Reflections on Chapter 12 (Social Studies)

Reflections on Ch. 12

Chapter 12 deals with specific trends and issues surrounding the integration of technology when it comes to social studies education.

The chapter breaks down primarily into two sections. The first of these sections is about the major challenges facing social studies when it comes to technology integration. For starters there's the fact that social studies is typically treated like a second-class, also-ran subject. As a result, it's difficult to get people to take the subject seriously and to see it as just as important as the STEM subjects. This can often lead to a lack of funding being directed towards the acquisition of technology for social studies.

There are also problems within the discipline itself. History is a political minefield, and everyone has an opinion as to how it should be taught. The politicization of the subject has led to an incredible amount of controversy around the curriculum of social studies. There are those individuals with the outdated notion that history is about instilling patriotism into young people, whereas there is the additional notion that history is about broadening the horizons of the individuals. Even just talking about it in passing, I'm heavily implying (because I can't idly sit by not stating my opinion on something I have vehement thoughts on) where I stand in the never-ending cultural wars at hand.

Finally, there is the challenge most directly affected by the growth of technological use in the classroom: information overload. The Internet has led to the abundant and easy access to information whenever we want it. But the glut of information can sometimes make it difficult to parse through all the information and figure out what's relevant and accurate. For a subject like history built around the task of sifting through lots of information to determine what's true and meaningful, this is a thoroughly pressing concern. 

It's also of interest due to the twin issues of digital literacy and digital citizenship. Students need to be well-informed in order to be valuable, useful citizens to society, and they won't be capable of that if they don't know how to find accurate, reliable information about politics, current events, and other issues directly affecting them.

The second section of the chapter offers some wide-ranging potential solutions to combating some of these challenges facing social studies education. Among these one of the most potent comes in the form of technology resources for assessing primary source documents, critiquing digital information, and researching electronically. These help provide the skills and thought-processes necessary to confront information overload.