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The Achievement Objectives are the key to the whole process of
unit writing, programme planning or lesson planning in Social Studies. So it
is absolutely essential that we demonstrate knowledge and understanding of
their real meaning.
Processes
There are three Process Achievement objectives:
Students will demonstrate skills as they:
Inquiry: collect, process, and communicate information
about human society;
Values Exploration: explore and analyse values;
Social Decision Making: make decisions about possible
social action.
Strands
There are 80 (yes, eighty) Strand Achievement Objectives. And they
are the ones that need translating.
Each Achievement Objective (AO) needs to be broken down into its
component parts. These then become your Learning Outcomes (LOs).
Learning Outcomes
Your Learning Outcomes are what you assess so they are crucial to
the structuring of your unit.
The Social Studies Curriculum document uses only four verb stems
(Page 10):
- Give examples of…
- Identify…
- Describe….
- Explain….
but suggests that teachers use a wide range of verb stems when developing
learning outcomes. This table
of Demonstration Verbs
from Social Studies.com may or may not be useful.
The Learning Outcomes should be written in student friendly language.
This is a bit difficult to do without a context, so the LOs in the charts
still sound very stilted and jargony.
Some Contexts
Consider AO Time Continuity and Change Level 3.1. How much easier
it is to write an LO in kidspeak when you know what past events you are
looking at, and you have a clear picture of the communities that the events
affected. So -
Students will: Explain how the arrival of the New Zealand Company
settlers changed the lives of Maori living around New Plymouth.
Or (using those wonderful pictures of Gardening at Tamaki and
Wheat farming in the Waikato from the Toi Taketake/Belonging Here
kit)
Students will: Explain how the arrival of European settlers in the Waikato changed
the way Maori used the land.
Other Learning Outcomes
You will of course have Other Learning Outcomes (OLOs) that help
provide structure for your unit but are not summatively assessed. You may
still assess them but as part of your formative assessment programme as you
monitor the students' progress and achievement - and most importantly -
provide feedback to the students about their progress and achievement.
By focussing your summative assessment on the LOs, you will keep
assessment both manageable and valid.
Fish Hooks
The Social Studies Strand achievement objectives are not as simple and
straight forward as they initially appear to be. They are full of Fish
Hooks.
An AO requiring students to demonstrate knowledge of "how and
why" is much more complex than a simple "how" or "ways
in which". One "how and why" AO is probably enough for a unit
to address, whereas one "how" may be combined with another
"how" quite comfortably.
Tenses
The tense of verbs in the AOs is important. Sadly, a study of Ancient
Greece complete with a meeting of the citizens of Athens, does not address
the need to look at "how systems of government ARE organised".
Note too that it is systems of government, not one system of government.
You need to keep an eagle eye out for plurals.
Consider the number of plurals in: ways in which
communities reflect the cultures and heritages of their
people.
And people make and implement rules and laws.
Teaching Concepts
When rules and laws pops up at Level 3 it is the first time that
these concepts (Page 14 of the Social Studies
Curriculum document) appear in the AOs. You cannot assume that the
students understand them so you will need to plan to teach them.
On the other hand, by Level 3 students will have encountered the concept
of resources at both Level 1 and Level 2 so you will be building on
their existing knowledge, not teaching it from scratch.
This is what the old spiral curriculum is all about - broadening and
deepening existing knowledge by building on what the learner knows. Not
going over the same old stuff over and over again.
Tricky Terms
Watch out for things like environment (as in places and
environments) and the environment.
The environment, as environmentalists use the term, refers to the natural
environment.
An environment can be more abstract - a warm environment; the working
environment; her home environment; the school environment.
Interaction is another tricky term. It signifies a two way or reciprocal
action - between two or more individuals or groups.
Odd Emphases
The other big fish hook is odd emphases - phrases that aren't quite as
they appear.
eg. how people organise themselves in response to challenge and
crisis is not quite the same as what happens during a
disaster.
How past events changed aspects of the lives of communities is not
quite the same as how people's lives changed during the war.
And the classic - how the ideas and actions of individuals and groups
that have shaped the lives and experiences of people are viewed through
time doesn't mean studying important people in the past -
unfortunately!
Starter Stuff
It may be necessary to study the ideas and actions of people in the past
before you get into how those ideas and actions have been viewed through
time but that is not what your unit should focus on. It is starter
stuff, the information or knowledge that the students need before they
can address the real purpose of the AO.
OLOs
This is where your OLOs - Other Learning Outcomes - are important. There
is no point in going on to examining how people's actions and ideas have
been viewed through time if the students haven't yet grasped the basics
of the actions or ideas. And you will check this understanding by
formatively assessing - either formally or informally.
The danger with OLOs and background information is that they can expand
to become the unit. The "real" learning outcomes get squeezed out.
So keep them in perspective.
A Word to the Wise
A final word to wise teachers of Social Studies.
Social Studies is about people. People interacting with other people and
with their environment.
Any study that does not focus on people is not Social Studies.
eg. Dinosaurs is NOT a Social Studies topic. There were no people around
at the time of the dinosaurs.
Doing research into dinosaurs and claiming that it is a Social Studies
Inquiry doesn't wash either. An Inquiry is only a Social Studies Inquiry
when it has a Social Studies Strand achievement objective as its focus.
Beside which the Inquiry AO says collect, process and communicate
information about HUMAN SOCIETY.
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This material has been produced by UNITEC Institute of Technology
under contract to the Ministry of Education.
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