Social Science Edu Research Resources Research Paper

In general the PBS website is one of the web's most valuable and useful for teachers. The social media integration for the activity packs might actually come in handy for teachers seeking to encourage a more educational function for social media platforms, and could be a useful teaching strategy.

As a teacher of social studies and social science fields like sociology, I will use the PBS website. The lesson plans are excellent, and are in subject areas that I never would have considered myself. This allows me to think outside the box when working with my students. The multimedia emphasis on the PBS website lesson plans and activity packs will also be helpful for teachers that need a boost in their inclusion of new media to instructional design.

Byrne, R. (2010) "12 Resources All Social Studies Teachers Should Try."

This page by social sciences educator Byrne (2010) does not include any lesson plans and is surprisingly broad in scope. However, educators must never take for granted the most basic web resources that can aid instruction or inspire learning. Buyrne (2010) does not assume anything, and lists resources that many teachers will already be aware of like Google Earth. However, many teachers like myself might never have considered using Google Earth as a springboard for academic learning or instructional strategy. There are other similarly common resources many teachers might overlook given the plethora of fancier ones available through proprietary technologies or prefabricated lesson plans that preclude the instructor from having to engage critically with the material. Byrne (2010) asks social sciences instructors to think more openly about their subjects by encouraging an investigation of resources on the Internet ranging from Google Scholar to Playing History.

Because of the inclusion of diverse resources, the Byrne (2010) collection of links is appropriate for teachers in all grade levels. The games on Playing History, for example, might appeal less to 11th graders than to 4th graders. Likewise, 4th graders will get very little out of a Google Scholar search, but a high schooler needs to know how to begin accessing academic databases and exploring the depth of scholarly articles that are available, at least in their abstract forms.

It would have been better if Byrne included some more scope to the social science rubric. There are no links directly related to gender issues, or to issues related to race, class, and social power. The links are too tame, and too generalized. Teachers will need to insert their own ideas and draw up their own lesson plans to get the most out of this web resource.

References

Bibliography

Byrne, R. (2010, 04-06). 12 Resources All Social Studies Teachers Should Try. Retrieved 04-20, 2013, from Free Technology for Teachers: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/04/12-resources-every-social-studies.html#.UXG4bishKII

McGraw-Hill. (1997, 0-0). Research Resources for the Social Sciences. Retrieved 04-20, 2013, from Research Resources for the Social Sciences: http://www.socsciresearch.com/

PBS. (n.d., n.d. n.d.). PBS Teachers Social Studies. Retrieved 04-20, 2013, from PBS Teachers: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/socialstudies/