Technology Applications in Social Studies

Teacher Education: A Survey of Social

Studies Methods Faculty.
by Cheryl Mason Bolick, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Michael Berson,
University of South Florida; Christopher Coutts, University of Virginia; & Walter Heinecke,
University of Virginia

Preparing preservice teachers to be proficient in technology is a key issue for the field of
education. While many states will scramble to fill as many as two million teaching positions in
the next few years, the public expects teachers to be able to integrate technology into their
curriculum.

New technologies are disseminated into our nation’s schools at a rapid rate. To utilize these
technologies effectively, teachers need not only to be proficient in technology but also well
versed in the effective integration of technology into their instruction. The key in meeting this
expectation is the teacher preparation methods class. In the methods class, students see their
teachers modeling the use (or lack of use) of technology, and these students are likely to go on to
do likewise in their future teaching (Cooper & Bull, 1997; Handler, 1993).

To this end, the College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) Guidelines for Using
Technology in Social Studies Teacher Education (Mason et al., 2000) offers five principles to
guide the integration of technology into teacher education.

 Extend learning beyond what could be done without technology.

 Introduce technology in context.
 Include opportunities for students to study relationships among science, technology, and
society.
 Foster the development of the skills, knowledge, and participation as good citizens in a
democratic society.
 Contribute to the research and evaluation of social studies and technology.

These guidelines encourage social studies teacher educators to recognize the potential of
technology in reconceptualizing the social studies discipline and reforming schools.

The purpose of this study was to determine if social studies teacher educators are using
technology to reform teacher education by investigating how social studies teacher educators are
using technology in their methods courses. However, before assessing how technology is being
used in social studies teacher education and whether the investments in technology result in
significant improvements in education, the frame of reference must be considered.

Bull, Bell, Mason, & Garofalo (2002) developed a structure that serves as the frame of reference
when considering how technology is used in education (Table 1). This structure provides
distinguishing markers that delineate between the use and purpose of educational technology.
According to this framework, technology can be used to improve efficiency, or it can be used to
reconceptualize the classroom curriculum with technology in either the foreground or
background. The following discussion defines and provides examples for each of the quadrants.

Table 1: Technology in Schools

Use of Technology Improve Efficiency Reconceptualize Curriculum

Foreground Computer Literacy School Reform
Background Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) Discipline-based Reforms

Using Technology to Increase Efficiency in the Classroom

The term computer literacy, coined by Arthur Luehrman in 1971, refers to the study of computer
science as a discipline or to technology proficiency (Bull et al., 2002). The goal of computer
literacy programs is to improve efficiency by using technology in the forefront. An example of
computer literacy is the North Carolina Competencies for Educators. (Editors’ note: The URL
for this website and others are located in the Resources section at the end of this article.) These
competencies call for teachers to be able to conduct basic technology skills, such as the
following:

1. Connect a computer to a modem and telephone line for dial-in access.

2. Install and configure telecommunications software.
3. Upload a text file and send as electronic mail.

The objective of computer-assisted instruction is to improve efficiency; however, technology is

either integrated into the curriculum or functions in the background. Tutorials, simulations, and
drill-and-practice software are all examples of computer-assisted instruction. Owl and Mouse
Educational Software’s U.S. Map Puzzle is an example of a social studies tutorial that assists
students in learning the U.S. states and capitals.

The use of technology in teacher education to improve efficiency is best understood by

categorizing the use of technology on the basis of the primary user or controller of technology
(see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Levels of technology users

Teacher educators (Level 3), as the primary users of technology, might use technology to help
preservice teachers analyze teaching and learning, present information, or demonstrate model
lessons. The preservice teacher (Level 2), as primary user, might use productivity tools for word
processing, grade and record keeping, web page production, and presentations, as well as using
subject-specific software and websites to create presentations, lectures, lessons, and assessments.
Finally, teacher education programs prepare preservice teachers to facilitate use of technology by
their future K-12 students (Level 1) to investigate concepts and solve problems.

This framework of technology use in social studies methods courses helps delineate where the
focus of use lies. The framework does not necessarily imply a hierarchy, but rather helps
educators ascertain where agency exists. It is helpful, therefore, in understanding where social
studies faculty members focus their technology use.

Using Technology to Reconceptualize the Curriculum

Technology applications that fall under the category of school reform seek to restructure schools
through inquiry-based learning driven by technology. Hence, technology is at the forefront. The
Learning in Hand: Handhelds in the Classroom website describes an example of technology-
driven school reform. This fifth-grade classroom uses handheld computers to reform teaching
and learning across the curriculum.

In the category discipline-based reforms, technology is used to reconceptualize the academic

discipline. A digital resource center such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s
Documenting the American South is one example of scholars and researchers using technology
to rethink the nature of their discipline, which can then be translated to K-12 education.

The CUFA Guidelines (Mason et al., 2000) asserted that technology should be used both in the
background and the foreground to promote discipline-based and school-based reform. However,
more knowledge is needed about how technology is used in social studies teacher education
practice.

Technology and Social Studies Education

There has been a precarious relationship between the social studies and technology. While some
educators have been fascinated by the potential of technology to enhance teaching and learning,
many schools have lagged behind in assimilating technology into instruction (Berson, 1996).
Shaver (1999) expressed doubt that technology will ever incite instructional reform in the social
studies, and Pahl (1996) noted that social studies educators have been apprehensive about
modifying instruction to incorporate technology. This lingering apprehension has led some
researchers to conclude that the social studies has not appreciably changed as a result of
technology (Martorella, 1997; White, 1997).

Instructional decision making in the social studies has been based on a limited knowledge base,
and as a result, computer use among students in social studies education has often relied on basic
applications of technology as a tool for word processing or accessing factual information. Yet,
there is the potential for technology to be fostered as a tool that overcomes the traditional
isolation of the classroom setting (Braun, 1997), provides access to expansive resources (Becker,
1999), and improves overall productivity (Saye, 1998).

To achieve the desired gains with technology, social studies methods courses must not focus
only on making preservice teachers proficient at using technology, but must promote strategies to
integrate technology to enhance teaching and learning (Cantu, 2000). Technology rich
instruction models effective use, explores the barriers and benefits of technology integration
(Keiper, Harwood, & Larson, 2000), and thereby surmounts the traditional absence of
technology in methods courses (Rose & Winterfeldt, 1998).

Efforts to assist universities in modeling effective technology use include the creation of the
CUFA Guidelines for integrating technology into teacher preparation programs (Mason et al.,
2000). The CUFA Guidelines are organized by five principles, which enhance the infusion of
technology into preservice education and support the continued focus on research and evaluation
of social studies and technology.

Rationale for This Study

Little empirical data is available about the extent of preparation of social studies teachers to use
technology. Most conclusions about social studies teachers’ technology training must be inferred
from the general literature about preservice and in-service preparation (Ehman & Glenn, 1991).
There has been no systematic research investigating social studies methods faculty use of
technology integration. We need to know more about the use of technology in social studies
methods courses.

Research Design

This study used a longitudinal survey design with both cohort and panel components. CUFA
members are being surveyed annually using the same instrument in order to establish baseline
information and then obtain time series information across a 5-year period. The results
highlighted in this paper focus on the baseline survey, which describes the technology practices
of social studies faculty members in the methods classroom, as well as establishing agency in
technology use. The annual follow-up will indicate if and how these practices are changing.

Objectives of the Research

In order to understand the relationship between technology innovation and social studies teacher
education, this article presents baseline information on social studies faculty use of technology in
instruction. This survey research addresses the following questions:

1. What is known about the use of technology in social studies faculty members’ methods
courses?
2. To what extent do social studies faculty members currently integrate technology into their
instruction, especially in methods courses?
 3. How is the use of technology aimed at different levels of teacher preparation (teacher
educator, preservice teacher, and K-12 student)?
4. How does social studies faculty usage of technology change over time? What influences
these changes?

The survey results have implications for future policy regarding technology training of faculty
and the development of strategic plans aimed at encouraging technology-based innovation in
teacher education programs.

METHOD

The survey (see Appendix) was sent to the membership of CUFA, and the response rate was
59%. Participants completed 101 items, including Likert scales, short-answer items, and open-
ended questions. The survey was divided into four parts, with the first component focusing on
demographics (17 items), the second addressing the use of technology in social studies methods
courses, the third assessing personal use of technology and confidence in technology, and the
fourth examining organizational support and barriers to technology integration and further
information on the organizations of the respondents.

Procedure

The survey was mailed to CUFA members in March 1999. Respondents anonymously filled out
a Scantron bubble sheet for most of the survey, with the data uploaded in a statistical software
program. Open-ended answers were then typed into this program.

Data Analysis

Data from Likert scales and short-item responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. A
content analysis was conducted on open-ended questions. A factor analysis (using orthogonal
rotation) was used to elicit components across items describing use of technology and
confidence. This analysis revealed a single component that described confidence with using
technology, producing a scale of confidence for each participant. The confidence and use scales
were used to perform correlation and regression analyses against other variables.

RESULTS

How Is Technology Used in SS Methods Courses?

Regular use of technology is infrequent among most social studies faculty members. A little
more than 2 in 5 (42%) respondents to the CUFA survey claimed to use computers occasionally
in instruction, whereas only 1 in 5 (19.8%) used computers throughout the semester, and only 1
in 17 (6.2%) used computers every class session. This is consistent with Clark’s (1992) and
Parker’s (1997) findings. Social studies faculty members, as a whole, use technology
occasionally in instruction.
Based on our data analysis, the use of technology in social studies is appropriately thought to
consist of two factors: digital communications and instructional technologies. A factor analysis
of all the items on the survey (using Varimax rotation) revealed the following:

1. Communication via newsgroups, accessing information and lesson plans on the web, use
of email, and the use of word processors, are strongly related and load strongly on one
factor. We call this factor “digital communications” (this factor explains some 5% of the
total variance in the sample).
2. Preparation using presentation and social studies software, use of display systems, use of
spreadsheets and databases, multimedia presentations, and videoconferencing, among
others, all load together to describe what we call “instructional technologies” (this factor
explains some 12% of the total variance).

Use is, therefore, not a singular concept, but consists of two factors, digital communications and
instructional technologies.

Digital communications are used in social studies methods courses far more often than are
instructional technologies. For example, word processors were used “often” by 68.9% of the
sample, and faculty often used e-mail (54.3% of the sample) to communicate with others.
Conversely, instructional technologies were seldom used. Videoconferencing was used often by
3.7%, spreadsheets and databases by 5.6%, and multimedia presentations by just 2.9%. Table 2
shows which technologies are used in social studies methods courses, and how often they are
used.

Table 2: Use of Various Technologies by the Course Instructor (in Percent)

Frequency of Use
Oftena Averageb Seldomc
Digital communications:
Preparing word processed lesson plans 68.5 8.6 21.0
Email 54.3 16.7 26.6
Accessing information from the Web 41.3 21.0 35.8
Accessing lesson plans from the Web 19.1 19.1 59.9
Instructional technologies:
Multi-media presentations 17.9 13.6 66.6
News groups 16.7 12.3 68.5
Lesson plans using SS software 14.2 11.1 73.5
Display system 13.6 7.4 76.5
Creating web-pages 8.6 9.3 80.0
Accessing information from CD-ROM 8.0 12.3 77.8
Lesson plans using spreadsheets/
5.6 8.0 58.6
databases
Lesson plans using digital camera and
5.6 8.0 84.6
scanner
Videoconferencing 3.7 4.9 88.9
Developing individual or group
2.9 22.2 53.1
presentations

Note: Examples of each technology are hyperlinked from the text.

aRepresents a summation of “throughout the semester, but not every class session” and “nearly
every class session.”
bRepresents “intensively.”
cRepresents a summation of “rarely” and “occasionally.”

There has been a shift in the pattern of use over time, especially in the last 4 years. We have
made a comparison of the percentages of those faculty members who used technology often (for
most or all of their classes) from Parker (1997) and these results in 2000 illustrate a great
increase in use of Internet and email. Table 3 contrasts Parker’s (1997) findings with ours.

Table 3: Comparison Between Frequent uses of Technologies (Parker, 1997) and This Study

Parker (1997) Current Study (2000)

Word Processing 87% 68.5%
On-line searches 61% 41.3%
Spreadsheets 39% 5.6%
Databases 19% 5.6%
Internet or email 19% 54.3%

It should be noted that these two studies might not be reporting exactly the same thing (questions
were worded differently, for example, and should not be directly compared), but the results are
illustrative, at least, of a major shift toward the use of the Internet or email in instruction.

In fact, almost all use of technology in social studies methods instruction is accounted for by
word processors, email, and the Internet. Besides the rise in use of email and the Internet, use is
not much different from that reported by Wetzel (in Parker, 1997) 8 years ago. Parker (1997) put
it this way: “Although many use computers for word processing, much smaller percentages
indicate required usage of technology by students or the development of technological
applications for their courses.” The next section looks at how faculty members use technology.
Do they get their students to use it, do they use it themselves, and is it getting through to K-12
students?

The Levels of Technology in Teacher Education

Technology use is not equivalent at the three levels of use described earlier. We analyzed
responses according to the three levels, such that responses that were involved in each level were
summed and averaged. Table 4 shows the averages from this analysis. The possible range of
responses went from 1 (rarely) to 5 (nearly every class session). Higher means, therefore,
represent more frequent use.

Table 4: Results of Level Analysis

Mean N Minimum Maximum SD

Level 3 2.41 158 1.00 4.57 .75161
Level 2 1.78 141 .76 3.10 .49336
Level 1 1.80 147 1.00 4.25 .71591

Table 4 indicates that teacher educators use technology more frequently at Level 3 than levels 2
or 1. So, for example, faculty members use technology in their classes, or in preparation for their
classes rather than getting their students to use technology in those classes. The mean of 2.41 for
Level 3 still represents “occasional” use, so although use at Level 3 is more frequent, it is,
nevertheless, relatively low. The means of 1.78 and 1.8 for Level 2 and Level 1, respectively,
represent a combination of “rare” and “occasional” use. Technology is used infrequently overall,
but relatively more often for Level 3 than for levels 1 and 2.

One caveat regarding the data: In all cases, faculty members reported this data. Their responses
to how often teachers and students used technology comes from their frame of reference (Level
3). In effect, Level 3 players reported on the use of technology at their own level and down
through the other two levels. There were no significant findings when we looked at how use at
the three levels related to experience as a teacher or whether faculty taught elementary, middle,
or secondary methods courses. The courses faculty members taught or the teaching experience
they had did not seem to make a difference. Technology integration is focused at the level of the
teacher educator. Teacher educators are not yet using technology in their courses in such a way
that their students are integrating it and experiencing it in class.

