citizens and make sound financial and economic decisions.We also want then to think critically about the world around them.

Questions?????26