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 * __Why Haven’t Secondary Social Studies Teachers Adopted Information Technologies?__**

Man, Lee H. 2002. "WHY HAVEN'T SECONDARY SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS ADOPTED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES?." //International Social Studies Forum// 2, no. 2: 175. //Academic Search Complete//, EBSCO//host// (accessed December 8, 2012).

In this article the author argues that secondary Social Studies teachers are not taking advantage of the World Wide Web enough in their classrooms. He points to three things to explain why this is: a lack of training; a lack of support; and that some schools have limited access to the required hardware and software. Lee also points out that it seems that most Social Studies teachers are more hesitant to change. This can be explained by three things the first being the 400-page Social Studies textbook, what subjects are valued in the schools, and a fear of students not being productive on the Internet during class time. While he is telling us how much we should use the Internet more often Lee says that relying only on the World Wide Web would not be a good thing. Some advantages of using the World Wide Web include being able to see several different opinions and view points on key historical events take took place all around the world. Having students look up resources on the Internet allows them to develop the skills needed to decide whether or not a certain source is a good or bad one.

**__Reinventing Social Studies.__**

ST. JARRE, KEVIN. 2008. "Reinventing Social Studies." //Phi Delta Kappan// 89, no. 9: 649-653. //Academic Search Complete//, EBSCO//host// (accessed December 8, 2012).

This article begins by stating that Social Studies these days excludes social sciences and economics. History classes are teaching students important dates and events instead of focusing on explaining the full reasoning to why a certain situation happened. He blames this on the textbooks; since they are so large and cover such a wide variety of topics it is hard for them to go into great detail. The system that is in place nowadays is one that relies on making students memorize certain dates and people. Kevin suggests that we need to teach our students to break down a certain event and show them why they should care about it happening. Excluding all of ancient history and replacing it with United States history and European history is just another example of what is wrong with the system in his eyes these days.

**__Improving Student Content Knowledge in Inclusive Social Studies Classrooms Using Technology-Based Cognitive Organizers: A Systematic Replication.__**

Boon, Richard T., Mack D. Burke, Cecil Fore III, and Shanna Hagan-Burke. 2006. "Improving Student Content Knowledge in Inclusive Social Studies Classrooms Using Technology-Based Cognitive Organizers: A Systematic Replication." //Learning Disabilities -- A Contemporary Journal// 4, no. 1: 1-17. //Academic Search Complete//, EBSCO//host// (accessed December 8, 2012).

The survey done in this article was to try and replicate the results from a previous survey where students were broken up into groups, the control group, where they would only use the textbook and lecture during class. While the treatment group would use this Inspiration 6 software on the computer. In total 44 students took part in the survey all from 10th grade. Of which 26 were general education and 18 were learning disabled. In the control group there was 12 general education students and 12 learning disabled students. While in the treatment group there was 14 general education and 6 special education students. The students were given the same pre-test in which they had similar results. The control group got a mean score of 8.25, and the treatment group scored an 8.45 on the same test. After three days of teaching the students took another test testing them on what they have just learned. The treatment group improved their mean score by 33.25 raising it to 41.70. Although the control group also saw improvement it was at a much smaller rate as they only improved their mean score by 13.04 raising it to 21.29. All it took for the teacher to be able to teach this class using the Inspiration 6 software was one 45-minute workshop.

**__Moving Beyond Lecture: Cooperative Learning and the Secondary Social Studies Classroom.__**

Nagel, Paul. 2008. "Moving beyond Lecture: Cooperative Learning and the Secondary Social Studies Classroom." //Education// 128, no. 3: 363-368. //ERIC//, EBSCO//host// (accessed December 8, 2012).

Nagel argues in this article that Elementary and Secondary History teachers need to collaborate more together. By creating an environment where students can interact across grade levels it increases Cooperative Learning. Cooperative Learning has several advantages to it some of which include a higher level of reasoning, a higher rate of the generation of new ideas, and students being able to come up with solutions faster. The author points out 5 key elements to Cooperative Learning: positive interdependence; Face-to-Face interaction; individual & group accountability; interpersonal skills; and group processing. By making academic achievement acceptable and the normal in your classroom you boost the self-esteems of all your students. That in return makes your students want to come to class more and more likely to remember what they learned in class. Some activities you could use to encourage Cooperative Learning are “Talking Chips” and the “Round Table ”.

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