Holt Social Studies: United States History Pedagogical Research Report. Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Holt Social Studies: United States History © 2007 Pedagogical Research Report Holt, Rinehart and Winston Holt Social Studies: United States Histor...
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Holt Social Studies: United States History © 2007

Pedagogical Research Report

Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Holt Social Studies: United States History Pedagogical Research Report

Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 1 Organization.................................................................................................................................. 2 Strand 1 - Reading Informative and Expository Texts............................................................ 3 Defining the Strand ..................................................................................................................... 3 Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development ........................................................ 3 From Research to Practice ......................................................................................................... 8 Strand 2 - Effective Instructional Approaches ......................................................................... 9 Defining the Strand ..................................................................................................................... 9 Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development ........................................................ 9 From Research to Practice ....................................................................................................... 13 Strand 3 - Meeting the Needs of All Students ....................................................................... 15 Defining the Strand ................................................................................................................... 15 Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development ...................................................... 15 From Research to Practice ....................................................................................................... 20 Strand 4 - Assessment .............................................................................................................. 22 Defining the Strand ................................................................................................................... 22 Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development ...................................................... 22 From Research to Practice ....................................................................................................... 27 Strand 5 - Teaching U.S. History............................................................................................. 29 Defining the Strand ................................................................................................................... 29 Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development ...................................................... 29 From Research to Practice ....................................................................................................... 34 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 35

Introduction

Holt Social Studies: United States History Pedagogical Research Report

Introduction On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This law contains the most comprehensive reforms of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since it was enacted in 1965. One fundamental principle of the new law is that schools and teachers should implement teaching methods that have been proven to work—effective teaching methods that have been identified through sound research. The purpose of this document is to demonstrate clearly and explicitly the scientific research upon which Holt Social Studies: United States History is based. The document is organized by five major instructional strands that underpin the program: • Teaching students to read informative and expository texts; • Using effective instructional approaches; • Differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all students; • Using effective assessment to guide instruction; • Using effective strategies for teaching U.S. history. These strands describe the key components of U.S. history instruction as identified by research specifically focused on the social studies and by research on teaching and learning across the content areas. The Holt Social Studies: United States History program makes use of a number of pedagogical approaches that are based on research findings unique to social studies education as well as those that have been proven effective across the content areas. Therefore, these strands encompass topics both specific to U.S. history and social studies and relevant across content areas.

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Organization

Holt Social Studies: United States History Pedagogical Research Report

Organization This booklet is organized by the five strands that were introduced on the previous page. • • • • •

Strand 1: Reading Informative and Expository Texts Strand 2: Effective Instructional Approaches Strand 3: Meeting the Needs of All Students Strand 4: Assessment Strand 5: Teaching U.S. History

To show how the strands are connected to research and the contents of Holt Social Studies: United States History, this booklet is organized by the following sections within each strand: o Defining the Strand. This section summarizes the terminology and findings of the research. o Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development of Holt Social Studies: United States History. This section identifies subtopics within each strand and provides excerpts from relevant research on each subtopic within the strand. o From Research to Practice. This section explains how the research data is exemplified in Holt Social Studies: United States History. For each subtopic, you will find a chart identifying the page numbers of illustrative examples of the research-based instructional methodology. At the end of the booklet, you will find a list of all works cited.

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Strand 1 – Reading Informative and Expository Texts

What Does Scientifically Based Research Tell Us about

Strand 1 - Reading Informative and Expository Texts Defining the Strand At the middle grades, the goals of reading instruction are to develop the student’s ability to read independently with comprehension, to read for enjoyment as well as information, and to have the stamina and strategies to continue reading and comprehending difficult texts. In the social studies, effective reading comprehension is essential to mastering the content. Successful social studies instruction requires attention to reading instruction, particularly the skills and strategies involved in comprehending expository texts and graphic features. Research suggests that an effective program for middle grades students requires: • considerate text; • support for students’ vocabulary acquisition; • comprehension strategy instruction; and • the use of graphic organizers to support comprehension.

Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development Considerate Text “Considerate text is characterized by features such as coherence and audience appropriateness, which were suggested by cognitive theory and research to facilitate learning from reading…The concept of considerate text can be helpful in evaluating, revising, and writing informational text.” (Armbruster 97) “The more coherent the text is, the more the reader will be able to make internal connections and construct a coherent cognitive model of the information in the text. …Research has shown that the better organized the text, the greater the learning. Therefore, a considerate text has a clear, easily identifiable organization. Clear text organization can be accomplished in several ways, for example, through the use of headings and subheadings, introductions and summaries, topic sentences, and signal words and phrases that announce the text structure… In addition to making internal connections, readers must also make external connections between the information in the text and their background knowledge and experience. Considerate text is appropriate to the needs of the reading audience in that it provides adequate explanation and elaboration of information and engages the reader.” (Armbruster 97-98)

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Strand 1 – Reading Informative and Expository Texts

“By coherent text we mean text in which the sequence of ideas makes sense and the nature of the ideas and their relationships is made apparent … One proven ingredient is more coherent texts. Texts that exhibit more coherence have repeatedly been shown to bring about enhanced understanding of the causal sequence of events and ideas presented in textbooks...” (Beck and McKeown 237, 254) “Recent studies have demonstrated that revisions that increased the structural and explanatory coherence of texts resulted in substantial increases in recall among fifth-grade students… and college students… (McNamara, Kintsch, Songer, and Kintsch 2) “We found that readers who know little about the domain of the text benefit from a coherent text…” (McNamara, Kintsch, Songer, and Kintsch 1) “We conclude… that revising instructional texts to be more coherent and explicit can indeed foster better text memory and learning.” (McNamara and Kintsch 282) “This experiment examined the effects of headings and adjunct questions embedded in expository text on the delayed multiple-choice text performance of college students. Subjects in the headings-present group performed significantly better on the retention text than did the subjects in the headings-absent group. … The results support the view that headings may promote the organization of passage information so as to increase its general availability…” (Wilhite 23) “The studies reviewed for this synthesis provided evidence that the organization of text, students’ awareness of that organization, and students’ strategic use of text organization affect their comprehension. The organization of text includes the visual, physical organization (e.g., headings, subheadings, location of main idea, spacing) as well as less visible, more abstract text structures (e.g., narrative, sequence, or descriptive text structures)…” (Dickson, Simmons, and Kameenui 7)

Vocabulary Development “In social studies, challenges for readers include how to navigate a wealth of factual information replete with unfamiliar names, events, and concepts. This is similar to trying to make sense of a paragraph in which all the familiar place names have been substituted with made-up or unfamiliar terms. Everyone who reads it could struggle. Many students face this trial in classrooms daily. In their attempts to absorb facts and concepts in a text, students may miss why it is to their advantage to gain insight about a time period in history or how a government functions. Vocabulary demands in social studies texts often require readers to construct meaning for concepts that are abstract. Concepts such as imperialism, migration, culture, monarchy, socialization, opportunity cost, and separation of power, for example, are open to multiple interpretations and require students to learn through a number of contexts as they refine and elaborate on their initial understandings.” (International Reading Association 31) “One of the strongest findings about vocabulary instruction, whether direct instruction or learning words from context, is that multiple encounters are required before a word is really known…” (Beck, McKeown, and Kucan 73) “The findings on vocabulary yielded several specific implications for teaching reading. First, vocabulary should be taught both directly and indirectly. Repetition and multiple exposures to vocabulary items are important. Learning in rich contexts, incidental learning, and use of Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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Strand 1 – Reading Informative and Expository Texts

computer technology all enhance the acquisition of vocabulary. Direct instruction should include task restructuring as necessary and should actively engage the student.” (Report of the National Reading Panel 14) “Based on these trends in the data, the Panel offers the following implications for practice: 1. Vocabulary should be taught both directly and indirectly. 2. Repetition and multiple exposures to vocabulary items are important. 3. Learning in rich contexts is valuable for vocabulary learning. 4. Vocabulary tasks should be restructured when necessary. 5. Vocabulary learning should entail active engagement in learning tasks. 6. Computer technology can be used to help teach vocabulary. 7. Vocabulary can be acquired through incidental learning. 8. How vocabulary is assessed and evaluated can have differential effects on instruction. 9. Dependence on a single vocabulary instruction method will not result in optimal learning.” (Report of the National Reading Panel 4-27) “Effective instruction with word meanings 1) relates what students know to the word receiving attention; 2) shows the relationship of the word targeted for instruction to other words; 3) provides opportunities for students to use the word they are learning in thoughtful ways.” (Durkin 268) “The implication of these results is that preteaching unfamiliar vocabulary can have a direct effect on students’ understanding of specific ideas within a text.” (Wixson 327)

