The Progressive Teacher Vol 03 Issue 05

General Issue of Low Scores in the
subject of Social Science:
• Students do not consider social studies
to be an important area of study. English,
mathematics and science rank higher
because students see these subjects as
preparing them for careers and teaching
important skills which they will need in
the future.
• Social Science is a subject which requires
lots of reading. Many times it is found that
students lack reading skills and therefore
their scores are low.
• For many students social science becomes
a boring subject and they score low as
they are not interested in knowing about
historical events and history or about the
government.
• Other subjects like math and science
can have practical activities like finding
measure of things around or experiments
but for social science one can only visit
historical monuments, natural parks or
government institutes, etc which is not
always possible. This becomes another
reason for scoring fewer marks in
the subject.
• Another reason for disliking the subject
can be the lack of concentration during
lectures or class activities which
ultimately leads to lower scores.
Fifteen ways to make Social
Science Interesting:
1. Tell students to imagine a particular
moment in history mentioned in their
textbook. This can help them to have a
clear idea of the topic.
2. Act out historical events: Skits,
talk shows and plays are a great way
to engage students and motivate them
to find a love for social studies. Bring
a historical event to life by having
students act out a particular event
in history. Have students produce an
event and assign each student a specific
role to present to the class. After each
presentation let students discuss what
they learned.
3. Draw students in with technology:
Technology has a way to motivate
students and keep them engaged.
Whether you are teaching a lesson
on geography, history or on civics,
technology has a way to draw students’
attention.
4. Make use of Internet: Internet provides
many websites on educational topics.
Many have fun games, multimedia
presentations, quizzes, etc. on
educational topics. All these really make
bookish topics fun for the students and
help them to understand and retain
topics much better.
5. Try a Controversial Topic: An effective
tool for encouraging critical thinking
is to try a controversial topic. Provide
students with a short background on any
topic and let the debate begin. Write or
say a statement that relates to the topic
at hand and have each side plead their
case. There is nothing like a fun debate
to get students motivated to learn.
Nov/Dec 2016
6. You can develop student interest and
motivation in social studies by relating
relevant content and current events
to their daily lives.
7. Be involved, discuss concepts with
them and give them examples of
social studies from their daily lives
that they can relate to, instead of just
complaining that social science is
boring. Give concepts your own twist.
8. Do practical projects and
experiments with them. Doing really
helps in understanding a topic instead
of reading about it.
9. Get interesting books about
different topics for the children. Keep
the books accessible so that they can
take them out when bored and read
them.
10. Take your students to fun and
interesting places like planetariums,
zoos, wildlife sanctuaries, national
parks, museums, botanical gardens, etc.
to make the concepts clear.
11. Making useful notes plays a vital role
in helping students to learn easily with
perfection.
12. Update your students with current
events. Students can develop interest
and motivation in social studies by
relating relevant content and current
events to their daily lives.
13. Encourage students to do collage work
and take census of any particular area
to make the subject interesting.
14. Sometimes it is the everyday places
that can be educational and
interesting – your garden, the local
nursery, the post office, etc. Walk
around the neighbourhood and go to the
local places of interest.
15. Show them videos and
documentaries of the events covered
in their syllabus. This will enhance the
interest in the chapter or episode in
history.
No effort done in this direction will be
in vain. Every effort will have its own
rewards on a child’s learning. Keep
making the effort.
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