Part of they are not yet using technology can be explained by looking at the different
philosophies faculty members hold with regard to teaching with technology. Faculty members
were asked whether their primary teaching role related to technology was (a) providing students
with technology-integrated instruction, (b) providing students with technology skills, or (c)
neither.
When it comes to philosophy of education, a higher percentage (36.4%) of faculty focused on
providing students with technology skills rather than with technology-integrated instruction
(30.2%). Almost as many faculty members (28%) felt that neither of these categories reflected
their philosophy. Most participants thought providing students with technology-related
instruction was the more important philosophy. Slightly fewer thought providing students with
integrated instruction was important. Slightly fewer are unsure, or unwilling to commit to a
particular philosophy.

DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY

It is apparent that faculty members are not convinced that technology use to reconceptualize the
curriculum is better. They use technology far more often at Level 3, the teacher educator level,
than at the student level. Perhaps this is simply a sign of the times that will change as the
education climate evolves and new technologies emerge. Or perhaps teacher educator faculty
members will become more comfortable with the integration of technology into their teaching
and will naturally seek to use it to reform their teaching. Perhaps the students, both K-12 and
methods students, will begin to expect and demand applications of educational technologies in
their coursework. Perhaps emerging technologies will become so entrenched in our society that
teacher educators will find it impossible to teach without technology.

Each of these conjectures is a possibility. We believe that the future holds not one of these
outcomes, but a combination of them. We believe that as faculty members become more
comfortable with using technology, they will naturally begin to integrate it in their instruction.
We believe that students at all levels will begin expecting that technology be used for instruction
and will encourage their teachers to use it. We also believe that as new technologies emerge and
develop, they will become more entrenched in everyday teaching and learning.

We suggest that to promote the use of technology in social studies methods courses, a more frank
and open discussion about integration be held. Practical examples of what integration looks like
at the three levels of technology use in teacher education must be provided for teacher educators
and research must be conducted to inform the implementation of technology in teacher
education.

REFERENCES

Becker, H. J., & Ravitz, J. L. (1999). The influence of computer and Internet use of teachers’
pedagogical practices and perceptions. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 31(4),
356-384.

Berson, M. J. (1996). Effectiveness of computer technology in the social studies: A review of the
literature. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 28 (4), 486-499.

Berson, M. J. (2000). Rethinking research and pedagogy in the social studies: The creation of
caring connections through technology and advocacy. Theory and Research in Social Education,
28(1), 121-131.
Braun, J. (1997). Past, possibilities, and potholes on the information superhighway. Social
Education, 61(3), 49-153.

Bull, G., Bell, R., Mason, C. L., & Garofalo, J. (2002). Information Technology and
Elementary/Secondary Education. Handbook on information technologies for education and
training (pp. 543-556). In H.H. Adelsberger, B. Collis, & J.M. Pawlowski (Ed.). Heidelberg,
Germany: Springer-Verlag.

Cantu, D.A. (2000). Technology integration in pre-service history teacher education. Journal of
the Association for History & Computing, 3(2).

Clark, D. (1992). Effective use of computers in the social studies: A review of the literature with
implications for educators. Long Beach, CA: California State University at Long Beach. (ERIC
Reproduction Service No. ED 370 828).

Cooper, J.M., & Bull, G.L. (1997). Technology and teacher education: Past practice and
recommended directions. Action in Teacher Education, 19(2), 97-106.

Ehman, L. H., & Glenn, A. D. (1991). Interactive technology in the social studies. In J. P. Shaver
(Ed.), Handbook of research on social studies teaching and learning (pp. 513-522). New York:
Macmillan Publishing.

Handler, M.G. (1993). Preparing new teachers to use computer technology: Perceptions and
suggestions for teacher educators. Computers in Education, 20(2), 147-156.

Keiper, T., Harwood, A., & Larson, B.E. (2000, Fall). Preservice teachers’ perceptions of
infusing computer technology onto social studies instruction. Theory and Research in Social
Education, 28(4), 566-579.

Martorella, P. H. (1997). Technology and social studies or: Which way to the sleeping giant?
Theory and Research in Social Education, 25(4), 511-514.

Mason, C., Berson, M., Diem, R., Hicks, D., Lee, J., & Dralle, T. (2000). Guidelines for using
technology to prepare social studies teachers. Contemporary issues in technology and teacher
education, 1(1), Retrieved May 3, 2003, from
http://www.citejournal.org/vol1/iss1/currentissues/socialstudies/article1.htm

Pahl, R.H. (1996). Tech talk—for social studies teachers. The Social Studies, 87(4), 186-187.

Parker, D.R. (1997). Increasing faculty use of technology in teaching and teacher education.
Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 5(2-3), 105-115.

Rose, S.A., & Winterfeldt, H.F. (1998). Waking the sleeping giant: A learning community in
social studies methods and technology. Social Education, 62(3), 151-152.
Saye, J.W. (1998). Creating time to develop student thinking: Team-teaching with
technology. Social Education, 62(6), 356-362.

Shaver, J.P. (1999). Electronic technology and the future of social studies in elementary and
secondary schools. Journal of Education, 181(3), 13-41.

U.S. Department of Education. (1999) Preparing tomorrow’s teachers to use technology.

Retrieved May 12, 1999, from http://www.ed.gov/teachtech

White, C.S. (1997). Citizen participation and the Internet: Prospects for civic deliberation in the
information age. The Social Studies, 88(1), 23-28.

Willis, E. M. (1997). Technology: Integrated into, not added onto, the curriculum experiences in
preservice teacher education. Computers in the Schools, 13(1-2), 141-153.

Resources

Documenting the American South – http://docsouth.unc.edu

Learning in Hand: Handhelds in the Classroom

– http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow/p5/handhelds/index.html

North Carolina Competencies for Educators –http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/tap/techcomp.htm

U.S. Map Puzzle – http://www.yourchildlearns.com/puzzle_us.htm

Contact Information:

Cheryl Mason Bolick

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
cbolick@unc.edu

https://www.citejournal.org/volume-3/issue-3-03/social-studies/technology-applications-in-social-
studies-teacher-education-a-survey-of-social-studies-methods-faculty/

Guidelines for Using Technology to Prepare

Social Studies Teachers
by Cheryl Mason, University of Virginia; Michael Berson, University of South Florida ; Richard
Diem, University of Texas-San Antonio; David Hicks, Virginia Tech ; John Lee, Georgia State
University ; & Tony Dralle, University of Virginia

Social studies teacher education faculty members who effectively integrate technology in
methods courses provide students opportunities to explore applications for the K-12 classroom
and to consider how technology is changing the way we teach and learn. As social studies
teacher educators, one of our roles is to model appropriate uses of technology for our preservice
teachers. Take for example the scenario in which preservice teacher Rob Dent collaborated with
a classroom teacher to develop a technology infused unit of study, called “Who Wants to Be a
Pioneer?” (see http://k12.albemarle.org/murrayelem/white/frontier / ). This student experienced
designing and teaching a lesson using primary sources, while at the same time, he learned Web
page development and design and classroom management techniques. Dent explains what
technology skills he used in developing this project in videos 1 and 2 .

This is just one example of preparing social studies teachers to use technology appropriately. We
offer the following five principles as guides for the appropriate infusion of technology in social
studies teacher preparation programs.

 Extend learning beyond what could be done without technology.

 Introduce technology in context.
 Include opportunities for students to study relationships among science, technology, and
society.
 Foster the development of the skills, knowledge, and participation as good citizens in a
democratic society.
 Contribute to the research and evaluation of social studies and technology.

Extend Learning Beyond What Could be Done Without Technology

Technology opens the door to learning social studies skills and content in ways impossible in the
traditional classroom. The social studies teacher in today’s classroom can use technology to
extend learning opportunities for K-12 students. Teacher education faculty can most effectively
take full advantage of technology by introducing students to activities in which skills and content
are taught more actively and meaningfully. We caution, however, against using technology for
technology’s sake, and encourage faculty and preservice teachers to consider if the technology is
allowing them to learn in a way they could not without the technology or if they are at least
learning in a more meaningful way.

One example of how we can use technology to prepare social studies teachers to extend learning
in a meaningful way is by using digital archives, such as the ones found at the Virginia Center
for Digital History . The Virginia Center for Digital History has developed a series of digital
history projects including the award-winning Valley of the Shadow Project: Two Communities
in the American Civil War , Virtual Jamestown , Race and Place: African American Community
History , Presidential Recordings Project , and Dolley Madison Project . The Virginia Center for
Digital History `s mission is to develop high-quality, well-researched, and reliable history
materials for the World Wide Web and deliver them to schools, colleges, libraries, historical
societies, and the general public.

Using the digital archives of primary sources available online through the Virginia Center for
Digital History, students can conduct historical research to construct the significance of people
and events in history. These materials provide students with the opportunity to access,
manipulate, and interpret raw materials of our past. The Valley of the Shadow Project is a
multimedia archive that follows two communities, one northern and one southern, through the
experience of the American Civil War. It contains searchable and browsable newspapers, letters,
diaries, photographs, military records, and census manuscripts from Augusta County, Virginia,
and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Researchers at all levels can explore the material and create
authoritative historical accounts of the experiences of families, women, soldiers, immigrants,
politicians, African Americans, and farmers during the Civil War years. Although the documents
are organized chronologically as the years just before or during the Civil War, the archive
contains rich material for teachers and researchers interested in exploring other important themes
in American History, such as slavery, immigration, ethnic groups, women’s lives, reform
movements, economic development, and political culture.

Methods faculty can use archives such as these to model lessons that engage students in
historical inquiry. For example, a lesson such as ” Commemoration of the Gettysburg Battlefield
” actively engages students in the construction and interpretation of American history. In this
lesson, students are divided into expert teams to search for newspaper articles, letters,
photographs, and maps that provide contextual information about the Gettysburg Address. Each
expert team uses The Valley of the Shadow database search engines to locate primary sources
that relate to the Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address.

The students’ searches will lead them to uncover primary sources recreating the story of
Gettysburg. By allowing students to engage in authentic research, they are accessing and
interpreting historical evidence typically reserved for the scholarly historian.

Students can uncover artifacts such as a newspaper article announcing the prohibition against
removing bodies from the Gettysburg battleground during August and September due to health
risks to wounded soldiers and local citizens. A transcription of this article from August 12, 1863
, may be read, as well as a scanned copy of the actual paper. The students may also search the
photograph archive to discover images of the battlefield in 1863 and images of Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, today . In their searches, students will discover not only three-dimensional,
geographically accurate maps of battlefields and regions, but also battlefield movies of virtual
reality worlds . These movies provide an animated view of the battle over time. Additionally,
students will locate soldiers’ letters that describe the situations they endure, as can be seen, for
example, in Samuel Potter’s letter to his wife, dated July 20, 1863 , and September 5, 1863 .

Once the students have identified the significance of the primary documents they have located,
they are asked to hypothesize why Lincoln wanted to commemorate the Battle of Gettysburg 3
months after the event? Directed by the teacher, expert groups share information from their
examination of materials, which leads students to uncover the significance of the Gettysburg
Address. Modeling a lesson such as this one for preservice teachers allows them to experience
learning beyond what could be done without technology.

Introduce Technology in Context

Preservice teachers must not simply acquire skills that make them proficient at using technology,
but also learn how to use technology to make their teaching better than it would be without it.
Therefore, preservice instruction enabling teachers to integrate technology seamlessly into
lessons is more productive than technology instruction that merely teaches preservice teachers
how to use specific computer skills. For example, preservice teachers should not learn how to
create PowerPoint presentations or Excel spreadsheets merely with the goal of mastering the
technology. Rather, preservice teachers should create PowerPoint presentations that aid in direct
instruction of a particular social studies lesson or spreadsheets that help illustrate statistical data
significant to the social studies student.

To further illustrate this distinction, it is useful to consider an actual example of a preservice

teacher who learned technological skills that enhanced her classroom instruction. Nicole Tucker,
a preservice elementary teacher in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia,
helped develop a digital history archive, Race and Place: African American Community
Histories , as an undergraduate student in one of her history classes. Race and Place contains
primary source material on slavery and emancipation, Reconstruction, and the era of Jim Crow
segregation in the South. Tucker specifically contributed a rich segment of the archive that
details the politics of disenfranchisement . Although Tucker took an instructional technology
course as an undergraduate, she says she learned most of her technology skills when she had a
specific educational goal of creating the archive and making it usable in K-12 classrooms.

Before Tucker began creating the archive, she researched many educational websites and digital
archives, in order to make her work as helpful and easy to use as possible. Tucker learned to
program in HTML (hyper-text markup language), to scan primary documents with a scanner, and
to edit images in programs like Adobe Photoshop. Although some of these skills had been
covered in her earlier instructional technology class, Tucker says she mastered HTML, scanning,
and image editing by applying these applications to her tasks of creating educational materials
and preparing lessons for classroom instruction. Using these skills, Tucker created lessons
utilizing her Race and Place materials for high school social studies classes. Video 3 contains
excerpts of an interview with Tucker, in which she explains her experiences learning technology
for specific educational purposes. In addition, Tucker can be seen in Videos 4, 5 , and 6
explaining her lesson using Race and Place to high school students.

When preservice teachers enter the classroom, they will rely heavily on teaching strategies and
methods acquired while in their teacher preparation courses. Therefore, if teachers are to use
technology in the classroom, it is important that they receive appropriate technological training
in methods and other education courses. Appropriate training focuses on integrating various
types of technology to make lessons better, rather than learning technology simply to acquire
technological skills.
Include Opportunities for Students to Study Relationships Among Science, Technology,
and Society

Internet technology has had an overwhelming impact on schools and families. Access to the web
has reached critical mass, and as current initiatives strive to overcome the barriers to access often
referred to as the “digital divide,” (as defined by US Department of Commerce, National
Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1999) continued growth will contribute to
challenges for educators and parents, as children and young people go online. Although the force
of this impact is immense, the rising computer culture is not fully understood.

Science and technology have a complex interrelationship with society. While technology is the
impetus to advancements in human development, technologies also contribute to the perpetuation
of existing imbalances and inequities in power and diffusion of knowledge.

