How to Effectively Teach Social Studies in 21st Century?

Many people think that Social Studies is one of the hardest specializations to handle. A lot of information to remember, it's too broad, and it's not just everyone's cup of tea. However, the challenge is more than that. It is how we, the teachers, must deliver such lessons to the young learners.

Yes, most people think it's boring, it's unnecessary, it's exhausting. That is just because of how the subjects are being taught. We must have experienced our teachers asking us to remember the dates when the World War 1 began until the end of World War 2, or memorize the correct order of all the presidents from the Philippines, or how many years the Spaniards, Americans and the Japanese colonized our country?

We will then question the importance of learning it. Why is it necessary to remember all those things? What's in it for me? Will it help me find a stable job in the future?

That is how we were taught traditionally. But now that we are in the 21st century already, many things were developed. Different trends have been exposed, and techniques and strategies were introduced to fit the learning styles of the young learners today.

During my undergraduate studies, one of our Social Studies teachers introduced to us one specific strategy that can be applied to any fields of this specialization. What is it?

~CONTEXTUALIZATION~

First, let us define the Contextualization.

"Researchers and academics Berns, Robert G. and Erickson, Patricia M. defines contextualized learning as a practice that endeavors to link theoretical constructs that are taught during learning, to practical, real-world context." source: Efront

To put it simply, contextualization is to connect the lessons from the textbooks to the real-world of the students. For example, we are teaching about the Presidents of the Philippines and their contributions. We may utilize an activity that will develop their leadership skill by asking them about what they're going to do if they'll be elected as a mayor, senator, or even a president. What are they going to aim to make the society a better place to live?

Another example is when we discuss the production in Economics. There are factors in production; namely the land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. Most Filipinos are becoming a part of the business world, might as well as our students in the future. We may let them design a business plan depending on the needs of their hometown by considering the factors of productions. It will activate their business-minded character. Who knows, some of them might be already designing their future?

Under the Contextualization, we have something we call the localization. To make it specific, it is to adapt the curriculum to local conditions and relating the context of the curriculum and the process of teaching and learning to the local environment (Taylor 2004). Therefore, we modify our strategies and maximize the materials based on the local needs of the school.

Example, we talked about culture in a school in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon. The best way to emphasize culture is to introduce Kaamulan festival to the class. Rather than talking about the culture overseas, why not let them learn about the differences of the seven tribes of their own province. This will let them be more aware and appreciate more of their hometown.

This strategy is all about linking the lesson to the life of the learner. It is to let each of them realize the importance and inspire them to improve their selves from their past. It helps the students develop and practice their skills for them to be prepared for the real world.

We can just explain contextualization by this way:

"CONTEXTUALIZATION = REAL-WORLD APPLICATION"

As a Social Studies major, this really caught my attention. As we experienced being spoonfed about all the information, learning about contextualization really helped me improve myself as an educator.

As I am still starting my teaching career, it is expected for me to face many difficulties. But I am thankful for our teachers for updating us on the newest trends and strategies that we can really use as we go and face the real world.

Teaching has never been easy. No matter what field a teacher is teaching, it needs a keen preparation to deliver each lesson properly. We need to give time and update ourselves to let us connect to the generations of students that we will be teaching.

I only talked about one strategy in this post, but teachers, always remember that there is no such thing as the BEST STRATEGY. We should always consider the needs and capacity of our learners. Remember! there are more strategies that we can use. Just give time and update yourself. This will really help us make the teaching-learning experience be more meaningful for both the teachers and learners.

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HISTORY: How Important Is It?

History has been taken for granted by many people.

Questions like "Why do we need to study it?", "Past is in the past, why bother learning about it?", "It's boring, can we skip History?"

Little did they know, history can help us become a better person we can be. History is not just all about what's in the books. It's not just all about who are the heroes and villains of the past. It is to learn on how to appreciate the contributions from our ancestors and how to value the mistakes made from our past.

Everything we do is going to be part of the history. Just like what Edward Hallet Carr said "History is ... a dialogue between the present and the past. ". Studying this will help us connect our past to the present, and prepare us for our future.It helps us understand the reasons why we live the way we live right at this moment.

We may have learned about the two world wars, the French revolution, the Renaissance, or even our country's colonizers, but just like what I said earlier, it's not just all about what's in the books. This is more like a big preparation for every individual in facing the real world.

As educators, regardless of the specialization, our role is to let our students learn more than what is printed on a 300-page-book. We honestly don't need to memorize all the information we can find in our textbooks, it is all about appreciating and realizing the importance of history, and that is for us to learn from the past's mistake, and avoid to repeat the same action again. By learning, generally, it will practice and develop our soft and hard skills which will eventually make us become well-prepared adults in the future.

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