Running head: ARTICLE CRITIQUE AND COMPARISON 1

Alexander Eichhorn

EDU 519

Article Critique and Comparison

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In order to provide meaningful instruction in the social studies classroom, teachers must

utilize strategies that will allow students to become engaged in the lesson while also displaying

both their content knowledge as well as their proficiency with subject specific skills.

One of the challenges that social studies teachers often face is creating engaging and

meaningful instruction and assessments that achieve the desired learning outcomes of the class.

In the article The Challenges of Assessment in Secondary Social Studies: Exploring the

Potential of Learning Stories by Picken and Milligan (2013), secondary school teachers in New

Zealand designed a learning story approach to assessing student understandings of social studies

concepts.

While used extensively at the elementary level of schooling in New Zealand, the concept

of learning stories for secondary social studies students was uncharted territory. Learning stories

are a type of narrative assessment that relate a non-comparative story of learning progress and

provide a positive foundation for future learning by documenting students learning and

progress. (as cited in Picken & Milligan, 2013). The narrative of a learning story is constructed

collaboratively among the members of the learning community. According to Picken & Milligan

(2013), attempting a learning story approach in the secondary social studies setting appealed to

educators for several reasons. The first reason was that it would capture a more dynamic view of

a students ever evolving learning process. Secondly, because of the cumulative nature of

learning stories, a students progress can be traced and built up over time, allowing for the

essential aspects of social studies to be cemented. Finally, learning stories enable teachers to

view the development of important civic skills and understandings of students that are essential

skills for civic participation (Picken & Milligan, 2013).

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In the study examined by Picken & Milligans (2013) article, teachers developed sets of

questions that were to be used at the conclusion of every days lesson. For example, teachers

would ask students to reflect back on what they had learned that day. In addition to this

reflection, teachers would also ask students to show how they learned the information. This type

of assessment at the end of every lesson allowed students to develop their own learning stories

while allowing the teachers to determine if the learning outcomes for the lesson had been met.

Overall, the concept of creating learning stories in the secondary social studies classroom

proved successful when properly planned and organized. The most prominent benefits for using

a learning story was that it allowed for all members of the learning community to reflect on their

learning and development.

Assessments such as learning stories are a valuable addition to a teachers tool kit for

social studies assessment in the modern classroom. However, proper assessment is rather

worthless without engaging forms of instruction.

A newly emerging and popular strategy of instruction sweeping the educational world is

the use of flipped instruction. This new strategy has been employed by teachers of many

different subject areas in order to address the unique learning needs of the 21st century learner.

With the advancements and increased availability of technology both at home and in the

classroom, teachers now more than ever, are utilizing strategies that previously would have been

impossible to implement.

In the article Flipping the 21st Century Social Studies Classroom by Waid (2017), the

process of flipping social studies classrooms in two rural New York high schools is examined, as

well as the effect that a teachers knowledge and use of technology has on the success of flipped

instructional strategies.
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Flipped instruction is defined as a pedagogical approach where direct classroom

instruction shifts from a classroom to an individual learning environment (as cited in Waid,

2017). In order for flipped learning to be successful, teachers must follow four essential pillars to

its implementation. The first pillar is to establish a flexible learning environment, where students

can learn at their own pace and in the environment of their choosing. The second pillar is

establishing a student-centered learning environment where students construct their own

knowledge with the assistance of the teacher. The third pillar is for teachers to determine what

content and resources they will utilize in order to maximize the use of higher level learning

activities and instruction. The fourth and final pillar is for the teacher to assume the role of a

professional educator by continually monitoring and providing feedback to the students when

they are constructing their knowledge (as cited in Waid, 2017).

In the study conducted by Waid (2017), the use of flipped instruction in a 21st century

Google Classroom seems promising. In the study of nine teachers at two separate schools, both

with access to Google Classroom, all of the teachers had positive outcomes with the flipped

instructional application. However, teachers who were better trained and versed in the use of

Google Classroom and other technologies used more flipped instruction than those teachers with

a lack of training, who tended to continue with more traditional methods of teaching (Waid,

2017).

Overall, the study found that teachers who utilized the flipped classroom model of

student-centered instruction had better student outcomes than those who utilized traditional

teacher-centered methods of instruction. Additionally, it was found that teachers who were

better prepared to use technology such as Google Classroom had better learning outcomes with

flipped instructional methods than those who lacked proper training (Waid, 2017).
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Both the use of learning stories and flipped instruction in the social studies classroom

show promising results in creating meaningful instruction. It is worth noting that these two

teaching strategies promote a student-centered approach to learning where the teacher serves as a

guide in the students exploration of the material. With technology on the rise, the status quo in

education is moving away from traditional teacher-centered classrooms, to more student-

centered classroom. While teacher-centered classrooms have proved successful in the past,

student-centered classrooms promote higher levels of learning that will better prepare students

for life beyond grade school.

As technology continues to make is way further into the modern day classroom, teachers

must reconsider their techniques for providing engaging and effective instruction to their

students. Through the use of learning stories and flipped instructional strategies, teachers will be

better able to adapt to the 21st century classroom by providing more meaningful instruction than

ever before.
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References

Picken, A., & Milligan, A. (2013). The challenges of assessment in secondary social studies:

Exploring the potential of learning stories. New Zealand Journal of Educational

Studies, 48(2), 112-129.

Waid, N. (2017). Flipping the Twenty-first-Century Social Studies Classroom. International

Journal Of Technologies In Learning, 24(1), 25-32.