Social Responsibilty and the Global Garment Industry

The service learning project I chose is entitled, “Social Responsibility and the Global Garment Industry” (http://www.servicelearning.org/slice/index.php?ep_action=view&ep_id=308). Its stated project description is as follows: Students will learn about industrialization today, globalization, free trade zones, the fashion industry, sweatshops and child labor issues. After viewing a video documentary about a maquila in Central America, students will confront these issues in a classroom simulation: a U.S. clothing corporation must decide how profits and its own human rights policy will guide overseas operations. Students from seven different interest groups make recommendations to the corporation’s vice president in an advisory board meeting about a subcontractor’s use of child labor. Following the simulation, students will consider their own roles as teen consumers and/or workers and determine the issues they will produce action on. Some possible options include: identifying where consumers can buy socially responsible clothing, creating a corporate responsibility letter-writing campaign, launching a consumer awareness petition project, educating teen workers about their rights, surveying teen workers to assess. I thought this lesson was really unique in that it teaches students about their own rights in an interesting way that directly affects their lives. It also strengthens the connection between students’ in school and out of school lives. Also, having students learn about other children their own age, could provide extra motivation and a deeper connection to the issue. This sort of project would most definitely use collaboration with outside groups, such as Sweatshop Watch and the National Labor Committee, and allow to students to create their own ideas and learn through hands-on activities. To mitigate some of the challenges posed by inquiry learning, students would be assigned specific roles in the project, to provide structure and make sure each student is fully participating. Also, students would be responsible for picking their own project ideas, but they would be picked from a predetermined set of possible projects, so as to compensate for the project having too much dependence on the students.

Inquiry learning and technology with the Civil War

For this particular assignment, I read the article "Where Do You Want To Go Today? Inquiry-Based Learning and Technology Integration." The article described two programs that were designed to help struggling students improve their reading and comprehension skills through the use of inquiry learning and technology. The students merely had to be interested in any topic, which they chose with teacher guidance, and then research and present their findings on that particular topic. This kind of program could be incredibly useful in the social studies classroom, even for kids who are reading and comprehending just fine. The great thing about this project is that it can be beneficial to struggling readers, as well as those reading at or above grade level, because it focuses on skills that aid in comprehension, as well as investigative skills that are neccessary for success in the social studies classroom. Since my practicum placement is 8th grade U.S. History, I could use this inquiry based research project to introduce students to primary source documents and their use in the History field. For example, students could chose their own topic, under the theme of maybe the Civil War and present a war-era letter, speech, or diary entry. Students could discuss issues like slavery, the cause and effect of the division of the Union, the effect of the war on the country and its population, or even the effect of the increasing immigration that occured during that period. Students would chose a topic, find a primary source relating to it using the internet, and then present to the class what that source tells us about that time period and their topic. With this approach, students are free to examine a range of issues, which in turn exposes the class to more than just civil war battles and helps students become familiar with how to use primary sources to learn about the past. Based on this summary of my proposed project, do you think it will be outside the academic range of 8th graders? In what other ways could this project fall apart? Could students find it too vague or difficult?

Owens, R.F., Hester , J.L., & Teale, W.H. (2002). Where do you want to go today? inquiry-based learning and technology integration. Reading Teacher, 55(7)

Social Studies technology in practice

So the fruits of some intensive internet searching are as follows: Social Studies Wiki = http://blog.woodward.edu/widener/?page_id=76, Podcast = http://www.podnova.com/channel/233670/, and Blog = http://ljhs.wordpress.com/. All three of these sources are used in schools and the wiki and podcast were created by students. These really are some inspiring finds though because they are the practical outcomes of all this emphasis on increasing technology in the classroom. I chose these three because they really gave me a good idea of the techniques you can employ to put technology in the classroom. Having the students discuss their notes within a podcast so that other students can have a review whenever they need it seems like an amazing tool that couldn't exist without technology in the classroom. The blog I chose contains tons of pictures of a variety of subjects and makes it easy to see how a blogging tool can really add an interesting dinamic to your classroom, and beyond. The wiki page is definitly my favorite because I don't think you can ever overestimate the benefit a tool like this could be to students. Having them construct a page that contains everything they learn in class not only helps them to remembe it all, but it gives them a chance to connect all the interesting things they've covered and adds a new dimension to the subject matter that could never have previously existed. The wiki page is full of really interesting class project ideas that connect learning and technology in interactive and fun ways (the movie trailer project looks like something I might end up trying in my classroom). All in all I think these are great resources for students to have and they leave me wondering how different my middle an high school experience could have been if I had had access to the same oppurtunities students have now.

Why should technology be integrated into social studies classrooms? How has the learning from our first session influenced your answer? Please support

Technology provides efficient ways to bridge gaps in education. Social Studies education in particular can benefit from technology because technology can put students in touch with learning environments that have never before been possible. As Alan November points out in Web Literacy for Educators, "The audience moves from teacher and class to the world." Technology can provide students with the most social experiences they could ever had, with the most diverse group of people possible. Using a blog on the internet is like saying what's on your mind in a room with every person on the planet (at least every person connected to the internet and viewing the blog). Students can also test and evaluate what they learn in the classroom by discussing it in their blog or reading experts' blogs on similar subjects. With technology, students can be motivated to take their learning outside the classroom and explore any topic they wish. If teachers can provide the framework for how to use and evalute internet sources, then no subject is off-limits to students and as a result, students can enjoy a much more diverse and rich learning experience.