Learning strategies used in

teaching social studies in

intermediate grades

Dwight Julius Lesaca

 The learning strategies we will
discuss today are:

Collaborative Thematic
Learning teaching
 Collaborative
Learning
Collaborative learning can occur peer-
to-peer or in larger groups. Peer
learning, or peer instruction, is a type
of collaborative learning that involves
students working in pairs or small
groups to discuss concepts or find
solutions to problems.
Considerations for using collaborative
learning
• Introduce group or peer work early in the
semester to set clear student expectations.
• Establish ground rules for participation and
contributions.
• Plan for each stage of group work.
• Carefully explain to your students how
groups or peer discussion will operate and
how students will be graded.
Considerations for using collaborative
learning
• Help students develop the skills they need to
succeed, such as using team-building
exercises or introducing self-reflection
techniques.
• Consider using written contracts.
• Incorporate self -assessment and peer
assessment for group members to evaluate
their own and others' contributions.
Getting started with
collaborative
learning
• Shorter in-class collaborative learning
activities generally involve a three-step
process. This process can be as short as
five minutes, but can be longer, depending
on the task at hand.
• Introduce the task. This can be as simple
as instructing students to turn to their
neighbor to discuss or debate a topic.
• Provide students with enough time to
engage with the task. Walk around and
address any questions as needed.
• Debrief. Call on a few students to share a
summary of their conclusions. Address
any misconceptions or clarify any
confusing points. Open the floor for
questions.
• For larger group work projects, here are
some strategies to help ensure productive
group dynamics:
• Provide opportunities for students to
develop rapport and group cohesion
through ice breakers, team-building, and
reflection exercises..
• Give students time to create a group
work plan allowing them to plan for
deadlines and divide up their
responsibilities.
• Have students establish ground rules.
Students can create a contract for
each member to sign. This contract
can include agreed-upon penalties
for those who fail to fulfill
obligations.
• Assign roles to members of each group and
change the roles periodically. For example,
one student can be the coordinator, another
the note-taker, another the summarizer, and
another the planner of next steps.
• Allow students to rate each other's quality
and quantity of contributions. Use these
evaluations when giving individual grades,
but do not let it weigh heavily on a student's
final grade. Communicate clearly how peer
assessment will influence grades.
• Check in with groups
intermittently but encourage
students to handle their own
issues before coming to you
for assistance.
 Thematic
teaching
Thematic teaching (also known
as thematic instruction) is the
selecting and highlighting of a
theme through an instructional
unit or module, course, multiple
courses.
 Thematic
teaching
It is often interdisciplinary, highlighting the
relationship of knowledge across academic
disciplines and everyday life. Themes can be
topics or take the form of overarching
questions.
Thematic learning is closely related to
interdisciplinary or integrated instruction,
topic-,project- or phenomenon-based
learning.
 Steps
Under the thematic learning
instruction, organization of
curriculum can be based on
Macro or Micro theme
depending upon the topic to
be covered.
Choosing a theme: Themes should be of
interest to students and relevant to the
curriculum. In some situations, students
can choose the thematic topic. Themes
should also be topics of interest to the
teacher(s) because successful thematic
instructions often require additional
research and preparation.
 Themes relevant to students' interests
encourage active participation. For
example, students may express interest in
current popular music. This interest can be
developed into thematic instructional units
and lessons that span across time and
cultures, how cultures interact and impact
one another, music as a social or political
commentary in social studies or history
classes.
 Themes allowing past to present
connections and highlight persistent issued
faced by society such as war, poverty,
pollution, disease, or natural disasters are
especially effective.

Doing the research: Effective

interdisciplinary thematic instruction
requires extensive knowledge and research
by the teacher.
 Design an essential question(s) relevant to
the theme. Essential questions are open-
ended, intellectually engaging questions
that demand higher-order thinking.
Essential questions focus a thematic
inquiry, helping the teacher chose the most
important facts and concepts relative to the
theme and focus planning efforts.
Designing instructional units and activities
that guide students in answering the
essential question. Teachers must choose
teaching and learning strategies, activities,
classroom materials, and experiences
related to the wider theme and guide
students in answering the essential
question. Strategies can be individual or
cooperative; stress various skills such as
reading, writing, or presenting.
 Curriculum
For thematic learning to
be successful among
learners, the following
should be considered:
• Thematic learning consists of a
curriculum that is unified and dwells on
an identified theme or topic, ideally
guided by essential questions.
• The sources are not limited to textbooks.
For example, in the social studies or
history classroom, primary source texts
and images encourage the development of
critical reading skills. For themes related
to current events, analysis of modern
media hones media literacy skills.
• Various teaching and learning
methods can be used. Projects,
cooperative learning, active
participation, experiential learning
are often highlighted.
• Thinking and problem-solving
skills, observation, critical
reasoning, analysis and drawing
conclusions are key skills in
thematic learning.
 Advantages of
thematic learning
• Students learn better when experiencing
knowledge in a larger context. They
begin to see relationships and
connections across time, place, and
disciplines.
• Learning about wider themes and related
concepts and facts more closely
resembles how life is experienced
outside of school and the classroom.
• Themes can be chosen that are current
and student-centered, incorporating the
needs, interests and perspectives of the
students.

• Carefully selecting topics and

information related to narrow the
overwhelming amount of information of
any discipline.
• Thematic instructions aligns
with current popular
pedagogies and standards
including place-based
education, project based
education, and cooperative
learning.
• Thematic instructions aligns
with current popular
pedagogies and standards
including place-based
education, project based
education, and cooperative
learning.
When thematic instruction takes place along with
cooperative learning, the advantages include the
following:
• Thematic cooperative learning activities
encourage authentic communication.
• The learner shares one's ideas with others in
the group.
• Interaction encourages the values of respect
and cooperation, thus building effective peer
learning groups.
• The teacher becomes the facilitator, reduces
the role of dispenser of learning.
Thank you!

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