Despite the dramatic rise in Internet users, new technologies have contributed to a global race for
knowledge (see Mark Malloch Brown and Richard Jolly’s Human Development Report , 1999),
which has enticed resource rich countries to add technological pursuit of knowledge to their
goals, while developing countries remain poorly connected. Precautions have been secondary to
the investment in technological breakthroughs; however, the impact of these applications is
largely unknown. The capacity for development in the United States has been intensely focused
on school-age children. Yet, widespread implementation of children’s participation in these
initiatives has been further complicated by the paucity of information on children’s use of the
Internet and the great demand for awareness (see Media Awareness Network’s Web Awareness:
Knowing the Issues, 2000).

According to the National Center for Education Statistics , 95% of public schools and 63% of
classrooms are connected to the Internet. While many educators would agree that the Internet
provides an extraordinary opportunity for enriching teaching and learning, they also hear about
the dangers or risks of cyberspace.

Immersion of children and youth into the computer culture elicits many questions focusing on
the enhancement of this context for promoting teaching and learning. Concerns include issues of
how children will be transformed by this interaction, what role moral reasoning has in
cyberspace, whether a deeper sense of identity is fostered, and how prepared the young are to
manage the risks found online.

Among the risks is the access of inappropriate information. The risk of accessing pornography
usually gets the most attention in the media, but there are other inappropriate sites. These include
sites that sell guns, drugs or alcohol; that advocate illegal activity; that risk the privacy of youth;
that promote violence and hate; that are devoted to cults; that provide instruction for building
bombs; that contain obscene information; and that promote racist propaganda. Online advertising
can also be problematic for young people who have difficulty discriminating between content
and ads. Young people often lack critical evaluation or judgment skills to discern good from bad
or what is safe from what is a risk. Online resources, including Cyberangels , SafeKids , and the
Office of Educational Technology , are available to assist parents, teachers, and students in
responding to problematic online experiences, but more direct instruction in preventative online
procedures has often been overlooked (Berson & Berson, 1999; Berson, Berson & Ralston
1999).

Aside from accessing offensive content online, students also may engage in problematic online
behaviors. Computer misconduct can be more tempting in an environment that at least appears to
be anonymous and devoid of standard rules of conduct. The computer culture facilitates
maturation of youth who can presume status and power regardless of age online. The risk of this
interaction is the isolation and depersonalization of young people, while becoming members of a
global community with little adult regulation of movement and behavior.

Although educators have begun teaching the concepts of global understanding, multicultural
respect, diversity, and tolerance, the global access via the Internet is not automatically
accompanied by global understanding. Children may lack instruction in prosocial behaviors
online that may assist them in interacting with individuals across the global community. These
skills may combat students’ loss of perspective that other opinions can be viable or at least
should be addressed in a respectful manner. The development of prosocial actions include
several classes of behavior, including: (a) positive social interaction skills such as cooperation,
sharing, kindness, helping, showing affection, and verbalizing feelings; (b) self-regulation and
achievement behaviors such as persistence, independence, responsibility, and a willingness to
tolerate minor delays; and (c) creative fantasy and imaginative play. (Calvert, 1999, p. 209).

“Children tend to personalize computers and accord them intelligence, wisdom, and authority”
(Healy, 1998, p. 192). We can celebrate students’ opportunities to make connections with people
around the world, but the concept of community necessitates a foundation in values, empathy,
and human interrelationships. The cyberworld can confuse the human-computer interface and
thus impact prosocial development. Sherry Turkle’s (1995) analysis of young people’s
experiences suggested that real and virtual interactions are complementary but diverse processes.

The new practice of entering virtual worlds raises fundamental questions about our communities
and ourselves…For every step forward in the instrumental use of a technology (what the
technology can do for us) there are subjective effects. The technology changes us as people,
changes our relationships and sense of ourselves….There is no simple good news or bad news.
(Turkle, 1995, p. 232)

Foster the Development of the Skills, Knowledge, and to Participate as a Good Citizen in a
Democratic Society

In the closing of his presidential address at the 1999 National Council for the Social Studies
(NCSS) Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, Richard Theisen succinctly captured the
essence of the social studies: “We have a mission, the education of children and young adults for
citizenship.” (see Richard Theisen’s presidential address in its entirety, 1999) While Theme 10
of the National Standards focuses on Civic Ideals and Practices, the standards make clear that
teaching the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of citizenship permeates all ten themes. (See the
National Council for the Social Studies’ Ten Themes , 1994) It is important for social studies
teachers to realize that preparing students to take on the role of citizenship is an ongoing process.
Because of available interactive technologies such as the Internet, the social studies classroom
has the potential to revitalize the traditional notions of citizenship education that focus on “the
documents and procedures of republican government, the accomplishments of our country and
typically adopts an assimilationist rather than multicultural view of history” (Cogan, Grossman,
& Lei, 2000, p. 50). However, research continues to suggest that despite the perceived potential
of software and, in particular, the Internet, many social studies teachers rarely utilize such tools
as part of the process of educating future citizens (Berson, 1996; Erhman & Glenn, 1991;
National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP], 1999 ).

The challenge in preparing social studies teachers to use technology begins by highlighting how
technology can be used to encourage inquiry, perspective taking, and meaning making and thus
facilitate “civic learning, deliberation, and action” (Cogan et al., 2000, p. 50). This begins with
demonstrating the power of technology to support specific social studies activities and projects
that together center on the development of children’s (a) “personal civic beliefs,” (b) “capacity
for social and public action,” (c) “ties to their localities and the world outside,” and (d)
“awareness of past present and future” (Cogan et al., 2000, p. 50). Providing such examples of
what is possible when teachers within their social studies classrooms utilize emerging
technologies is a vital first step in preparing teachers to fulfill the mission of the social studies.

Development of Personal and Civic Beliefs. As Cogan et al., (2000) noted, teaching the personal
dimension of citizenship in terms of developing a “coherent moral dialogue between ourselves
and the world” is a difficult task in any social studies classroom (p. 50). However, an
examination of the power of the Internet to disseminate multiple perspectives helps prepare
social studies teachers to not only explore and harness the power of the Internet, but also develop
an understanding of the responsibilities and consequences for which they must prepare their
students when navigating, participating, and interacting with others on the Web. An excellent
lesson designed to develop on-line research skills while allowing students to examine current
perspectives on controversial issues in the context of the Bill of Rights is The Bill of Rights in
Current Events . The lesson clearly explicates strategies for navigating the Web. While
practicing such strategies through locating current issues, students complete a matrix in order to
evaluate the web sites in terms of their authority and accuracy. Such activities provide a solid
foundation for discussing the nature of the Internet while introducing students to the importance
of learning to become discriminating and responsible consumers of, or producers on, the Internet.

Capacity for Social and Public Action. Currently there are many sites that provide opportunities
for students to engage in social and public action. Project Vote Smart can be used to enhance the
more traditional form of social and public involvement found in many social studies classroom,
in terms of developing political literacy and encouraging political participation. Through Project
Vote Smart, students can quickly locate historical documents, government representatives, and
current issue statements of candidates running for political office. Teen Hoopla provides teachers
with a powerful resource to encourage social and public action. Teen Hoopla connects students
to local, national, and international activist sites that allow students to either organize community
action projects or join such international organizations as Greenpeace, Habitat for Humanity, or
Amnesty International. Teen Hoopla highlights the potential of the Internet to heighten students’
awareness of such local and global issues as environmental pollution, while providing teachers
and students with avenues, ideas, and plans for social action.
For example, from the Teen Hoopla Web site, a class can access Scorecard , which is a free and
easily accessible source for environmental information. To access data that identifies local
polluters within a community, all that is initially required of students is their zip code. Once
information is gathered as to who and what is polluting the community, Scorecard provides a
range of ideas and avenues for taking action. This includes examples of how to write letters to
the EPA, how to access environmental discussion lists, and details of local environmental
groups. If teachers and students choose to develop a more concerted plan of action, the
Constitutional Rights Foundation s provides a short nine-step-guide , designed to empower
teachers and students to plan and implement civic action projects within their local communities.
Such a plan could then support students’ ongoing action projects within the social studies
classroom against local polluters identified through Scorecard.

Development of Ties to their Localities and the World Outside. In this era of globalization, the
Internet provides social studies teachers the opportunity to expose their students to multiple
perspective and contexts beyond the textbook through participation in many telecollaborative
projects. The Internet also offers the social studies teacher the chance to participate in many
telecollaborative projects that can quickly and efficiently organize links between students in
different towns, states, and nations. A number of sites, such as the United Nations Cyber School
Bus , the Global School House Collaborative Learning Projects , Unicef Voices of Youth Project
, Eduplace projects , and the International Education and Resource Networks Projects offer a
diverse range of projects and project archives that are clearly defined in terms of scope,
sequence, and time to complete. Through regularly accessing such sites, social studies teachers
have the opportunity to bring their students into many projects that go well beyond the confines
of the traditional social studies classroom.

One such project that began in March 2000 is the Global Perspective: Quality of Life Project
developed at Camrose Compsite High School in Alberta Canada. The project, while simple in
design, serves as a powerful example of how technology can be used to encourage inquiry and
enhance social interaction with fellow students and experts. The project begins with students
(grade 10-12) working with the United Nations’ Index of Human Development to explore and
develop definitions and descriptions of the phrase quality of life . These definitions are emailed
and posted on the project’s Web page for all participants to evaluate in terms of their own life
experiences. The final goal is for each school to email a report that includes a broad based
finalized definition of the quality of life , along with a summary of student thoughts. Such an
activity that offers the possibility of exploding ethnocentric conception of living conditions in
many areas of the world would not be possible without the Internet.

Awareness of Past, Present and Future. The Internet also serves as a powerful tool for enhancing
young citizens’ understandings of the interconnectedness of the past, present, and future.
Available technologies provide social studies teachers with the opportunity to undertake a major
local history project that develops over a number of years. Students participate in organic and
authentic living history projects, in which transcripts, analysis, and artifacts are stored and
maintained within online collections and virtual community museums. An exceptional example
of what is possible in the social studies classroom when technology is used to support the doing
of history is the Bland County Historical Archives at Rocky Gap High School in southwest
Virginia.
The Bland County History archives began in 1993, with students from the American History
class collecting oral histories from the community that initially focused on memories of the
1930s. The local history and technology class then began to scan historical documents and
photographs, save transcriptions as html, create a searchable database and thus create an online
historical archive of their community. Through the use of available technologies, it has become
an ongoing, durable and organic local history project. This place-based project currently has over
300 oral history interviews with transcripts, 80 cemetery catalogues, over 700 scanned photos,
searchable databases for transcripts, cemeteries and photos in the online archive and an actual
archives room with all the materials in an accessible and organized location. The melding of
technology and “history of place” at the community school level through the development of an
online historical archive, has allowed Rocky Gap students to learn about the issues and concerns
facing their community today through paying attention to and preserving stories and evidence of
their community’s past.

Contribute to the Research and Evaluation of Social Studies and Technology

Given the extent to which new technologies such as the Internet have influenced educational
practice, it is imperative that researchers investigate how technology influences learning and
teaching. These investigations should reflect recent changes in the nature and methods of
research on technology ( Honey, Culp, & Carrigg, 1999 ). While there is little empirical evidence
that the use of technology improves student learning, the descriptive evidence of technology’s
affect on student social studies experiences is strong.

A review of this descriptive evidence suggests that technology can play an effective role in the
social studies classroom. Social studies educators must be able to meet the demands of the
electronic or knowledge age and must deal with the impact of technology on the development of
society (Gooler, 1995). Within a democratic society, citizens need various types of knowledge;
consequently, educators must assess how new technology driven forms of knowledge advance
the purposes of social studies education. Concern about the social consequences of technology
have driven some to suggest de-emphasizing technology in education (Stoll, 1999), while others
have argued that effective instruction (particularly social studies education) must include a range
of computer technology skills (Martorella, 1997). At a minimum, social studies instruction must
account for the changes in society resulting from the use of technology (Glenn, 1990) and must
consider the critical thought required for processing information generated by technology
(Parker, 1991).

Technology can make more information available to students than ever before. The Internet, in
particular, has dramatically increased the amount of information being used by teachers and their
students ( Becker, 1999 ). When used within an instructional strategy, the Internet supports
National Council for the Social Studies’ curriculum standards (Johnson & Rector, 1997).
Technology also offers a new way for educators to use students’ lived experiences as content for
social studies instruction (Tally, 1996). Researchers should continue to evaluate the influence of
technology on social studies, and should seek to provide exemplary models for the infusion of
technology within social studies methods of instruction.

Implications/Conclusion
The five principles of infusing technology in social studies teacher preparation programs set
forth at the beginning of this article are a minimal platform for the use of technology in social
studies. If technology is truly to impact both pedagogical competence, as well as increase content
knowledge in the social studies, the apex of the instructional delivery system —the instructor—
must be the continual focus of these beliefs. As such, both professional development and
research efforts must be at the forefront of infusing these principles, if instructional efforts
involving technology and the social studies are to truly reform classrooms.

Using technology successfully requires a constant and consistent training program. This should
begin as part of a preservice training program and continue throughout a teacher’s instructional
career. This is no longer a luxury but a necessity. A rule of thumb among those working with
hardware and software systems is “In six months—no matter what system you have—its
obsolete.” Put another way, the technology classes and training provided students at the
undergraduate preservice level may not be applicable by the time they graduate and take their
first teaching position.

As equally as important as training is the need for more research centering on the effects of
technology in social studies classrooms. To date, there are no longitudinal studies at the
elementary, middle, high school, or postsecondary environments by which to judge the
effectiveness of technology on either student or instructional performance in the social studies.
Much of the data are short term, single concept research analyses. There are no metacognitive
studies involving technology and social studies as there are in mathematics, reading, and science.

The challenge then, over the next decade, will be to provide quality training to all social studies
educators that incorporates the principles noted, here while gaining insight into the effectiveness
of the medium and the message through research. Both parts of this balancing act are key.
Otherwise, we may become a victim to what a Texas School Superintendent recently said about
technology: “Sometimes I feel like I fell off the technology train and I can’t catch up to it.”

References

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http://www.crito.uci.edu/TLC/findings/Internet-Use/startpage.htm

Berson. M.J. (1996) Effectiveness of computer technology in social studies: A review of the
literature. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 28 (4), 486-499.

Berson, M. J., & Berson, I. R. (1999). Safe web exploration. In J. A. Braun & C. F. Risinger
(Eds.), Surfing social studies: The Internet book . Washington, DC: National Council of the
Social Studies.

