Discovery learning
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Strand- Time
continuity and change
Sub – strand Time and
change
Discovery Learning is one of the general social studies
strategies and as such it is very open-ended and broad. The book describes
this strategy as any activity that the teacher structures to help students
find answers on a particular topic through problem solving. Instead of
lecturing about a topic or assigning a specific piece of reading, the teacher
complies different resources for students to look through and draw their own
conclusions from. For younger students, the book suggests that the teacher
pre-make resource files that contain articles and pictures that will help the
students with their research, while older students can be allowed to search
for their own sources in the school library or online. This strategy can be
used for many social studies topics from researching a historical figure to
looking at a specific society of people. The most important thing to keep in
mind with this strategy is that there typically is no right or wrong answer
to find; the focus is on guiding students to discover research and making
their own interpretations from it.
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When thinking about how I could use this
strategy in a classroom, Christopher Columbus immediately came to my mind.
Usually, we hear about how he discovered the Americas and he is even celebrated
with his own national holiday. However, there were Native Americans that
already lived on the continent he ‘discovered’ and his treatment of these
people was extremely sad. For older students, I would have them research
Christopher Columbus with a focus on how his discovery of America affected the
native people of the land. I would find articles and first-hand accounts from
Native Americans that experienced Columbus coming to their home and place these
resources in either a digital or hard-copy folder for each group of students to
look through. I would also encourage students to find their own resources.
After allowing students to research, we would discuss as a class how Columbus’
discovery affected Native Americans. This would be a great way to show students
that even though a historical figure is celebrated by some, they might not be a
favorable character in other people’s history.
Teaching time can
be tricky and frustrating at times, but hands-on and lots of practice will help
the concept stick. Judy clocks are excellent clocks for kids to use since the
hour hand moves when the minute hand goes around, just like the real thing. The
following ideas are from homeschoolers, teachers, and others who submitted
creative teaching strategies on an online for
"For telling
time, you could make a clock, using strong paper and a brad in the
middle, and practice telling time. Start with the "o'clock" times,
then move on to "30's." After that, show that the numbers around the
face have the minute value which is reached when you count by 5's, and practice
telling time with the minute
hand on the numbers. (Make sure you progress the hour hand as
you go. They need to get used to the idea that at 4:55, the hour hand will look
like it's on the 5.)"
"I didn't
introduce time and money until toward the end of 1st grade. It's easier to
understand "quarter-past" and "half past" once you have
covered fractions.
Of
course, we talk about time and money in our daily life long before the end of
first grade."
"I always ask
her to provide me the time. It is just one of her jobs. It is also her job to
adjust the thermostat. She will read me the numbers and I will tell her what to
change it to or how many to change it by, etc."
"For my son,
since he'd learned how to count
by 5s, I taught him to count by 5s on his watch. He picked this up
really well. We did have a little adjusting to do with the times that were near
the next hour because it always "looks" like the next hour, but he
learned to really pay attention to where the little hand was (just before the
next number, etc.). To me, I find it confusing (and a waste) to show a breakdown
of hour, half-hour, learn that, then break it down more... the same time could
be spent learning the count by 5s. I haven't taught him how to count by exact
number yet (12:02 example), but will be doing that this year."
"Personally, I
wouldn't start with money and time until she has mastered counting by 5s and
10s. This way, it will become very easy for her to understand the principles in
figuring out the time and amount of change, etc. My son only knew the value of
coins and telling time by o'clock and half-past in kindergarten. Now, he is
able to make change, count change, and tell time. He is now learning how to
figure out time sentence problems (e.g., How much time did it take, etc.) and
he is starting 2nd grade. However, while in kindergarten and 1st grade, he was
able to add and subtract very large numbers and carry-over, etc.
So,
don't be surprised if your child is not ready for this—especially if he/she
cannot count by 5s and 10s first."
"Well, I have
a kindergartener and
we're working on time and money right now. He actually is really good at time
because we teach time as it happens. He realizes that his favorite show comes
on at 4:00 pm, he knows that his friends come home from school at about 3:00
pm, etc. He learns because he asks. Also, when he went to visit my parents this
summer, they bought him an analog watch and taught him how to tell time on it.
He's not perfect at it, but he can get it down to the hour now. But yes, time
is definitely better taught as it happens. That's also how I learned analog
time when I was a kid."
"To teach my
son to tell time, once he understood the basics, we went to a store and he
picked out a pocket watch that caught his eye. I told him it was up to him to
make sure we always knew the time. He was excited to have any excuse to pull
out that shiny watch and use it. It reinforced his time telling skills and now
every time he sees it, he can remember that special time we spent together."
"I realized it
is helpful if you give the names to the following hand:
- Second hand
= Second hand (keep it the same)
- Big hand =
Minute Hand
- Small hand
= Name Hand
You
can explain now or later that it's not really called the "name hand,"
but it will make it easier to learn for now. Start off by teaching the time at
the top of the hours. Put the clock at 3:00 and ask "what number does the
name hand point to?" When he says, "3," say "that means
it's 3 o'clock."
Next,
change it to 4. "Now what time does the name hand point to?" etc. Mix
it up after a few times. Once the child seems to understand that, ask him or
her to make a time and tell you what it is.
If
they go to something other than an 'o'clock,' (like 3:20), feel free to tell
them what time that is, but say that the big hand has to be facing up for it to
be three o'clock. Explain you'll learn the rest of it another day (or teach it
to them later after they have mastered the 'o'clock' part. Every child will be
different.)"
