Teaching Social Issues

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Procedures:

Discuss several major social issues that impact our society today. For this module, we have chosen to focus on:

• Prejudice/hate crimes
• Environmental concerns
• Gun control
• Censorship
• Poverty
• Health care

1. Discuss how these issues are typically addressed in social studies classrooms.
2. Divide the preservice teachers into groups of four and have them brainstorm ways these issues could be addressed in traditional social studies courses (i.e. what course could they fit into, what unit, and how?) and why they are not usually addressed. Have the teachers use chart paper so they can display their ideas.
3. Share brainstormed ideas and compile a "web" of class ideas.
4. Discuss the out-of-class assignment: In groups of 2-3, preservice teachers should select a prominent social issue and use the internet to research current information about the issue. In their final product/presentation:
   • Teachers should provide background information about the issue
   • Teachers should develop a rationale for how and why this issue should be integrated into a traditional social studies courses
   • Teachers should develop a lesson or activity that allows students to explore the issue, using the Internet as a major source of information to analyze and critique
   • Teachers should explicitly address the ways the activity or lesson will be interdisciplinary and foster multiple perspectives
   • Teachers should include plans for how their students can develop an "educational campaign" to inform the public about an issue they have studied
5. Provide at least one class period to discuss internet search strategies and evaluation of websites.
6. Provide incremental due dates for each phase of the project.

Center for Technology and Teacher Education, University of Virginia, This module was created by Elizabeth Anne Yeager and Kara Dawson University of Florida