Berson, M. J., Berson, I. R., & Ralston, E. (1999). Threshing out the myths and facts of Internet
safety: A response to “Separating Wheat from Chaff.” Social Education, 63 (3), 60-61.

Brown, M. M., & Richard J. (2000). Human development report 1999. Retrieved February 23,
2000 [Online]. Available: http://www.undp.org/hdro/authors.html
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global context. Social Education , 64 (1), 48-52.

Ehman, L.H., & Glenn, A.D. (1991). Interactive technology in the social studies. In J.P. Shaver
(Ed), Handbook of Research on Social Studies Teaching and Learning (pp. 513-522). New York:
Macmillan Publishing.

Glenn, A. D. (1990). Democracy and technology. The Social Studies , 81 (5), 215-217.

Gooler, D. D. (1995). Perspectives: Technology as content in social studies curricula for young
learners. Social Studies and the Young Learner , 7 (3), 27-30.

Healy, J. M. (1998 ). Failure to connect: How computers affect our children’s minds—For better
and worse . New York: Simon & Schuster.

Honey, M., Culp, K. M., & Carrigg, F. (1999). Perspectives on technology and education
research: Lessons from the past and present [Online]. Available:
http://www.ed.gov/Technology/TechConf/1999/whitepapers/paper1.html

Johnson, C., & J. Rector. (1997) The Internet ten: Using the Internet to meet social studies
curriculum standards. Social Education , 61 (3), 167-169.

Martorella, P. H. (Fall, 1997). Technology and social studies: Which way to the sleeping giant?
Theory and Research in Social Education , 511-514.

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2000 [Online]. Available: http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/webaware/home.htm

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Retrieved January 30, 2000 [Online] Available:
http://www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/civics/civ_new_results.asp

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Retrieved October 15, 1999, [Online]. Available:
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Contact Information

Cheryl Mason
Curry School of Education , University of Virginia
405 Emmet St., 235 Ruffner Hall
Charlottesville, VA 22903

https://www.citejournal.org/volume-1/issue-1-00/social-studies/guidelines-for-using-technology-to-
prepare-social-studies-teachers-2/

Using Technology to Motivate Students to

Learn Social Studies
by Tina Heafner, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Many teachers struggle with motivating students to learn. This is especially prevalent in social
studies classrooms in which students perceive social studies as boring (Schug, Todd, & Berry,
1984; Shaughnessy & Haladyana, 1985). This article advocates the use of technology in social
studies as a means to motivate students by engaging students in the learning process with the use
of a familiar instructional tool that improves students’ self-efficacy and self-worth. The potential
that technology has to motivate students is discussed as it relates to expectancy-value model of
motivation which focuses three areas of motivational theory (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996): value
(students’ beliefs about the importance or value of a task), expectancy (students’ beliefs about
their ability or skill to perform the task), and affective (emotional reactions to the task and self-
worth evaluation).

Recently, during fieldwork, the author was observing in a high school government class. The
social studies concepts discussed in the lesson were political parties, the role of campaigning,
and the impact of media on citizens’ decisions. The teacher integrated a variety of traditional and
constructivist instructional methods. She incorporated a brief lecture, questioning strategies to
discuss readings, graphic organizers, and video clips of recent election campaign commercials.
Despite her efforts to engage students, the class was chaotic. What follows is an excerpt from the
author’s field notes describing the complexities of the classroom environment.

Twenty-five students are seated in pods of four. One girl in the back is putting on eyeliner and
eye shadow. She frequently chats with two boys seated at her table. She proceeds to mash zits.
Two girls and one boy socialize in the back of the class. They are more concerned about the
social complexities of the school rather than listening. However, periodically one will shout out a
correct answer without interrupting the flow of the social conversation. One girl, sitting in the
back of the class, totally isolates herself and has no verbal or nonverbal communication with her
peers or the teacher. A quiet boy and two girls sit at a table located in the front of the class. They
do not share comments and appear to be intimidated by their peers.

A girl on the other side of the class begins to sing and continues to do so periodically throughout
the class time. Another girl gets up and walks around the room. She is told to sit down, which
she does, and in five minutes gets up and walks around again. She is struggling to stay in her seat
and is clearly unconcerned with the class discussion. A boy in the center of the class covers his
head with his hood, lays his head down, and goes to sleep. Two other girls at his table are
engaged in a conversation about who will be homecoming queen.

What is a teacher to do with a class like this? This is a perplexing situation, yet a common
dilemma teachers encounter. Many teachers struggle with the lack of student interest in the
content which translates into a lack of motivation to learn. This is especially prevalent in social
studies classrooms. Research indicates that students often are uninterested in social studies
because they perceive it as a boring subject (Schug, Todd, & Berry, 1984; Shaughnessy &
Haladyana, 1985). Students tend to equate uninteresting with unimportant; thus, students are not
motivated to learn social studies content due to the lack of value of the content. Educators
suggest that lack of student interest in social studies is related to the instructional methods
utilized in disseminating information (Martorella, 1997).

This paper describes my investigation of technology integration in social studies instruction to

build an understanding of why technology is being used to teach social studies content. Given the
nature of social studies instruction and the need to engage students in the learning process, I
selected motivational theory as a theoretical frame for this research.

Motivational Theory
 Figure 1. Expectancy-Value
Model

To clarify a general misconception, motivation and ability are not equivalent. Motivation refers
to what a person will attempt, yet ability is defined as what a person can do (Pintrich & Schunk,
1996). Thus, the purpose of motivation theory is to explain student behavior and influence future
behavior. Recent theories of motivation can be categorized as variations of expectancy-value
model of motivation (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996). This model focuses on three areas: value
(students’ beliefs about the importance or value of a task), expectancy (students’ beliefs about
their ability or skill to perform the task), and affective (emotional reactions to the task and self-
worth evaluation). Figure 1 represents the relationship between the three areas of expectancy-
value motivational theory (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996).

First, task-value motivational theory addresses the question of why an individual completes a
task. The value component of motivation focuses on the reasons why students become involved
(or not involved) in an instructional activity (Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990; Wigfield & Eccles,
1992). It defines students’ beliefs about the importance or value of a task and why students
approach or avoid a task. Engagement in the task varies with the value that students place on the
academic task and students’ self-confidence in their ability to accomplish the task successfully if
appropriate effort was made (Brophy, 1983).

Whether or not a student attempts a task is dependent upon students’ perceived success in
completing the task (Atkinson, 1957; Stipek, 1997). Perceptions of success are shaped by the
nature of the task. The nature of the task, defined as the procedures, social organization and
products that each task requires, regulates what students learn and how students learn (Doyle,
1983). If students perceive the task as boring or too difficult, they will avoid the task. Students
will approach tasks they believe are fun, require a moderate amount of effort, and are reasonably
challenging. Thus, the nature of the task and student perception of the importance of the task
become key factors influencing student motivation for approaching or avoiding the task
(Blumenfeld, Mergendoller, & Swarthout, 1987; Eccles et al., 1983).
Second, the concept of expectancy represents the key idea that students will not choose to do a
task or continue to engage in a task that they believe exceeds their capabilities, but students will
take on tasks and activities that they believe they can handle (Schunk, 1991). If students expect
failure, they will avoid the task; conversely, if students anticipate success, they will approach the
task.

Expectancy relates to students’ self-efficacy, students’ confidence in their cognitive skills

(Bandura & Schunk, 1981). Student self-efficacy is influenced by past experiences and
familiarity with the task (Bandura, 1993; Schunk, 2000). Students’ perceptions of competence
about personal skills and abilities are influenced by the learning environment. Positive learning
environments provide nurturing experiences for students to build their self-confidence in their
skills. Students are able to develop their skills comfortably without the fear of failure. Students
develop a familiarity with the skills necessary to complete the tasks. It is this familiarity with the
tasks that builds students self-efficacy (Eccles & Wigfield, 1993). Expectancy motivational
theory addresses the question of “Can I do what is being asked?” or “Am I capable of
accomplishing this task?”

The final area of motivational theory relates to the affective domain and identifies students’
emotional reactions to the task and self-worth evaluation. A central part of all classroom
achievement is the need for students to protect their sense of worth or personal value (Covington,
1984). Self-worth theory focuses attention on the pervasive need implied within the conflicting
interests of desire to approach success that invokes social recognition and a feeling of
competence and to avoid failure that causes a sense of worthlessness and social disapproval
(Covington, 1984; Pintrich & Schunk, 1996). Students’ perceptions of the causes of their
successes and failures influence the quality of their future achievement. According to self-worth
theory, high ability signifies worthiness. Because ability is tied to worthiness and it is related to
accomplishments, then self-perceptions of ability are significant to the way students interpret
their personal success (Midgley, Arunkumar, & Urban, 1996). Self-worth theory rests upon the
perception that students are motivated to establish, maintain, and promote a positive self-image
(Covington, 2000).

Methodology

A descriptive and exploratory case study (as described by Yin, 2002) was utilized to examine the
integration of technology for social studies instruction. This case study sought to unveil the tacit
knowledge, deconstructing student attitudes about technology and motivations for using
technology (Patton, 1990), to build an understanding of why technology is being used to teach
social studies content. Qualitative methods were employed to provide an in-depth description of
technology use in a natural setting. The purpose of this study was to interpret the phenomena and
the meanings that students brought to this setting and to describe them (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000;
Glesne & Peshkin, 1999; Marshall & Rossman, 1999).

The participant for this study was an in-service teacher. The secondary social studies teacher
taught 9th- and 10th-grade social studies classes. She taught World History, Economic, Legal,
and Political Systems, and a tenth grade seminar that integrated the curriculum for English and
social studies. Her undergraduate degree was in early childhood education. She later returned to
school for her second undergraduate degree of history with a minor in secondary education.
After teaching for 7 years, she obtained her master’s degree in social studies education. In
addition she has achieved recognition as the only nationally board certified social studies teacher
in her high school.

This case study is atypical because this teacher has excellent professional credentials and has had
much experience at integrating technology in social studies content. The uniqueness of this case
study provides valuable insight into research on technology integration in the social studies
curriculum. This research addresses a recognized need for examples of content specific
technology use in the social studies (Martorella, 1997; Mason, 2000-2001; Mason et al, 2000;
Vanfossen, 2001; White, 1999) and supports existing qualitative research that emphasizes the
benefit of looking at best practices in teaching (Grossman, 1990).

Data sources for this study included interviews, observations, field notes, and artifacts, such as
technology work samples produced by the students, teacher curricula, and teacher lesson plans.
Interviews, field notes, and classroom observations followed procedures outlined by the work of
Spradley (1980) and Schensul, Schensul, and Lecompte (1999). Field notes were condensed
accounts of events observed in the classroom. Missing gaps in these data were filled with data
collected from teacher and student interviews.

Before data collection and analysis began, study propositions were formulated. In keeping with
Yin’s (2002) case study methodology, two propositions formed the core of the research
framework: (a) Technology improves students’ motivation to learn content and (b) technology
augments the development of student work through providing students with organizational
frameworks, connecting students to resources, and supporting students’ creativity. The
integration of technology within the social studies provides crucial links in building content and
technological literacies.

Collected data was linked to the propositions through comparison of common patterns (Denzin
& Lincoln, 2000; Yin, 2002), analyzing emergent themes (Spradley, 1980), and triangulation
(Denzin & Lincoln, 2000; Yin, 2002). After the data was collected, analysis of the data formed
links between the theoretical framework and the results of the case. A crosswalk of issues
showed the links between the study questions, data sources, data analysis, and theoretical
framework and also helped establish reliability for the study.

A Closer Look

To redress the initial question of what a teacher is to do with these uninterested and unmotivated
students, a closer look at the case described is necessary. Once the teacher in the scenario
described earlier finished with the classroom instruction, she assigned the students a project of
creating a PowerPoint slide as a political campaign advertisement for their state’s senatorial race.
Students were expected to research their candidate of choice and develop an advertisement
utilizing one of the various media strategies for which the teacher had provided information. The
teacher distributed a handout clearly identifying the types of campaign advertisements and the
expectations for the task. Then the class was off to the computer lab.
The hallway trip was no different than the classroom scenario provided, but something happened
when they entered the computer lab. Students immediately sat down at their computers and
promptly began their work. Students exuded self-confidence in their abilities, not only to work
with the technology but to master the content and successfully complete the task. Students had
no difficulty locating the websites for the candidates and finding the facts they needed to
construct their campaign advertisements. Students captured the key political stances of each
candidate. They also demonstrated an understanding of the various campaign strategies. In
addition to understanding the content, students designed graphically appealing and interactive
campaign ads using PowerPoint. Several students knew about the intricacies of the software
program and tutored others on how to complete the desired special effects. Students were
collaborated and exchanged ideas. Students eagerly shared their work and ideas with their peers.

Students were excited about learning and displayed pride in the PowerPoint slides they created.
The slides included sound bytes, video clips, pictures, text, and animation. The product outcomes
were impressive, but what was even more impressive was the level of engagement. All students
actively created their products, learning about the candidates and the types of campaign
advertisements that are utilized in politics. It was an amazing transformation. The same students
who were described earlier were now focused and on task. Not only were they actively involved
in their project, they were learning social studies.

Students enjoyed working on the project with technology because they viewed technology as
more engaging and entertaining. All students reported enjoyment in the task because technology
made their work easier and more fun to do. One student commented, “I like using computers, the
Internet, and PowerPoint because it is fun, fresh, and invigorating.” Many students identified that
technology made it possible for them to complete their work more quickly and efficiently. One
of the most common reasons for enjoyment in the task was that computer use made students’
work neater, enabled them to add nice graphics, and made the overall presentations look
professional. These feelings were captured in this student’s statement: “I like using technology to
do my work because you can do more with technology. You can make a really cool presentation
that wouldn’t be possible without the technology.”

Additionally, students reported that using technology enabled them to find more information and
helped them understand what they were talking about in class. A student commented, “I like
using computers to do school work, because it helps me get my thoughts out better.” Another
student replied, “I like using computers because it’s easy to find lots of information about the
stuff we are discussing in class.”

One final point made by students was that working with computers gave them the opportunity to
refine their technology skills. Students identified that they felt confident in their ability to use
technology and liked having the opportunity to complete tasks that allowed them to work with
skills they already possessed. At the same time, students felt that the task was challenging and
required them to take their skills to the next level.

