Social studies activities: Strategies to boost learning and student engagement.

If you’re like me, you are always looking for new social studies activities and lesson ideas. It is so easy to get in a rut doing the same thing over and over again. On the other hand, I want to do things that are effective at helping students learn and that don’t take hours for me to prepare.

Traditionally, activities for social studies have included a combination of:

• Reading Assignments
• Lectures
• Videos
• Quizzes
• Tests
• Worksheets
• Homework Questions

But social studies instruction can be so much more!

A social studies teacher has many other options available, including:

• Discussions
• Online Quiz and Study Helps
• Primary Source Activities
• Critical Thinking Exercises
• Group Work
• Projects
• Webquests

Students generally rate class discussion as a popular and desirable social studies activity.

Discussion seems like it would be among the easiest social studies activities to implement. However, you have probably had the same experience I have where you ask what you think is an interesting and exciting question and all you get back are blank stares. Here are a couple strategies for having more effective discussions:

• Start with a reading of some kind, preferably short. (My goal is to have no more than 2 pages.) Do the reading together in class. Often, I read to the students, but sometimes I also call on students I know to be good readers as well.
• Have a focus question for this reading. Share this question before you get started. I often have students write the focus question at the top of the reading. Be sure it is an open ended question.
• Help students to mark up the reading as it is being read. I point out things I might mark and explain why. I also call on students to volunteer what they would mark in a paragraph and why.
• Once the reading is finished I have students jot down some preliminary thoughts about the question. I usually tell them that bullet points are fine. No need to write complete sentences (yet).
• Next I have students discuss with a partner what they have jotted down. This gives them a low stakes way to verbalize their thinking before sharing it with the entire class.
• Now students are ready to participate in a class discussion of the question. I try to mix it up by calling on volunteers and a few students who do not have hands raised. I try not to put any student on the spot, so if I sense they are having a bad day or are otherwise confused by the reading I don’t call on them.
• Finally, it is time for students to write. I usually have them write a half page or full page in response to the question. They are welcome to use their own thinking and anything or everything they have heard during the discussion. I rarely have any problems with getting a substantial amount of writing. These writing assignments are usually turned in by the end of the period, so no homework! Students like that. This is a simple to use social studies activity that can be repeated with an endless variety of readings: primary sources, textbook excerpts, web pages, newspaper articles, biographies, and so on.

Social studies activities using online quiz and study helps add an element of gaming, which students enjoy.

I admit that I have been slow to adopt and use technology in my classroom. Most of my social studies activities have involved traditional pencil and paper. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the wealth of online resources to make teaching and learning more exciting and engaging. Online quiz and study helps are one of my favorites. I use three in particular: Quizlet, Kahoot!, and Quizizz. All three of these have free and paid versions. I have used both the paid and free versions at different times and for different courses.

Quizlet, for example, allows the teacher to input terms and definitions (or content of any kind). Then the program creates a variety of games and study activities that students can do. I like this because students can select a type of game/activity that appeals to them. Quizlet also has what they call Quizlet Live, which allows you to play whole class games with the content. I believe this is only available in the paid version. Another great thing about all three of these sites is that there are lots of ready-made social studies activities that can be used as is or copied and revised. For example, I created my own set of Quizlets for my American History course, but I selected a set of already made Quizizz activities for my students.

I use Quizlet, Kahoot!, and Quizizz has tools both for students to review and learn on their own as well as in class time. In my state, we have an American History end of course test administered by the state that every student must take. Those test results are used to calculate value-added scores that are used for teacher evaluation. So, I use these tools in class (often for only 5-10 minutes) as a way to have all students practice learning material while I watch. I am not a huge fan to test prep. However, I want students to do the best they can, so I try to use at least a little time to make sure students are working on learning required social studies content.

These social studies activities can bring some variety and increased engagement to the social studies classroom. Of course, activities are not the only thing that makes a successful classroom as the infographic below illustrates.

Activities for Specific Content Areas

In addition to these activities that can be applied to any content area, each social studies field also has a wide variety of possible activities to help students master content and skills. For example, check out some ideas for psychology activities.

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