Presentation Transcript

1. Senior Social Science Program

   Mr. Gee and Mr. Reid
2. What is the Social Science Program? A semester or quarter (more on this later) program for grade 12 students Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Cross-Curricular: Psychology 12, Law 12, Sustainable Resources 11 & 12 and History, Economics or Social Justice 12 Directed at higher level thinking, meaningful experiences and personal development for university, college or the professional workforce
3. How it came to be: We found ourselves constantly pulling information from other content areas to help make sense of what we’re learning (using Psychology to make sense of Law) Believe that grade 12’s need more university and/or professional preparation Believe that students need to consider and/or solve relevant, real-world issues We get bored too…
4. What is PBL? Students engage complex, challenging problems and collaboratively work toward their resolution Students connecting disciplinary knowledge to real-world problems—the motivation to solve a problem becomes the motivation to learn Teachers are facilitators: We offer the experience and opportunities
5. Benefits of PBL: Promotes self-motivation and self-responsibility to learn Facilitates more enjoyable and more effective learning Encourages learning from experience, allowing students to use and organize what has been learnt to understand problems Integrates knowledge with practice Nurtures the ability to analyze problems and to identify and acquire knowledge and skills needed to deal with real-life situations Develops teamwork and communication skills Trains students to be reflective and assess their own and others’ work Cultivates independence, curiosity, and skills for self-directed, life-long learning Is enjoyable and less focused on high-stakes tests and constant projects…
6. PBL Successes: Originated at McMaster University School of Medicine in the 1960’s Since then, adopted by various Medical, Law, Dentistry and Graduate programs at UBC, Harvard, Queensland U, Hong Kong U, Stanford, etc… Why PBL in Medical schools?
7. Our Goal: Understand the importance of STEEP Understand that issues are rarely black and white Develop communication, research and presentation skills Understand complexities of local and global issues
8. What is STEEP? Social: demographics, lifestyles, social and cultural values, consumer behavior and advertising. Technological: innovation, transport, energy, communication, research & development. Economical: taxes, international trade, costs, markets, marketing, advertising, entrepreneurship and availability of jobs. Environmental: ecosystem factors like water, wind, soil, food and energy. Political: decisions, stakeholders, finances, popularity, community
9. Balancing STEEP
10. Key Characteristics of Fulton’s SSP: PBL STEEP (Social, Technology, Environment, Economics & Politics) Based on extensive challenges – element of competition Experiences (outdoor activities, guest speakers, field work, etc) Creating real solutions and proposals
11. Quarter/Semester Structure:
12. Teacher Instruction vs. Student Self-Directed Learning:
13. Weekly Challenge Structure
14. Challenge Example:Issue: Legalizing Marijuana
15. Evaluation: Self-assessments Group-assessments Teacher conferences Milestones completion Main goal: Did I consider as many factors related to STEEP as possible?
16. Our Questions: What needs clarification? What don’t you understand? What do you think? Like? Dislike? Would you prefer a quarter or a semester (consider your 2nd semester courses… is this too difficult?) Would you select this program? Why, why not? What about courses… History, Economics, Social Justice? Who would sign up?
17. Thanks! Please feel free to share this program with grade 11 students…