TCI Brings Social Studies Learning Alive

TCI was founded by a group of teachers who wanted to improve the way Social Studies is taught. Until recently, they specialized in traditional textbooks. Those texts have been transformed into digital format so that teachers and students can be part of paperless classrooms. TCI offers a complete online learning system for Social Studies at all levels, K-12. The system, according to CEO Bert Bower, a former Social Studies teacher, “is robust enough for tech-savvy teachers, yet intuitive and easy for technophobes.” TCI features excellent content, rich images, file sharing, messaging, interactives, bookmarking, maps, glossaries, and much more. Text-to-audio, both in English and Spanish, is part of the program, as are game-like reading challenges and interactive student notebooks for online writing and drawing activities that are based on the common Core Standards.  Try the program by signing up for the company’s 30-day free trial.

Samsung Techwin SUPERHERO Video Competition

Samsung announced its winner of the Fall Superhero competition. K-12 students may enter the upcoming Winter competition (due March 30, 2012) and the Spring Competition (due June 30, 2012).  Winners will receive $500 plus a SAMCAM 860 (worth $799). To get ideas for a 1-3 minute video, take a look at recent winning videos. Be sure to follow the rules for the competition.

For Your High School Juniors—All-Expense Paid Trip to Washington, D.C.

High School Juniors whose homes are served by an electric cooperative are eligible to apply to be one of 1500 student leaders who will meet in Washington, D.C., June 17-21. While in Washington, they will learn about the history of the United States, meet with their Congressional Delegation, tour historic attractions, and learn about the electric co-op movement.  For information, contact your local electric cooperative for deadlines, applications, and essay information; and check the Youth Tour Website. 

Teaching Historical Thinking NOT Facts & Dates

Why Won’t You Just Tell Us the Answer? by Bruce Lesh questions the way we teach history in our schools. According to Lesh, “Every major measure of students’ historical understanding since 1917 has demonstrated that students do not retain, understand, or enjoy their school experiences with history.” In classrooms, teachers usually lecture and students memorize. Teachers are giving students the answers when they would learn far more if they investigated the past in the way historians do. They need to learn to ask questions, seek evidence, and come up with explanations. Students who are “immersed in an interpretive study of the past” enjoy their experiences and remember them better. Lesh wants students to be able to try “on the shoes of historical actors.” With the Internet, students have access to many of the resources they could use in their investigations. This, of course, would mean restructuring most courses of study to focus on selected time periods since there is not enough time to cover all of the content in today’s history books.  Lesh’s book can be purchased as an eBook ($17.60) or in paperback ($22.00).

National Archives Summer Institutes for Educators

During the months of June and July, the National Archives will host free teacher summer institutes in Washington, D.C.; Austin, TX; Abilene, KS; Kansas City, MO; and Chicago, IL. Each Institute is a week long and is designed to provide access to resources for teachers of upper elementary, secondary and college levels.  Teacher participants, who will receive classroom materials and a $250 stipend, will research historical records and create classroom materials. The goal is for teachers to learn how to develop materials “that sharpen students’ skills and enthusiasm for history, government, and other humanities.” Sessions scheduled for the National Archives in D.C. and at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene will feature STEM subject areas. Graduate credit is available for a fee. Ten-member classes will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you are interested, sign up now.

National Archives & Records Video Conference Workshops for Students & Teachers

The National Archives and Records Administration offers videoconference workshops for educators and for students in Grades 5-12. Student sessions include: The Constitution and Introduction to the National Archives and Records Administration. Educator sessions are: Teaching With Documents and Introduction to the National Archives and Records Administration. To schedule conferences, you’ll need to fill out the online PDF Videoconference Request Form in order to ask for dates and times that will work for you and/or your students. Sessions usually last one hour and can be scheduled on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. EST/EDT. Student sessions can include up to 30 students and feature topics such as how to analyze copies of documents related to the Constitution and the availability of primary sources in a variety of text, audio and video formats.  Teacher workshops include the examination of various primary source materials and information on access to government resources.