Relative Advantage - Using Technology in Teaching Social Studies

Using technology in teaching can make the material “come alive” and make the content areas more engaging for students. In this blog entry, I will focus specifically on the relative advantage of using technology in Social Studies / History education. I will discuss two important benefits that technology provides in Social Studies education. The first advantage is the ability of technology to bring life, energy, and excitement to history through the use of games and simulations. The second advantage is the ability to access primary source documents and the impact this has on presenting material to students.

Games and simulations are invaluable tools that provide a great advantage in history education. Perhaps the most familiar to most people would be the computer game “Oregon Trail.” I can remember playing this game as a kid and having so much fun that I didn’t even realize that I was learning about westward expansion (even though most of the time all I wanted to do was hunt). I also remember playing “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” This game taught me so much about different countries and cultures. These types of activities are much more engaging than reading a textbook or listening to a lecture. DiCamillo and Gradwell (2012) explain that, “advocates believe simulations promote active learning in the classroom.” They also state, “researchers have asserted that simulations assist students in learning historical concepts and make history and social studies engaging and relevant (DiCamillo and Gradwell, 2012).

Another great benefit provided by technology is the ability to access primary source documents. Teaching history is much more meaningful when you can show students an actual document, picture, video, or audio recording. In their article about the benefits of using primary sources Morgan and Rasinski (2012) explain that “primary sources allow a student to get as close to a moment in time as possible, to have more of the firsthand, lived through experience that is so crucial for deep understanding.” The authors go on to describe how using primary sources allows the teacher to relive and investigate the story instead of simply telling his or her students about it.

There are many advantages to using technology in the Social Studies content area. These are two that I feel are most important. We should utilize these technology tools in order to enrich the learning experience for our students.

References

DiCamillo, L., & Gradwell, J. M. (2012). Using Simulations to Teach Middle Grades U.S. History in an Age of Accountability. Research In Middle Level Education Online, 35(7), 1-16.

Morgan, D., & Rasinski, T. (2012). The Power and Potential of Primary Sources. Reading Teacher, 65(8), 584-594.