MakingHistory“Real”Concrete:

CapturingtheAbstract

Exploreconcretelanguage-basedactivitiesthatallowstudentstoaccesshistoricalcontentandabstractconcepts.

Presented by

Bruce J. Miller, M.A., M.S. Ed. Landmark Elementary-Middle School, Manchester, MA

bmiller@landmarkschool.org www.landmarkoutreach.org

98thNCSSConference

Chicago,IL

December1,2018

The goal of this session is to share strategies designed to enable students to make sense of the abstract concepts involved in the history discipline by incorporating auditory and visual modalities as well as kinesthetic and multisensory activities in the context of language-based instruction. Students often find many of the social studies disciplines, especially history, to be abstract and difficult to comprehend (Prangsma, 2007). Grasping concepts such as Justinian’s Code, manorialism, feudalism and renaissance is essential for students to make sense of history before they can interpret it for themselves. How can we as teachers present abstract content in a way that makes it more “real,” and ensures each student’s ability to access the information? The human mind processes information in two channels: the visual/pictorial and the auditory/verbal (Mayer, 2001). As the brain processes the information it receives through these channels, it organizes the data to make sense of it. If the visual and verbal presentations are organized in a manner so as to not overwhelm the learner, deeper thinking can occur since the learner engages in “substantial cognitive processing” (Mayer, 2003). Hence, appropriate visuals can enhance learning. An awareness of the needs of students with dyslexia is also essential for teachers. Dyslexic students in particular often struggle with written vocabulary (Redford). “Teachers working with dyslexic learners have found multi-sensory approaches particularly valuable, as they help learners to make sense of information in a range of ways” (QIA, 2008). Incorporating kinesthetic activities can also make an abstract concept more real to students. For example, the passage of time can be demonstrated by attaching events to a long string marked off in centuries. Illustrating new words, acting out a word, and writing a story using vocabulary words are effective means of enhancing vocabulary knowledge for dyslexics because these activities not only involve the learner, but they also provide context, which is critical to dyslexics’ acquisition of vocabulary (Redford). In addition, Redford offers several reasons for continuing to read aloud to students even after they have become independent readers, but notes that it is critical to dyslexics. Graphic organizers, webs or other “knowledge maps” provide scaffolding concepts and help demonstrate the relationships among terms (O’Donnell, 2002). These organizers often allow students to see the interrelationships and gain a deeper understanding of vocabulary, which then becomes more real to them. Teachers can introduce historical concepts in a more concrete manner by: • incorporating hands-on multisensory activities to engage students in historical lessons • providing visual timelines when introducing and discussing concepts “When does this happen in history relative to other historical events?” • defining thematic vocabulary in more simplified terms • experiencing the historical event through role-playing This workshop presents an overview of these topics and engages workshop participants through modeling and role-playing so they will be able to bring these strategies into their classrooms.

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