Social Education March/April 2021
Social Education March/April 2021
Volume:85
Num:2
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Editor's Notebook
Editor's Notebook March/April 2021
This issue of Social Education offers two special sections. The first, whose guest editors are Mark C. Schug and William C. Wood, provides detailed information, insightful analyses, and useful resources for teaching about the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The second, edited by our Technology Department Editors, Michael J. Berson and Meghan McGlinn Manfra, introduces cutting-edge technologies that can both enhance student learning and enliven the social studies classroom.
In the opening article, Mark C. Schug compares the current coronavirus pandemic with the 1918 influenza pandemic that occurred at the end of World War I and took many more lives than the war itself. His article emphasizes the change in the economic role of the federal government in the last 100 years, as well as the significant increase in public health knowledge during that time period.
Three articles provide extensive information and perceptive analyses of the impact of the pandemic and the federal government’s response to it. Kim Holder and Scott Niederjohn survey the main effects of the pandemic on key economic indicators, including GDP, unemployment, consumer prices, and government spending, and identify resources that will assist students to examine the economic “shock they are currently living through.” (64) Ben Hamilton and Piyusha Mutreja compare the economic impact of the pandemic on the United States with its effects on three other Western democracies: Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Jane Ihrig and Scott Wolla discuss the rapid response of the Federal Reserve, which “leaned on its full range of tools” (78) by decreasing interest rates and taking other measures to stabilize financial markets and support the flow of credit into the economy.
The pandemic had a devastating effect on the financial situation of millions of households throughout the country. William C. Wood affirms that “it’s not too late to learn the lessons of 2020 for the future,” (81) and offers financial planning suggestions that are oriented specifically toward teachers.
In the concluding article of the first special section, Tawni Hunt Ferrarini introduces some exciting technological tools for teaching about economics, highlighting seven principles for using them in a way that can both engage and educate students.
The second special section in this issue, prepared by Michael J. Berson and Meghan McGlinn Manfra, presents educational technologies that can increase students’ interest in social studies. The development of machine learning tools has facilitated Internet searches for images and specialized information. In this special section’s first article, Benjamin Charles Germain Lee, Ilene R. Berson, and Michael J. Berson offer suggestions for integrating machine learning in the history classroom by showing how the Newspaper Navigator tool that Lee developed can select fascinating images and information about a specific theme from the 16+ million pages of digitized historical newspapers in the Chronicling America collection of the Library of Congress. The shift to remote instruction during the pandemic has required social studies teachers to develop new ways of providing scaffolding and support for student inquiries. Meghan McGlinn Manfra and Meghan Grant explore some notable responses to these challenges in an article that features personal accounts by five experienced social studies teachers (Kasey Turcol, Lauren Boop, David Beller, Mark Grow, and Anthony Grondziowski).
Extended reality technology allows students to interact virtually with historic and contemporary environments. Colleen Fitzpatrick, David Hicks, Todd Ogle, and Adam Friedman describe the potential of the technology to spark students’ curiosity and enhance their research skills in dealing with important and challenging topics.
Through their smartphones, students now have unprecedented capabilities to take photographs, but it can be difficult to construct projects that use these capabilities to promote learning, literacy, and life skills. Ricky Mullins and Cassidy Hall recommend a project-based learning approach that enables students to use the Seek App to capture images that they can use for first-person point-of-view assignments.
Outside the special sections, our Sources and Strategies column examines the first use of aerial technology for military reconnaissance in the United States in June 1861, shortly after the Civil War began, when Thaddeus Lowe sent President Lincoln observations from an ascent in a tethered balloon. Using engaging primary sources of the time, Michael Apfeldorf reviews the development of balloon technology during the war.
The C3 Framework emphasizes the need for students to write evidence-based claims, but they often need guidance to help them understand the characteristics of effective claims. In our Teaching the C3 Framework column, Ryan Lewis describes how he helped students improve their claim writing with a four-dimensional approach that focused on making their claims evidentiary, reasoned, clear, and accurate.
This issue of Social Education concludes with an article on the rule of law, which is the topic of this year’s Law Day on May 1, 2021. In the Lessons on the Law column, Will A. Gunn reviews the history of the concept of the rule of law in the United States, and identifes current challenges that show that “we can’t afford to take it for granted.” (123)
As always, the editors of Social Education welcome the comments of readers on any of the contributions to this issue at socialed@ncss.org
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Sources and Strategies
Civil War Aeronauts: Exploring 19th Century Technology Innovation with Photographs, Manuscripts and Newspapers
The featured telegraph to President Abraham Lincoln from a gas-filled balloon, along with accompanying photographs, can launch a fascinating lesson on the Civil War and nineteenth-century technology.
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Teaching the C3 Framework
What’s In A Claim? A Framework for Helping Students Write Persuasive Claims
Teaching students to make an effective claim is a critical step in establishing a culture of inquiry in the social studies education.
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Lessons on the Law
How the Rule of Law Has Shaped and Continues to Shape America
This year’s Law Day, on May 1, offers an opportune moment for students to examine and debate the meaning of the rule of law and how we can advance it in times of civil distress and unrest.
Nextgen Social Studies Education: The Intersection of Humans and Machines
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Machine Learning and the Social Studies
Machine learning offers unique opportunities to re-imagine how students navigate and access digital collections for classroom learning.
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Issues and Opportunities in the Digital Transformation of Social Studies Instruction
The personal stories of experienced social studies teachers about their transition to digital learning in the wake of COVID-19 spotlight opportunities for innovation in how we teach.
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Using Extended Reality Technology for C3 Inquiries
The use of extended reality opens the way for rich, focused student inquiry into topics like the Holocaust, the civil rights movement, or Greek Art.
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What Do We Do With All of the Videos?: Examining How to Use First-Person Point of View Videos in Teaching
One teacher’s experience recording video from the viewer’s perspective in Antarctica provides a creative model for inquiry-oriented activities to engage students in problem-based, real-world exploration.
Teaching the Economic Effects of the Pandemic
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The 1918 Influenza Pandemic and COVID-19: Have We Seen This Movie Before?
A detailed comparison of the 1918 and 2020 pandemics reveals some striking similarities as well as big differences in health care measures and the federal government response.
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Pandemic 101: A Roadmap to Help Students Grasp an Economic Shock
A close look at visual data on GDP, unemployment, interest rates, and inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic will provide students with important insights into the economic effects of the health crisis and monetary and fiscal policy responses.
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The U.S. Government Response to COVID-19: Perspectives on the Costs and Benefits
Students can gain a more in-depth understanding of the economic impact of the pandemic as well as the costs and benefits of government action by contrasting the U.S. experience with that of similar countries.
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The Federal Reserve’s Early Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to teach important economic concepts about contemporary events that have personal meaning to students.
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Lessons for the Teacher: Smart Financial Moves for Educators Whipsawed by the Pandemic
When the 2020 pandemic hit, teachers not only faced educational disruption but disruption in personal and family finances. It’s not too late to learn lessons for the future.
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Teaching Economics with the Coolest Technology
The highlighted award-winning EdTech tools can engage students while also advancing their understanding of economic reasoning and financial decision making.
