Impact On The Social Studies Classroom

 The National Council for Social Studies defines Social Studies as "the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence." The challenge for many continues to be the engagement of today’s “digital learners” in the content richness of Social Studies. For too long, approaches into Social Studies have struggled to connect to the expectations of today’s learner. All of that changes with the “ActivClassroom Solution” in the hands of a trained educator. Teachers in the ActivClassroom will be able to quickly access online resources such as maps, video’s, and multimedia-rich FlipCharts. Teachers will be able to seek out student comprehension and discussion using ActivVotes and Activ Expressions. The ActivClassroom solution helps today’s educator to bring history of yesterday to life.

The ActivClassroom Solution and Best Practices
The Promethean ActivClassroom Solution supports the major goals of the 21st Century Classroom Model.

1. Multisensory Impact - the ActivBoard integrates visual, kinesthetic (movement), auditory and tactile (touch) “input” processes.
   
   
2. Relevant Learning Demonstrations - Teachers can demonstrate target concepts and skills within contexts that are relevant to the students.
   
   
3. Student Feedback - Promethean’s Learner Response Systems allow teachers to efficiently process immediate feedback from the students.
   
   
4. Modeling Use of Digital User Skills - The ActivClassroom allows today’s educator and students a “bridging” resource of using technology to demonstrate best practice lessons.
   
   
5. Student Collaboration - The ActivClassroom offers both the teacher and student ongoing opportunity to incorporate student collaboration and product sharing. This opportunity is leveraged through the use of the Learner Response System, (ActivVotes/Expressions) and through the mobile remote tool (ActivSlate.)

Technology That Works!
I think the advent of the this technology that Promethean does so well, both with the Activboard and the Activclassroom, will change the face of teaching in terms of how we interact with students and what we use as content. I think this technology will help add a whole new set of strategies that were never available before. Preliminary research with Promethean shows that the ActivClassroom significantly improves student academic achievement.

-Dr. Robert Marzano 2009

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will provide over $77 Billion additional dollars to education. This is a critical time to utilize an appropriate percentage of these additional funds for Social Studies education and transformation of instruction. Specifically, utilizing these funds will assist our Social Studies educators to access to the latest relevant information and online learning tools designed to impact student learning.

Transformation in Instruction That Works!
Described below are four curriculum foci the National Council for Social Studies and the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) have suggested improve curricula in Social Studies.

• Social Studies Teaching and Learning Are Powerful When They Are Integrative
  The ActivClassroom solution provides students opportunities to interact with a dynamic surface and manipulate objects, run and save data real-time and use innovative software to build, organize and compare ideas from all content areas. In addition, Promethean provides exemplary professional development opportunities to facilitate the creation of inquiry-based curricula for teachers.
  
  
• Social Studies Teaching and Learning Are Powerful When They Are Meaningful
  The ActivClassroom supports student engagement by providing a robust set of tools and resources to help students build upon prior knowledge to construct authentic learning experiences. Additionally, Promethean Planet is one-stop resource and professional learning community where students and teachers can collaborate and communicate with educators from all over the world.
  
  
• Social Studies Teaching and Learning Are Powerful When They Are Active
   “Using Promethean’s award-winning ActivInspire, teachers and students can create digital models to represent abstract concepts, thereby giving them an opportunity to move beyond superficial comprehension of ideas to deeper, more complex understanding and applications.
  
  
• Social Studies Teaching and Learning Are Powerful When They Are Challenging
  The ActivClassroom provides a plethora of resources and templates that seamlessly integrate with our Learner Response Systems (ActivExpression and ActiVote) to help teachers incorporate formative assessment into their lessons and align their instruction to challenge their students. Moreover, teachers can receive immediate feedback from students and “in-the-moment” be able to tailor their instruction. The data can also be captured, archived and retrieved to monitor student progress, analyze student or class trends and reflect on instruction.

More info about Curriculum impact at www.prometheanworld.com