Observations
Technology offers many benefits to enhance education. Most importantly, technology integration
has the potential to increase student motivation (Anderson, 2000). The case described presents
three elements of how technology positively impacts student motivation. These factors are based
upon expectancy-value model of motivation (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996). Using technology
changes the nature of the task, increases student self-efficacy, and improves student self-worth.

First, task-value motivational theory addresses the question, “Why do I approach the task?” In
the case presented, students were actively involved in the project because they were working
with technology. Students felt confident in their ability to accomplish the task due to their
familiarity with the technology. The focus of the task shifted from social studies content to
technology use. Since students were self-confident in their technology skills, they eagerly
approached the task. Students were excited about the opportunity to test their skills and viewed
the task as challenging and engaging. This was in contrast to the traditional classroom
environment, where students avoided the task either because it was boring or because they
believed that they lacked the skills necessary to be success in this environment.

Technology empowers students by engaging students in the learning process. The nature of the
task shifts from teacher centered to student centered. Given the flexibility of technology to
diversify tasks, the activity was designed to build upon students’ prior knowledge and to address
student interests. Research indicates that challenging and engaging academic tasks that build
upon students’ prior knowledge and enable students to construct their own understanding of the
content are more apt to enhance student motivation and increase student self-confidence in their
cognitive abilities (Brophy, 1983; Meece, 1991; Miller & Meece, 1999).

Additionally, the use of technology improves student interest due to students’ familiarity with the
technology. Increased enjoyment in learning is related to students’ natural affinity for computer-
based instruction; consequently, social studies can become a more attractive subject when
computers and the Internet are included as teaching tools (Cassutto, 2000, pp. 100-101).
Research touts technology use in social studies as a purposeful method of instruction to best
meet the needs of students and to promote student interest in the task (Berson, 1996; Martorella,
1997; White, 1999).

Second, expectancy motivational theory addresses the question “Can I use this technology or am
I capable of accomplishing this task?” As identified in the case, students displayed more self-
confidence in the computer than in the traditional classroom setting. Students possessed the skills
necessary to successfully accomplish the assignment. They felt comfortable in the secure
environment that the computer lab offered. This nurturing learning environment enabled students
to accomplish more with technology than they could without it. Students were able to generate
attractive, creative, and content rich PowerPoint slides. Students took pride in their creations and
eagerly shared their work with their peers.

According to Ames (1990) technology has the potential to increase student motivation by
increasing student self-efficacy. This was evidenced in a research study of the impact of
technology use on high school student learning conducted by Rochowicz (1996). Data identified
that using computers increases students’ self-efficacy; consequently, students develop a more
positive attitude toward learning. Rochowicz concluded that computers make learning more
relevant, meaningful, and enjoyable; consequently, academic frustration declines. Students
experience a greater enjoyment from learning content because they are confident in their ability
to accomplish the task when using technology.

Additionally, technology enables students to accomplish more than they could without the use of
technology. Technology affords students opportunities to access information and resources to
create products far beyond their perceived capabilities. Research identifies the benefits of
technology integration as the technical aspects to enhance the quality of work, promote access to
resources, positively impact student learning, and promote student metacognitive skills (Heafner
& McCoy, 2001; Scheidet, 2003). With the improved output, students take pride in the products
they create, which increases their self-efficacy. This self-efficacy can have a positive impact on
overall student motivation. As Brophy (1983) contended, student motivation improves with
students’ increased self-confidence in their abilities to complete the academic task.

Third, self-worth and affective motivational theory addresses the question, “How do my feelings
about myself affect whether or not I will attempt or avoid this task?” Using technology enabled
these students to feel more self-confident in completing the assignment due to their familiarity
with technology. Initially, the focus of learning shifted from social studies content to technology.
Technology integration camouflaged the learning process by drawing students into a fun activity
that relied on familiar technical skills. Once students engaged in the task their attention shifted to
the content. With the integration of a familiar learning tool, students approached social studies
content that they had avoided in the traditional classroom setting. Students eagerly approached
the task when they were able to use an instructional tool with which they had the knowledge,
skill, and confidence in using. Familiarity with the technology also increases students’ belief in
their ability to accomplish the task; consequently, students are more willing to take risks and
approach challenging tasks. This supports self-worth theory that students’ perceptions of
worthiness are equated with ability (Covington, 2000; Midgley et al., 1996).

Typical instructional approaches utilized in social studies classes emphasize ability-related

activities such as memorization and rote learning (Martorella, 1997). In contrast, technology
facilitates the development of decision-making and problem-solving, data-processing, and
communication skills (National Council for the Social Studies, 1994). Instruction that builds
upon these higher order tasks generates a collaborative learning environment that promotes self-
worth and enables students to overcome task-avoidance (Covington, 1984). Using technology to
complete assignments changes the learning environment to focus on mastery learning while
promoting cooperative learning. Class is less structured and diminishes traditional views of
competition as a means to motivate.

Within this nurturing environment, students are able to rely comfortably on their peers to assist
with technical difficulties without fear of social embarrassment. Students avoid feelings of
worthlessness and social disapproval that accompany competitive learning environments
(Pintrich & Schunk, 1996). As presented in the case, increased peer communication and
collaboration were positive outcomes of technology integration. Students felt secure in sharing
their knowledge and skills with their peers in the noncompetitive computer lab environment.
This behavior contrasted with behaviors exuded in the traditional classroom, where students
avoided tasks and engagement with their peers.
Cautions

Despite the recognized positive benefits of technology integration on improving student learning
as identified in this case study, caution is advised. Much research exists that challenges the use of
technology as positively affecting student learning. The hesitancy of many schools and teachers
to openly embrace technology is, in part, related to their concern about the negative effects of
technology on students and the educational process. Research recognizes various negative
outcomes of technology use as social isolation, all information is “good” misperception,
information overload, and the time consuming nature of technology (Clark, 1994; Cornelius &
Boss, 2003; Heafner & McCoy, 2001; Scott & O’Sullivan, 2000; Salomon, 1997). These
tradeoffs of technology can be a detriment to student learning.

This article does not contend that technology is the only method for instruction nor it is the only
means of motivating students to learn social studies. Technology alone is insufficient to ensure
effective social studies education (Staley, 2000). However, effective technology integration
offers opportunities to enhance social studies instruction and to increase student motivation while
preparing students with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to become good citizens,
which are the fundamental goals of the social studies.

Recommendations

When planning for instruction, social studies teachers need to strongly consider what motivates
students to learn. Too often teachers sacrifice student interest for content coverage. In a high
stakes testing environment, social studies teachers are entrenched in methods that rely heavily on
lecture and discussion. This teacher-centered classroom structure does not offer much
opportunity for motivating students to take an interest in social studies content. Students have no
motivation to learn social studies beyond the common justification of “it will be on the test.”
This lack of student interest inhibits student development of metacognitive skills, which greatly
impacts student achievement.

To develop a more nurturing and engaging learning environment that promotes cognitive growth,
social studies teachers need to incorporate instructional practices that are student centered. By
focusing on students, teachers are able to encourage student interest, which translates into
increased student motivation to learn. This article advocates the use of technology as a means to
motivate students by engaging students in the learning process with the use of a familiar
instructional tool that improves students’ self-efficacy and self-worth. If teachers build students’
self-confidence, then students will more likely enjoy learning, which can greatly impact student
achievement.

Additionally, teachers should take into consideration that students are individuals and may
accomplish the same task for many reasons. Consequently, social studies teachers should
incorporate various instructional methods that provide students with diverse, engaging, and
challenging tasks to meet the needs of all students. This is what technology affords educators and
why technology has the potential to impact student motivation positively and, subsequently,
student learning. The potential that technology offers to positively affect student achievement is
sufficient reason to integrate technology as a means to motivate students to learn social studies.
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Author Note:

Tina Heafner
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
email: theafner@email.uncc.edu

https://www.citejournal.org/volume-4/issue-1-04/social-studies/using-technology-to-motivate-
students-to-learn-social-studies/

Using Technology forPowerful Social

StudiesLearning
By Stephen A. Rose and
Phyllis Maxey Fernlund

Recent developments have created new opportunities for powerful social studies teaching
assisted by technology. Major improvements have taken place in both hardware and software.
Computers are much more powerful and versatile than they were a decade ago. Although many
educational programs at that time were oriented toward drill and practice, it is now easy to find
interactive and engaging programs. Using the right combination of hardware and software,
teachers can develop lessons that enhance student skills in information retrieval, the presentation
of data, the comparison and evaluation of different perspectives, and critical reflection and
decision making.
As is often the case, efforts to take advantage of these opportunities in the classroom make
important demands on individual teachers. Successful computer-based instruction requires
careful planning, informed choices of hardware and software, and the matching of educational
programs to curricular objectives and student abilities. Our purpose in this article is to identify
the key considerations that should influence the selection of instructional technology in order to
assist educators to evaluate current products and assess the feasibility of their use in the
classroom.
The Changing Technological Landscape
The field has come a long way in the thirteen years since Social Education published
microcomputer courseware evaluation guidelines developed by an ad hoc committee established
by National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS).1 The typical computer in 1984 had 256k
memory, dual 5.25" floppy drives or, in
some cases, a 10 to 30 megabyte hard drive. Many monitors were monochromatic, and graphical
interfaces were virtually absent, except for Apple Computer's Macintosh,ª which was introduced
that year in a memorable Super Bowl television advertisement.
The computer software of 1984 was also primitive by today's standards. Educational games such
as Oregon Trail and Dangerous Parallel were interactive and engaging, but they tended to be the
exception rather than the rule. This was one of the primary motivations for developing the 1984
NCSS courseware evaluation guidelines.

We have come a long way since those early years. We talk more about work stations than
computers. A contemporary work station might combine a powerful computer with a high
resolution color monitor, CD-ROM drive, a high-speed modem, scanner, speech synthesizer,
digital camera/recorder, videodisc player, as well as a telecommunications link to on-line
services and the Internet. The computer that is central to this task might be powered by a
Pentium or PowerPC chip and be equipped with a 300 megabyte (MB) to 2-3 gigabyte (GB)
capacity hard drive and 16-32 megabytes of memory.

Since 1984, many advances have been made in the development of software and related
technology of peripheral devices. There have been major innovations in the design of
instructional software, multimedia/hypermedia programs, and telecommunications interfaces.
These advances allow students and teachers to develop and access significant content relevant to
the social studies curriculum. Many of these programs make strong attempts to engage the
learner and help support powerful teaching and learning.

At the same time, the social studies landscape has some re-shaped contours, as reflected in the
publication by NCSS of Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies.2
The ten strands of the standards provide teachers with assistance in setting unit and course goals
and outcomes, evaluation of current practice, and ideas for instruction and assessment.

These developments require a re-examination of the criteria by which computer-based

technology products should be judged for integration in the social studies classroom. Up-to-date
criteria will go well beyond the framework of the 1984 Social Studies Microcomputer
Courseware Evaluation Guidelines and require that educators re-think the issue of evaluation in
three areas:

 Hardware configurations that allow the implementation of technology-based

products.Multimedia products, authoring programs, and telecommunications.
 The relationship of technology-based products to curriculum standards and teaching and
learning of the social studies.

For each of these areas, we propose (and, in some cases, reiterate) a number of questions for
social studies teachers to consider as they incorporate technology-based products into their
instruction. Answering these questions will help promote the effective use of technology in the
social studies.

Hardware: Configurations, Use, and Power

Software programs today are more sophisticated and interactive than their predecessors, and
require computers that have greater processing capacities, memory, hard drive space, and ports
for peripheral devices. To share in the benefits from advances in technology embodied in current
software, social studies educators must participate in the ongoing acquisition and upgrading of
their schools' technology facilities. Determinations about what type of hardware to acquire, or
what upgrades to invest in, should be the result of answers to the four questions listed below.

Hardware-RelatedQuestions to Consider

1. What are the instructional tasks and levels of complexity? Do I have the necessary
technology?

2. Do my computers have enough memory to run the desired software application?

3. What type of technical delivery system will be used: single computer(s) or computers attached
to a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN) and/or the Internet?

4. Is the speed of the network sufficient to accomplish the instructional task in an efficient and
timely manner?

It is important to consider the first question so that sound decisions can be made about the type
of computer technology to acquire and how it will be used in the social studies. If the tasks will
require only basic word processing, spreadsheets, and data bases, inexpensive computers with
few enhancements will suffice. Alternatively, if the computer will be used for tasks such as
sophisticated desktop publishing or elaborate multi-media presentations, then the software
applications required for these tasks will demand more powerful (and faster) computers and a
wide array of peripheral devices. The use of multimedia and telecommunications places extra
demands on computer memory and hard drive space. Multimedia programs often require
additional audio-visual (AV) ports to attach peripherals such as digital/video cameras, scanners,
and videodiscs.

Advances in both computers and software allow for the implementation of computer networks.
Networks allow students working in computer labs within the same school, in schools within a
district, or in schools among districts, to work together by transferring information to each other
via computer. If activities such as these are judged of value, then one needs to consider whether
the school or district's current networking technology is up to the task. Computers in a school
computer lab or within classrooms are connected by a local area network (LAN) which allows
them to communicate with one another. Similarly, a wide area network (WAN) allows
computers located within a school district to communicate. Beyond local and wide area networks
is the Internet.
To accomplish instructional tasks where many students will be using computers at the same time,
the network needs to have the capability to transfer information in a timely manner. Generally
speaking, unless the connection is based on optical fiber, increasing the number of persons using
the connection simultaneously decreases the transfer rate of information. We should not have
students sitting around drumming their fingers waiting for information to appear on screen.
Waiting for information can become particularly problematic when accessing the Internet during
day time work hours.

Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)

During the 1980s, computer-assisted instruction (CAI) was an important part of classroom
computer use. Teachers, department chairs, and district technology coordinators purchased
commercial and public domain programs in the subject areas, stored on one or more floppy
disks, including drill and practice programs, tutorials, simulations and games. During the next
decade there were four major changes that improved CAI:
(1) the decline in the use of floppy disks, replaced by the enhanced storage capability of CD-
ROM and videodisc;
(2) enhanced interactivity in software in which students play a more active role; (3) sophisticated
graphics, video clips, color and sound, creating a multimedia presentation no longer dominated
by screens of text; and (4) the growing marriage of CAI and telecommunications, allowing a
seamless transition from single-computer use to collaborative work with distant partners and
access to Internet-based resources.
The use of CAI in the social studies classroom continues to be strong, although such use is being
eclipsed by the tool uses of computers: word processing, communications, research, and
multimedia production. CAI is available on the Internet, a helpful tool for teachers who want to
review the product and consult other teachers who have used the program with their students.
CAI has greatly improved in creativity and quality; many programs offer motivating experiences
for students in analysis, problem solving and decision making.

