Blogs I recently had the opportunity to work with Josh Wenzel, a practicing social studies teacher and former Teaching Channel evaluator. While course development is in my wheelhouse, teaching social studies is not. Thankfully, Josh is a current practitioner and brought concrete ideas from the field, a different perspective, and MANY resources to our course creation process. Together, we developed a new course 5141: Social Studies Instruction for Maximum Impact.
In this course focused on maximizing the effectiveness and impact of instruction, teachers will explore the ideas of surface learning, deep learning, and transfer of learning in the content area of social studies. The course text, Visible Learning for Social Studies by Hattie, Stern, Fisher, and Frey, provides a current research base and immediately applicable strategies. The coursework encourages the development of activities and lessons teachers can use the next day and provides numerous opportunities for reflection. Plus, the course is filled with resources for instructional planning. As an example, Application: Innovate asks participants to develop a lesson to ensure deep learning of a concept and includes 12 resources to assist with innovative planning. Check them out!
- History Lessons – Stanford History Education Group 
- Civic Online Reasoning – Stanford History Education Group 
- Facing History and Ourselves 
- Learning for Justice – Classroom Resources for Social Studies  
- Read. Inquire. Write. – University of Michigan 
- Teaching History 
- Getting Started with Primary Sources – Library of Congress 
- C3 Teachers 
- Cult of Pedagogy – History/Social Studies Resources  
- Right Question Institute 
- Zinn Education Project  
- PBS Learning Media: U.S. History  
In addition to these resources, Josh included even more that we couldn’t fit into the required course content! Download Josh’s list here.
If you teach social studies and need resources, we’ve got you covered. If you teach social studies and want to increase your instructional impact, register for 5141: Social Studies Instruction for Maximum Impact. If you don’t teach social studies, but you know an educator who does, consider sharing this blog and the resource list with them. This course is also great for general education teachers, support specialists, and co-teachers, like EL teachers and special educators who want to learn more about surface learning, deep learning, and transfer of learning.
Course Information
Title: Course 5141: Social Studies Instruction for Maximum Impact
Graduate Credits: 3 semester credits
Grade Level: 3-12+