To guide the evaluation of this enhanced class of computer-based instruction products, we offer
the following questions to consider:

CAI-Related Questions to Consider

1. How does this computer program help achieve my objectives for this unit of study? Can I
modify the program to fit my plans better?

2. Does my computer system have the right hardware to run this program (required memory,
printers, speech synthesizer, other peripherals)?

3. Is the program easy for students to use? What preparation do students need? What preparation
do I need?

4. Does the publisher offer technical assistance, free or inexpensive updates, network licenses?
5. Does the program offer multiple options for delivery? For example, can the program be used
over the Internet or linked to sites on the World Wide Web (the Internet's hypertext-based
environment)?

Multimedia for Teachers and Students

Multimedia refers to the marriage of video, sound, graphics, text and images within a single
information delivery system.3 Such programs help teachers and students assemble multiple types
of information about topics in the form of photographs, video and animation sequences, charts
and graphs, text, sound, and graphics. The sources of this information include print materials as
well as videodiscs, CD-ROMs, Web sites on the Internet, audio recordings, scanned images, and
digital camera slides. Multimedia presentations created by a commercial publisher or by the
teacher or student can provide powerful perspectives on another time and place in history that
reach beyond written text.
The evaluation of multimedia in social studies can be viewed from two perspectives: (1) students
and teachers as users of commercially developed packages, and (2) students and teachers as
creators of multimedia presentations.

Teachers and Students as Multimedia Users

Multimedia products from such companies as National Geographic, ABCNews Interactive, and
Scholastic offer user-friendly packages for presentations, research, and inquiry activities.
Whether using videodiscs or CD-ROM, most programs have interfaces that allow the user to
easily navigate through the program. Most commercial videodiscs have a bar code guide and bar
code reader/remote control. Operating the videodisc player is not much different from using the
remote control for the VCR. The teacher can scan the appropriate bar codes into the remote
control, and then point it at the videodisc player to instantly move to various places on the disc.
Multimedia packages can be presented as whole, or they can be modified as necessary, choosing
only those segments that are needed for the presentation.
Use of commercially-prepared multimedia can help teachers provide variety in instruction and,
just as importantly, can offer opportunities for in-depth exploration of ideas and questions.
Lectures and large class presentations that incorporate multimedia can include a variety of maps,
historical footage, excerpts from famous speeches, photographs, interviews, and graphs that add
a powerful component to learning. Remote and abstract issues are transformed into something
that students can grasp using visual information as well as print resources.

For use of already-developed multimedia packages, we recommend consideration of the

following questions:

Multimedia-Use Questions to Consider

1. Do I have the necessary technology to use this multimedia package, including sufficient
computer memory, a videodisc player/CD-ROM drive if needed, a large screen monitor or
projection device for large class viewing?

2. What is the perspective of this commercial package? How does this viewpoint differ from
other resources that I plan to have students use?
3. Is this product to be used by teachers or students? Do I want to use the entire package or select
particular parts?

4. In what ways will this use of technology enhance my students' learning? How can I assess the
impact on learning?

Teachers and Students as Multimedia Creators

Some teachers have become producers of their own multimedia lessons. Students can create
individual or group presentations that develop their skills in information retrieval and
communication as well as create presentations that provide evidence of their understanding of
the social studies content and their own perspectives. Working at this level requires technical
skills, access to multimedia work stations, and sufficient time to create the product.
Many videodiscs include authoring software; this feature allows the teacher or students to build a
multimedia presentation using only the computer, videodisc player and videodiscs. This is an
easier way to begin to create presentations because it limits the research time and the number of
peripheral devices used, and the learning curve is generally less for the program's authoring
software.

Videodiscs can include extensive data bases, visuals combined with narration, timelines, maps,
animation and video clips. The user can select from among these resources and provide his or her
own narration recorded as the visual selections are displayed. In evaluating multimedia packages,
the teacher needs to consider the previous experience that students have had creating this type of
learning product. If they have never used an authoring system, students will need to begin with a
simpler program and carefully organized set of resources.

Multimedia projects can become highly sophisticated requiring advanced skills in the use of
technology. Hypermedia authoring programs such as Hyperstudio or Director enable the user to
access and integrate information from such diverse sources as the Internet, sounds or clip art
pulled from public domain software, photographs from a digital camera, images from a scanner,
clips from a video camera, videodisc, or CD-ROM. As a creator of multimedia, the teacher or
student is not limited to a single videodisc developed by a publisher.

A great deal of time can be spent collecting the information from a wide variety of sources for
the multimedia project, and then designing an attractive, informative presentation. For example,
in several Canadian classrooms, students created a "virtual tour" of a museum using the
following hardware: Macintosh LC 475 computers with 8 MB of RAM with an Internet
connection, two digital cameras, and a video camera. Software included ClarisWorks (word
processor, database, spreadsheet, drawing, graphics, and telecommunications tool), Sound
Machine (for audio), Netscape Navigator (for access to the World Wide Web), and Graphic
Converter (to manipulate graphic images in a variety of formats). The teacher, Sharon Lewis,
showed the students other examples of virtual tours from the Internet. Then she took the students
to a museum, followed by planning sessions in which they designed their computer exhibits and
learned to use HTML (HyperText Markup Language) to put their projects on the Web. As the
student projects were completed, they were reviewed for accuracy, omissions, and
misinterpretations by the museum director and the teacher. The students published their work on
the World Wide Web, and took their parents through the virtual tour on two special presentation
nights.

This example highlights an exciting project for teachers and students who are advanced users of
technology. Such a project raises new questions in evaluating technology for the creation of
multimedia projects in the social studies.

Multimedia-Creation Questions to Consider

1. Are the school's technology resources sufficient to produce a multimedia product? Are there
workstations available for the time required to develop multimedia?

2. What authoring program is best, given the previous experience of my students and the time I
have allowed for this project?

3. What do my students already know about multimedia? What technical skills do I need to
teach? Are there expert students who can help teach others?

4. How will I evaluate student-created multimedia projects? What are my requirements for the
content of the presentation as well as the technical production?

The Internet in the Classroom

The tremendous growth in telecommunications has brought online services, specialized
electronic networks, Web pages, E-mail, software, and global information resources to homes,
businesses, and schools. Many people now list an E-mail and website address on their business
cards. The Internet and its World Wide Web constitute both a medium of communication and a
gateway to information resources. It is an environment in which millions of people participate in
the creation and exchange of information. For social studies, the Internet serves as a research tool
of tremendous potential.
The information accessible through the Internet can vary based on the Internet services available
from a school's library/media resource center and the classroom or computer lab. Schools often
place their most expensive and extensive research tools-such as full-text periodicals, newspapers
and magazines-in a centrally located system in the school library. Teachers can regularly use the
Internet for current events, assigning students a particular area, such as economics or politics, or
a particular region of the nation or world. The University of Michigan's Daily News Service and
Vanderbilt's Television News Archives provide students with online assistance with current
events research. There are 200 U.S. daily newspapers available through electronic access. Many
magazines provide their own assistance with searches, such as Time magazine's website, The
Pathfinder. Lessons that focus on particular Web sites and search strategies are available to
teachers in such books as Educator's Internet Companion and websites such as Classroom
Connect, Busy Teacher's K-12 Website, and Teachers Helping Teachers.

Internet-Related Questions to Consider

1. What structure and skills do I need to provide my students so they can focus their research?
2. What are the research sites available through my access to the Internet? Do students need to
use the library computers or can this activity be done in my classroom?

3. How much time will I allow for the Internet search, and what specifically do I want students to
accomplish?

4. What directions do I need to prepare for students to focus their research?

5. What skills do I need to teach students about evaluating the credibility and accuracy of
information retrieved from the Internet?

6. What kind of "Acceptable Use Policy" for the Internet should our school have?

When planning a student research project that uses the Internet, try to work with the school's
library media specialist. This person is most likely familiar with the technical aspects of
conducting searches on the Internet. Unlike a school library, the Internet is by no means a
controlled research base. Virtually anybody can put information out on the Internet. There are
very few parameters that serve to structure information and also serve as filters for insuring both
the quality and accuracy of that information. Students need to receive instruction that teaches
them the skills for determining the accuracy of information, detecting bias, determining the
validity of claims, and so forth. While these skills are by no means limited just to information
retrieved from the Internet, they are very important skills for students to apply to information
gained from their research on the Internet.

For students to conduct a successful search on the Internet, they will have to have some skill at
using an Internet browser and be familiar with a search engine's syntax so they can design
"queries" for information. The Internet browser allows one to retrieve documents, video,
pictures, and sounds from the Internet. The search engine and its syntax enable the user to
structure the search for a particular topic or type of information. It takes time to learn the
syntaxes of search engines. Learning-with the help of the library media specialist-to teach
students these skills can save time and reduce frustration on the students' part.

Browsing can be an absorbing and sometimes distracting activity; but a teacher's specific
directions can limit the time required without destroying the student's curiosity. Likewise, the
teacher may want to monitor student activities on the Internet. Some schools use commercial
Internet services, such as America Online or special protection software, to assist in monitoring
student use. Issues of limiting access to particular Internet resources, limiting hours of use or
time of day, and monitoring electronic conversations are important for parents, teachers, and
students to discuss in order to formulate a school acceptable use policy.

Sometimes teachers do not have the time to teach students the needed skills to navigate and
conduct effective research on the Internet. An alternative would be for the teacher, prior to the
research activity, to research and identify a variety of Web sites that have sound information
about the topic(s) to be researched. The teacher could then create a local Web page of
"bookmarks" that take students directly to sites where their research is likely to be most fruitful,
thereby helping to avoid some potential problems.
Technology Links to the NCSS Curriculum Standards and Powerful Teaching and
Learning
Technology-based products and skillfully designed Web sites may exhibit outstanding technical
qualities and match a school's technology resources, but be a poor match for the kind of social
studies curriculum we seek to achieve through the NCSS curriculum standards. To help
determine a product's appropriateness and potential effectiveness in the social studies classroom,
one should evaluate the extent to which its content, organization, and activities relate (1) to the
purposes of social studies, (2) to one or more of the ten NCSS curriculum themes, and (3) to
factors that are essential to powerful teaching and learning in social studies.

Purposes of Social Studies

Purposes of Social Studies Questions to Consider
Does the technology/the product . . .

1. help learners gain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of people who participate in
public life?

2. help learners develop personal perspectives that enable them to explore events and persistent
issues, and to make informed choices which reflect assessment of personal and societal
consequences?

3. help learners construct an academic perspective that reflects interdisciplinary knowledge?

4. help learners construct a pluralistic perspective based on diverse viewpoints and recognize that
these differences are desirable qualities in a democratic society?

Most social studies educators believe that the primary purpose of social studies is to prepare
young people to participate in public life, which is essential to the health of our democratic
system. This belief pervades the 1994 NCSS Curriculum Standards. Social studies programs
must promote the development of civic competencies of the young. Civically competent people
have a deep concern for the common good and are disposed to work for the general welfare of all
individuals and groups within the community. For this important goal to be realized, young
people need an education that assists them in constructing personal, academic, pluralistic and
global perspectives. It is these perspectives that enable them to use knowledge to: conceptualize
contexts of issues or phenomena; consider causality; inquire about the validity of explanations;
and, create new explanations and models for grappling with persistent and/or recurring issues
across time, space and cultures.

NCSS Curriculum Themes

NCSS Themes
Questions to Consider
How does the technology-based product help teach about and
offer experiences that relate to one or more of the ten NCSS curriculum themes?
1 CULTURE
2 TIME, CONTINUITY, & CHANGE
3 PEOPLE, PLACES, & ENVIRONMENTS
4 INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT & IDENTITY
5 INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, & INSTITUTIONS
6 POWER, AUTHORITY, & GOVERNANCE
7 PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, & CONSUMPTION
8 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, & SOCIETY
9 GLOBAL CONNECTIONS
10 CIVIC IDEALS & PRACTICES

These strands are interrelated and draw on the social sciences and humanities, with appropriate
content from mathematics and natural sciences. They are intended to present a holistic
framework for those who teach and work in the social studies. Specifically, they provide teachers
with assistance in setting unit and course goals and outcomes, evaluation of current practice, and
ideas for instruction and assessment.

Powerful Social Studies Teaching and Learning

Powerful social studies teaching and learning is achieved when it is: (1) meaningful for teachers
and students, (2) integrative, (3) value based, (4) challenging, and (5) active. The questions and
explanations that follow are designed to help teachers make a judgment about whether the
technology-based product being considered for use in instruction helps the teacher to achieve
powerful teaching and learning.

Powerful Teaching and Learning Questions to Consider

1. Does the technology-based product help promote meaningful social studies?

2. Does the technology-based product help promote social studies that is integrative?
3. Does the technology-based product help promote value based social studies instruction?
4. Does the technology-based product help in planning social studies instruction that is
challenging?
5. Does the technology-based product help in designing learning activities that actively engage
students in significant social studies content?
nDoes the technology-based product help promote meaningful social studies?
Social studies is meaningful when students learn networks of knowledge, skills, and values that
are useful in and out of school. By their design and organization, technology-based products can
represent these networks in powerful ways. Meaningful learning requires the study of a few
significant ideas or topics in depth as opposed to surveying numerous topics superficially, and a
useful technology product capitalizes on technology's potential to provide a rich and deep
information environment. Meaningful social studies is also promoted by the way topics and
content are presented and developed. New topics are introduced by referencing where they fit in
the big picture. Content is developed in ways that help students see relationships among
elements. Current educational technology can, and ought to, help students navigate and
understand these relationships.

nDoes the technology-based product help promote social studies that is

integrative?
Social studies is integrative when the curriculum and instruction address a broad range of
content, concepts, generalizations and ideas in an interdisciplinary manner. Relevant information
is drawn from the social sciences, history, the arts and the humanities. In this context, the web of
information resources available on the Internet has considerable potential for integrative
learning. However, whether such learning occurs depends fundamentally on the teacher's ability
to guide students to integrate information from the range of knowledge domains one can explore
on the Internet.

nDoes the technology-based product help promote value based social studies instruction?
Social studies is value based when instruction is directed at having students grapple with the
ethical and social policy implications of historical and contemporary issues. Instruction enables
students to be sensitive to the values, complexities, and dilemmas involved in an issue; consider
the cost and benefits to various groups; and develop well-reasoned positions that reflect an
awareness of the potential social policy implications of their value based decision on the issue.
Two multimedia products come to mind in this context, both by ABCNews Interactive: In the
Holy Land and The Lessons of War.

nDoes the technology-based product help in planning social studies instruction that is
challenging?
Social studies teachers expect students to accomplish instructional goals as individuals and group
members. A good technology-based product encourages students to function as a learning
community. Students work collaboratively to deepen their meaning of content and are exposed to
sources of information and varying perspectives on historical and contemporary topics and
issues. Instruction is directed at critical or creative thinking, suggested solutions to problems, and
well-reasoned positions on policy issues. The content provided in the product/environment plays
a dual role: providing the support basis for reasoned opinions and judgments, and providing a
basis for students to challenge their own and others' positions on issues.

nDoes the technology-based product help in designing learning activities that actively engage
students in significant social studies content?
Students are actively engaged when instruction is directed at helping students to construct
knowledge so as to develop important social understandings. Good technology-based products
provide opportunities for students to play active roles in authentic activities. These require the
use of content for accomplishing life applications such as debates, role plays, construction of
models, interviews, community participation, and simulations of trials or legislative activities.

What's Next?
We have raised a handful of general questions educators might ask as they consider technology
use in social studies classrooms in light of both changes in technology and the current NCSS
Curriculum Standards. Many of these questions could serve as the focus for future discussion in
Social Education, and could certainly sustain a series of professional development workshops in
a school or school district. As general questions, they serve as a starting point for future
elaboration. Perhaps this will lead to the development of a new set of evaluation guidelines that
better reflect both the state-of-the-art in technology and current thinking about the purposes,
methods, and content of social studies. Suggestions and recommendations directed to the NCSS
Select Committee on Technology are most welcome. n
Notes
1.S. A. Rose, A.R. Brandhorst, A.D. Glenn, J.O. Hodges, and C.S. White. "Social Studies
Microcomputer Courseware Evaluation Guidelines," Social Education 48 (November/December
1984): 573-576.
2.National Council for the Social Studies. Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for
Social Studies. Washington, D.C., 1994.
3.C. S. White. "Interactive Multimedia for Social Studies: A Review of In the Holy Land and
The '88 Vote," Social Education 54 (February 1990): 68-70.
Stephen A. Rose is assistant professor of education at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and
is a member of the NCSS Select Committee on Technology. Phyllis Fernlund is Professor of
Education and Acting Dean at California State University-San Bernadino, and co-author of
Technology Tools in the Social Studies Curriculum (Franklin, Beedle, 1997).

http://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/se/6103/610306.html

The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – TOJET April 2005 ISSN: 1303-6521
volume 4 Issue 2 Article 3
18
THE USE OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SOCIAL STUDIES
CLASSROOM
Mehmet Acikalin
PHD student at the Ohio State University-Columbus OH-USA
Social Studies & Global Education
668 Stinchcomb Dr. #6, Columbus OH 43202, Ph: 614 263-6918
Erdinc Duru
Post-doctoral student at Penn State University, Harrisburg PA-USA.
School of Behavioral Sciences and Education
ABSTRACT
Nowadays, the use of technology in education has become more popular. Special attention has
been given to the
adaptation of computer technology into teaching-learning process for effective learning and
increasing students’
achievement. In recent years, it has been realized that there is an immense benefit in applying
computer
technology in the social studies classroom.
The first purpose of this study is to review computer - and Internet-supported instructional
strategies in the social
studies classroom. The second purpose of the study is to investigate the degree of application of
these strategies
in the social studies classroom. Thus, based on the literature review, the results of the research
regarding
computer technology in the social studies classroom are summarized, and educational
implications are discussed.
In addition, some suggestions for further research were offered.
Key Words: Computer, Technology, Social Studies, Teaching and Learning, Effectiveness.
SOSYAL ALANLAR SINIFLARINDA BİLGİSAYAR TEKNOLOJİLERİ KULLANIMI
ÖZET
Günümüzde eğitimde teknoloji kullanımı popüler olmuş, etkili öğrenme ve başarı için öğrenme-
öğretme süreci
içerisine bilgisayar teknolojilerinin adaptasyonuna özel bir ilgi gösterilmiştir. Ancak yakın yılllar
içerisinde
sosyal alanlar ile ilgili sınıflarda bilgisayar teknolojisine başvurmanın büyük yararı olduğunun
farkına
varılmıştır.
Bu çalışmanın birinci amacı, sosyal bilimlerde bilgisayar ve internet destekli öğretme
stratejileriyle ilgili
alanyazını taramaktır ve ikinci olarak bu stratejilerin sosyal alanlarla ilgili sınıflarda uygulama
düzeyini
araştırmaktır. Bu amaçla, alanyazına bağlı olarak, sosyal alanlarda kullanılan bilgisayar
teknolojisiyle ilgili
araştırma sonuçları özetlenmiş, araştırma sonuçları eğitim süreciyle ilişkileri çerçevesinde
tartışılmış ve yakın
çalışmalar için bazı önerilerde bulunulmuştur.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Bilgisayar, Teknoloji, Sosyal Alanlar, Öğrenme-Öğretme, Etkililik.
INTRODUCTION
Technology use in education has become more popular in recent years. There have been major
developments in
computer hardware and software in the last decades which increase the computer integration in
education. The
use of computers in education opens a new area of knowledge and offers a tool that has a
potential to change
some of traditional and ineffective educational methods (Asan, 2003). It is currently considered
as crucial to
“modernize educational systems on the basis of information and communication technologies”
(ICT), as
globalization and transformation to the information society “call for new literacy for the
information society”
(UNESCO, 2002; as cited in Orhun, 2003, p.1).
There is an increasing research on the effectiveness and benefits of the integration computer
technology in
education in recent years. Sheffield (1996) stated that as a result of the recent developments in
technology,
computers and the Internet have become more important teaching tools in the social studies
classroom. As
Vanfossen (2001) points out, there are many supporters who claim that there are many benefits
of Internet use in
the classroom such as the ability to break down the classroom’s physical limitations and
expanding students’
experiences, development of students’ inquiry and analytical skills and expanding students’
experiences with
visual technologies. It is considered that technology is the main support for the students learning
developments
and the computers are the main technology support as a tool for effective learning and teaching
process. (Isman
The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – TOJET April 2005 ISSN: 1303-6521
volume 4 Issue 2 Article 3
19
et al., 2004; Usun, 2004). Likewise, Whitworth & Berson (2003) point out that, within the social
studies,
technology has served a dual role as an important instructional tool that may have a significant
effect on the
global, political, social, and economic functioning of society. According to them, as a method or
topic
instruction, computers and technology may have significant impacts on social studies education.
There are a number of computer- and Internet-supported teaching strategies that are applied in
the social studies
classroom as well as other disciplines. According to the National Council for Social Studies
(1994), social
studies is the integrated study of the social sciences such as anthropology, archaeology,
economics, geography,
history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as
appropriate content
from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. According to Berson (1996), the
disciplines of social
studies are indented to develop effective citizens who possess the critical thinking and decision
making skills to
function in a democratic society. Likewise, Tezci (2003) reported that the web based teaching do
not only
improve students’ academic skills, but also has positive effects on the development of
democratic conscious of
students. Thus, reflective inquiry, problem solving and decision making are considered as
essential skills for the
contemporary social studies education, which promotes effective citizenship in a democratic
society (Berson,
1996; Rice & Wilson, 1999).
Research showed that computer and the Internet supported teaching strategies have crucial roles
facilitating
development of students’ critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills (Berson,
1996; Rice &
Wilson, 1999; Adiguzel & Akpinar, 2001). Thus, the first purpose of this paper is to review
computer and
Internet- supported teaching strategies in the social studies classroom. The second purpose is to
investigate the
degree of application of these strategies in the social studies classroom.
DRILL AND PRACTICE, TUTORIALS, AND STUDY GUIDES
One of the aspects of social studies education involves the learning of facts, important dates of
history,
geographic names and so forth. Therefore, drill-and-practice, tutorial, and study guides have
been among the
most frequently used programs in the social studies classroom (Rice & Wilson, 1999; Berson,
1996). One of the
first national surveys in the United States about social studies teachers computer use indicated
the significant use
of drill and practice and tutorials among social studies teachers (Northup &Rooze, 1990). The
data which were
collected from the randomly selected members of the National Council for Social Studies
showed that
approximately 24% of social studies teachers listed these applications as main teaching
strategies. In addition,
the data indicated that drill and practice was the third common used strategy among the
participants whereas
tutorials ranked fifth (Northup & Rooze, 1990). Likewise, Pye and Sullivan (2001) in a study
among middle
school social studies teachers found that almost 22% of social studies teachers used drill and
practice and
tutorials in their classroom. Although the study indicated that other computer software and the
Internet became
more frequently used teaching tools in social studies as opposed to drill, practice, and tutorials, it
seems that
these applications are still important teaching tools for social studies teachers.
Although such computer applications are very appropriate to be used in the social studies
classroom, there is not
much research on the effectiveness of these applications. According to Ehman and Glenn (1991),
“tutorial, and
drill and practice programs seemed to have positive impacts on student learning and attitude
outcomes”(p. 520).
Similar results were reported by Higgins and Boone (as cited in Berson, 1996) and Roedding (as
cited in Berson,
1996) who found small, but positive gains in secondary students' performance and attitudes
toward the subject
matter when computer drill-and-practice programs or hypermedia study guides were
implemented. It seems that
data on the effectiveness of drill-and-practice, tutorial, and study programs showed positive
effects on students’
outcomes. According to Berson (1996), however, there is need for further research to address
questions
regarding the effects of these applications on the taxonomic level of students.
SOFTWARE/CD-ROMS, GAMES, AND SIMULATIONS
In recent years, there have been dramatic changes in the computer-supported technology. More
powerful
computers and sophisticated programs are used in the schools. According to White (1997), these
changes in
technology have increased the capability of using more visual aids in the classroom that attract
young users.
Therefore, many social studies software/CD-ROM programs now available to support teaching
strategies in the
social studies classroom. Rice and Wilson (1996) state that “those programs allow students to
engage in
activities, such as simulations and problem solving, that encourage them to construct their own
knowledge and
conduct their own research” (p. 2). Likewise, Berson (1996) points out how simulations and
games can
reinforce constructivist learning in the social studies classroom. According to Berson (1996),
simulations
facilitate the development of students' problem-solving skills and place students in the role of
decision maker.
Also he points out the practicality of simulations which allow students to engage in activities that
would
otherwise be too expensive, dangerous, or impractical to conduct in the classroom (Berson,
1996).
The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – TOJET April 2005 ISSN: 1303-6521
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Simulations and games are also among the most frequently used computer applications. A
national study in the
United States showed that 23.7 % of social studies teachers used simulations as an instructional
strategy which
was the second largest portion (Northup & Roze, 1990). A newer study was conducted by Pye
and Sullivan
(2001) showed that games and simulations are still among the most common computer-based
instructional
strategies. The study showed that games and simulations were the most common instructional
strategies after the
Internet. The data indicated that 28.4% of American social studies teachers participated in the
study used games
and 22.5 % of them used simulations regularly in their classes.
Although it seems that games and simulations are among the most common instructional
strategies used in the
social studies classroom, research on the effectiveness of these strategies produce disputable
results. According
to Ehman and Glenn (1991), although simulations have positive influence on students’ outcomes,
there is little
evidence that they support the influence on students’ cognitive growth. A study, conducted on
college students in
an economic course, showed that the experimental group, which received instruction using
computer
simulations, demonstrated greater development in critical thinking skills and content knowledge
(Grimes &
Wiley, 1990 as cited in Berson, 1996). These findings are also supported by a more recent study
focusing on the
effectiveness of computer-based simulation in teaching history. The study conducted on college-
level students
showed that there is a significant difference between the students who received computer-based
simulation and
who did not. The data showed that experimental groups had a greater understanding of the
historical content than
the control group (Parush, Hamm, & Shtub, 2002).
On the other hand, there are some inconclusive findings from other research studies. Ruef and
Layne (1990)
studied the effects of computer assisted simulation in the social studies classroom. The study was
conducted on
thirty-eight seventh-and eighth-grade students who were enrolled at the American International
School of
Luxembourg. The results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between
the scores of
those students who used the computer database simulation to learn the content and those students
who learned
the content through a traditional method of instruction.
Therefore, it seems that there are disputable results on the effectiveness of simulations in the
social studies. Yet,
it seems that they are still commonly used as an instructional tool in the social studies classroom.
DEVELOPING DATABASE
Another common instructional strategy used among social studies teachers is database
development. According
to Berson (1996), databases are especially useful for managing the extensive knowledge base in
the social
studies; they also foster students' development of inquiry strategies through the manipulation and
analysis of
information. Likewise, Rice and Wilson (1999) states that “Database development aids
constructivism by
encouraging collaboration in problem solving, the use of higher-order thinking skills to develop
and test
hypotheses, the construction of knowledge by the students who relate learning to their own
experiences” (p. 4).
As Garcia & Michaekis (2001) assert, making databases help to build skills in locating,
organizing, indexing,
retrieving, and analyzing information. Databases can be made to organize information on
students and their
families, the community, states, regions, countries, careers, notable people and any other topics.
For example,
children in primary grades can make mini databases that include drawing, pictures, charts, and
local maps related
to topics of study. Similarly, students in the middle grades can create more detailed databases
with card file and
cross-reference systems (Garcia & Michaekis, 2001).
Although teachers have become more capable in using the database software programs, it is still
not enough for
teachers to integrate these programs into their classroom (Vanfossen, 2001). In fact, a national
survey in the
United States indicated that only 11.3% of social studies teachers listed databases as a mainly
used teaching
strategy among computer-based strategies (Northup & Rooze, 1990). Likewise, Pye and Sullivan
(2001) did not
find a significant increase regarding social studies teachers’ database use. Although there is a
significant
improvement in software technology in the last decades, the data showed that there is only a
slight increase
(approximately 3.5 %) in social studies teachers’ database use. The study showed that only 14.7
% of social
studies teachers used databases in their classrooms (Pye & Sullivan, 2001). Thus, it seems that
teachers still are
not proficient enough to apply these programs into their classrooms. As Sheffield (1996) points
out, there is a
need to integrate computer programs such as word processing, spreadsheets, and databases into
the teacher
education curriculum.
On the other hand, reviewing several studies about the effectiveness of computer databases,
Berson (1996)
concluded that databases encourages problem solving and facilitates inquiry-driven approaches
for learning as
well as fostering students’ decision making skills. Berson (1996) noted that “from the elementary
through
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college levels, database projects have been the foundation for problem-solving activities
involving computers”
(p.491).
MULTIMEDIA / HYPERMEDIA
Multimedia/hypermedia provides students with visual support in order to develop mental models
of the problems
they are trying to solve. Multimedia/hypermedia refers to the combination of sounds, graphics,
texts, and images
with a single information delivery system (Rose & Fernlund 1997). The origin of the word
hypermedia comes
from the term “hypertext” which was used first by Ted Nelson in the early 1960s. Nelson, later,
defined the term
and began using the word hypermedia (Braun, Fernlund, & White, 1998). With
multimedia/hypermedia, students
can create individual or group presentations to develop skills in information retrieval and
communication, or
they can create presentations that promote evidence of understanding of social studies content
and their own
perspectives (Rice & Wilson, 1999). There are a number of multimedia software programs such
as Authorware,
Hypercard, Hyperstudio, or Linkway which help students to create productions that include
video and audio clips
of various social studies topics. Likewise, concept mapping, clustering, mind maps, and other
types of graphic
organizers can be used effectively in social studies classes today. These visual learning symbols,
pictures, and
other representative techniques allow students to go deeper into ideas and concepts (Chandler,
2003).
The integration of multimedia technologies in the social studies has made it possible for students
to become
more involved in their studies and create multimedia applications as part of their project
requirements. Kocoglu
and Koymen (2003) point out those students who use the multimedia technology as designers
have higher
creative thinking skills than those who do not. In other words, it seems that using multimedia in
learning process
has a positive effect on students’ creative thinking skills.
The current research clearly shows that multimedia technologies significantly influence on
students’ learning by
broadening their scope of learning and knowledge. In the light of above, it is said that
multimedia technology
can provide an alternative to the traditional teacher-centered learning and it enables students to
enjoy a richer
constructivist learning environment. It can support students to become active learners rather than
memorizing
knowledge and display their ideas and information in terms of the multimedia format and use
their higher order
thinking skills like analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Mai Neo & Ken Neo, 2003).
THE INTERNET
The tremendous growth in telecommunication has brought online services, specialized electronic
networks,
WebPages, E-mail, software and global information resources to our homes as well as to schools
(Rose &
Fernlund, 1997). The Internet provides an environment in which millions of people participate
and engage in the
creation and exchange of information (Rose & Fernlund, 1997). Internet use has become very
popular in many
areas as well as in education in recent years. Accordingly, Internet access in schools has
increased greatly over
the last 20 years (Berson, 2000). According to a national survey, conducted in the United States,
over 90% of
schools now have some sort of access to the Internet, someplace in their building (Becker, 1999).
On the other
hand, “when it is compared with other developed countries, the educational use of the Internet in
Turkey is still
in the infancy period “(Usun, 2003, p.10). Yet, it seems that there are more efforts to integrate
the Internet into
the Turkish higher educational context than the primary and secondary education (Usun, 2003).
Since computer and Internet integration in the Turkish educational system are at the beginning
stages, it might be
a possible reason that the research studies in Turkey mostly have focused on the level of the
internet use among
teachers, students, and school administrators and their attitudes toward computer integration into
education
rather than focused on the effectiveness of computer technologies in learning and teaching
process.
Usun (2004) examined the attitudes of undergraduate students toward the use of computers in
education.
According to results of this research, it seems that the undergraduate students are eager to use
computers in
education. Similarly, Isman et al. (2004) found that high percentages of students have positive
attitudes towards
computers. Thus, it seems that Turkish students from different grade levels have positive
attitudes toward
computer integration into education. On the other hand, another study, examined the level of
information
technology use and the level of reading comprehension, produces positive results about the
effectiveness of the
Internet (Akpinar, 2002a). The survey was conducted on 1150 eight graders both from 21 public
and 15 private
schools of metropolitan cities in Turkey. The results of this study showed that the students who
had an access to
the Internet scored higher on reading comprehension than students who did not.
Likewise, research suggests that Turkish teachers also have positive attitudes toward computer
and Internet use
in education. Asan (2002) examined that the computer attitudes of 265 preservice teachers
majoring in science
education and social science education. The findings of the study indicated that preservice
teachers had positive
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attitudes towards computers and felt quite comfortable with computers. However, although it
seems that there
are positive beliefs about the computer and the Internet integration among the Turkish teachers,
it is important to
know their computer and the Internet using capabilities as well as the administrators’.
Altun (2000) examined the level and purposes of school administrators' computer use. The data
showed that 69.9
% of the school administrators used computers at the “intermediate” or “beginner” level.
Although the use of
computers seems high among the Turkish administrators they do not seem to be proficient and
effective users.
Accordingly, the proficiency of teachers in using computer seems very low. Asan (2003) studied
elementary
school teachers’ perceptions and attitudes about specific technologies and the role of technology
in education.
The results indicated that many teachers were not computer users and the computer literacy level
of teachers was
very low. 39 % of elementary school teachers in this study did not feel that they were competent
in using
computer technologies and majority (67 %) of teachers were not familiar with computer
technologies.
In other research, Isman (2002) found out that elementary school teachers cannot effectively use
new
technologies in learning and teaching processes. Similarly, the results of Akpinar’s (2003) study
showed that 30
% of teachers do not use the computer to support teaching in educational process. Akpinar
(2002b) states that the
majority of Turkish teachers prefer traditional teaching methods to cope with the learning
problems of students
rather than computer-based teaching methods. Gomleksiz (2004) point out that although teachers
have positive
attitudes towards the use of technology, they cannot use technology at the desired level.
According to Asan
(2003), lack of proficiency seems to be one of the most important barriers for common and
effective use of the
technologies in educational process.
On the other hand, as stated above, the availability of computer and Internet connection is very
high in American
schools. Thus, it is expected that all teachers including social studies teachers might be able to
integrate Internet-
based instructional studies into their teaching. However, a study conducted in the state of
Missouri among
middle school social studies teachers indicated that only half of the participants used the Internet
in the
classroom (Pye & Sullivan, 2001). Another survey, conducted on secondary social studies
teachers in the state of
Indiana, indicated that the majority (more than 85%) of teachers who participated in the survey
were employing
the Internet in some way for professional use including planning, research and so forth
(Vanfossen, 2001). The
data showed that 42.5 % of teachers encourage students to use the Internet to gather background
information
while 38.5 % of teachers themselves use the Internet frequently for this purpose. The data
indicated that the
second common reason for using the Internet among teachers is to gather information for lesson
planning.
Slightly more than half of the respondents indicated that they use the Internet for this purpose
“occasionally”
while almost 20% of them use the Internet “frequently” for this purpose. Therefore, it is clear
that teachers use
the Internet basically for personal purposes such as to find information and other resources, and
to gather
background information for planning rather than in teaching and learning activities in the
classroom.
Accordingly, Vanfossen’s survey shows that “developing WebPages for lesson” or “taking
students on a virtual
trip” are the rarest Internet uses among the teachers who participated in the survey. Only 12 % of
the participants
developed web pages for lessons occasionally and slightly less than 7 % of the participants took
students on a
virtual trip.
WEBQUEST
Webquest is one of Internet-supported instructional strategies used in the social studies
classroom. “A webquest
is a structured exercise is created by teacher that asks students to solve a problem or find an
answer to a question
or questions by finding information on the web” (Zukas, 2000, p.68). Webquest, developed in
the mid-1990s by
Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University, (Teclehaimanot & Lamb, 2004; Zukas, 2000) has
become one of
the most popular form of internet use in the classroom. Webquest is defined as “inquiry-oriented
activity in
which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the web… designed to
learners time well,
focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners thinking at the
levels of analysis,
synthesis and evaluation” (Educational technology Department of San Diego State, 2001; as
cited in Whitworth
& Berson, 2003, p.480). Thus, webquest is an inquiry and problem solving oriented instructional
strategy in
which students can construct their own knowledge and truths (Zukas, 2000).
March (2003) points out that the best webquest motivates students to see richer thematic and
conceptual
relationships, to provide the real world learning, and to reflect on their own metacognitive skills
which are very
important to evaluate at the level of higher-order thinking. According to March (2003),
scaffolding is at the heart
of the webquest mode and can be used to apply such approaches as constructivist strategies,
differentiated
learning, and situated learning.
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TELECOLLABORATION
Telecollaboration can be used efficiently in communication process between students, teachers
and faculty
members in a distant place. Telecollaboration allows students from one classroom interacting
with other students
in a distant class and has the potential to offer effective communication and educational
experiences for students.
According to Driscoll (2000), collaborate technologies are now finding their way into instruction
to support
learning of students engaged in a learning task as members of a group. Collaborate technologies
can be designed
for use within a classroom, across classrooms, and outside of classrooms. In this way, students
can communicate
to others within and outside the immediate learning community.
Harris (1999; as cited in Whitworth & Berson, 2003) pointed out telecollaboration can not only
support global
education by exposing students’ contrary opinions, perspectives, beliefs, experiences, and
thinking processes but
also encourages students to compare, contrast, and/or combines similar information collected in
similar
locations. “Students have begun to cooperate with each other on world issues and research topics
of interest
compiling them into multimedia presentations and participating in online national and
international summit
meetings with classrooms around the world “(Quesada, 1996; as cited in Whitworth & Berson,
2003, p. 481).
According to Lee (2001), telecollaboration seems to support to social constructivist learning
environment. As
Lee asserts, Vygotsky’s self regulated learning approach can be used for teaching and assessing
analytical,
creative, and practical thinking via e-mail project. According to Vygotsky’s social constructivist
view, students
construct knowledge by involving in social contexts such as interacting with peers, teachers,
experts, and
classmates. In a telecollaborative learning environment, students can have an opportunity to
build their own
knowledge through the interaction going on between their peers and teachers. That seems to be a
representation
of Vygotsky’s social constructivist learning environment.
CONCLUSION
As Berson (1996) asserts, one of the major purposes of social studies is to promote effective
citizens who posses
the critical thinking and decision making skills to function in a democratic society. Thus,
reflective inquiry,
problem solving and decision making skills are considered essential for the contemporary social
studies
education. Research shows that computer- and Internet-supported teaching strategies have
crucial roles in
facilitating the development of students’ critical thinking, problem solving and decision making
skills (Berson,
1996; Rice & Wilson, 1999).
In this paper, a number of computer-based instructional strategies used in the social studies
education are
reviewed. It seems that the Internet has become the most popular one among all computer-based
instructional
strategies in the social studies classroom. It is clear that the current development in
telecommunication
technology makes the Internet more accessible to anybody. Furthermore, Internet use is not a
difficult task when
compared to other software programs. Therefore, it is not surprising why teachers use the
Internet.
In addition, social studies content requires substantive content knowledge and the Internet is a
great source for
this. The Internet provides a wide variety of sources, which represent different points of view.
Using sources,
which represent different worldviews is one of the best ways to foster students’ critical thinking,
creative
thinking, problem solving and decision making skills. However, literature review shows that
teachers use the
Internet basically for personal purposes such as to find information and other resources, and to
gather
background information for planning rather than a teaching and learning activities in the
classroom.
On the other hand, other strategies such as database development, games, multimedia,
hypermedia, webquest and
telecollaboration also significantly contribute to students’ critical thinking, problem solving and
decision
making skills. Moreover, these kinds of strategies might foster students’ creativity because these
strategies
require creation and construction abilities and ideas from students.
In our opinion, all computer-based instructional strategies somehow reinforce the constructivist
classroom
environment. However, social studies teachers still are not comfortable with applying all or some
computer-
based instructional strategies. We believe that a follow up study can be done to review the beliefs
and attitudes
of social studies teachers toward these strategies. The results of the study might reveal the
reasons for the lack of
using computer-based instructional strategies among social studies teachers.
In addition, there is still need for research in the field of technology and social studies,
particularly how the
usage of new and innovative ways of integrating technology into the classroom impacts
outcomes of learning
(Whitworth & Berson, 2003).
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Running head: THE USE OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SOCIAL STUDIES
CLASSROOM
Mehmet Açıkalın
The Ohio State University
acikalin.1@osu.edu
Birth Date: 01.03.1975
Address: 668 Stinchcomb Dr.Apt. 6
Columbus OH, USA 43202
Phone: (614) 263 6918
Mehmet Acikalin is a PhD student in Social Studies & Global Education at the Ohio State
University (OSU). He
graduated from the department of History (B.A.) at Istanbul University, Istanbul-Turkey in 1995.
He has got a
scholarship form the Ministry of National Education in Turkey to purse his masters and doctoral
degree in the
United Sates. He completed his master (Med) at University of Missouri-Columbia in 2002.
Currently, he is a
third year PhD students at the OSU. His research interests are including:
1- Technology integration into social studies education
2- Social Studies teacher education
3- Students’ understanding history
Erdinç Duru
Penn State University
duru@psu.edu
Birth Date: 10.01.1967
Address: 2478 S. Winslow Ct.
Bloomington, IN, USA 47401
The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – TOJET April 2005 ISSN: 1303-6521
volume 4 Issue 2 Article 3
26
Phone: (812) 323 2764
Erdinc Duru is a post-doctoral student in School of Behavioral Sciences and Education, Penn
State University,
Harrisburg-USA. He graduated from the department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling
in Dokuz Eylul
University, Izmir-Turkey and had master and doctoral degree in same area. He is married and
has a daughter,
Sila Ege. He has been living in the US for four years. His research interests include;
1- Effective learning process, critical thinking, and learning and thinking styles,
2- Prosocial behavior, social competency and empathy,
3- Psychological adjustment and loneliness,
4- Specifically, cognitive and affective processes which affect individuals’ social behavior.

 ... This makes the essence of the education process more flexible. With this process, the
physical limitations of the classroom come to an end, student experiences get rich and
students become more open to questioning and different thinking skills ( Vanfossen,
2001;Acikalin & Duru, 2005). In this respect, the technologies used also have important
reflections for the social studies course. ...

Should We Flip the Social Studies Classrooms? The Opinions of Social Studies Teacher
Candidates on Flipped Classroom

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