Comprehension Strategy Instruction “Experts in reading and studying in the content areas … claim that since content is expressed in language, instruction in reading comprehension and studying is, or should be, part of the content area curriculum.” (Armbruster and Gubrandsen 37) “The past two decades of research appear to support the enthusiastic advocacy of instruction of reading strategies….The Panel’s review of the literature indicates that there has been an extensive effort to identify reading comprehension strategies that can be taught to students to increase their comprehension and memory for text. The instruction of cognitive strategies improves reading comprehension in readers with a range of abilities….” (Report of the National Reading Panel 4-46–47) “Effective comprehension strategy instruction is explicit, or direct. Research shows that explicit teaching techniques are particularly effective for comprehension strategy instruction. In explicit instruction, teachers tell readers why and when they should use strategies, what strategies to use, and how to apply them. The steps of explicit instruction typically include direct explanation, teacher modeling (‘thinking aloud’), guided practice, and application. • Direct explanation. The teacher explains to students why the strategy helps comprehension and when to apply the strategy. • Modeling. The teacher models, or demonstrates, how to apply the strategy, usually by ‘thinking aloud’ while reading the text that the students are using. • Guided practice. The teacher guides and assists students as they learn how and when to apply the strategy.

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Application. The teacher helps students practice the strategy until they can apply it independently.” (Center for the Improvement of Early Reading 53)

“The research on comprehension strategy teaching provides powerful evidence that most struggling readers (and many not so struggling readers) benefit enormously when we can construct lessons that help make the comprehension processes visible. Many students only develop the strategies they need with much instructional support. Traditional “assign and assess” lessons (Read the chapter and answer questions at the end.) offer little useful assistance for these students. Instead of assign and assess lessons these students need demonstrations of effective strategy use and lots of opportunities to apply the demonstrated strategy over time.” (Allington 98) “Results so far indicate that the group that gained significantly more than others in use of target strategies also gained significantly more than the others in reading comprehension.” (Bereiter and Bird 149) “Overall, teaching students the cognitive strategy of generating questions about the material they had read resulted in gains in comprehension, as measured by tests given at the end of the intervention.” (Rosenshine, Meister, and Chapman 181) “A series of dependent measures assessing students’ ability to recognize and produce explicit and implicit main ideas at the paragraph and short passage levels indicated a powerful treatment effect favoring the Strategy group over both the Basal and Control groups. These results are interpreted as further support for the efficacy of a direct instruction paradigm for teaching children reading comprehension skills.” (Baumann 93)

Graphic Organizers “…Graphic organizers help students read to learn from information text in the content areas, such as science and social studies textbooks….” (Center for the Improvement of Early Reading 51) “Graphic organizers can: • help students focus on text structure as they read; • provide students with tools they can use to examine and visually represent relationships in a text; and • help students write well-organized summaries of a text.” (Center for the Improvement of Early Reading 51) “…teachers in the subject areas have begun to discover that visual organizers such as time lines, Venn diagrams, inductive towers, concept maps, causal chains, force fields, and flow charts help students recognize and take control of the intellectual processes which bring meaning to the study of academic content. Visual organizers reflect patterns of thinking about content knowledge; they allow teachers to focus student attention on higher order thinking skills without shifting attention from subject area instruction. Content area teachers can use visual organizers in the classroom to clarify the purposes and the thinking processes that make learning meaningful…” (Clarke 526)

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Strand 1 – Reading Informative and Expository Texts

“In spite of the traditional bias toward verbal over visual forms of instruction, a growing research base suggests that text illustrations can have important effects on student learning.” (Mayer and Gallini 715) “Judging by the experimental studies…we know that engaging students in identifying the big ideas in a text and in graphically depicting the relationships among these ideas improves their recall and comprehension of text.” (Snow 33) “The main effect of graphic organizers appears to be on the improvement of the reader’s memory for the content that has been read. …Teaching students to organize the ideas that they are reading about in a systematic, visual graph benefits the ability of the students to remember what they read and may transfer, in general, to better comprehension and achievement in Social Studies and Science content areas.” (Report of the National Reading Panel 4-45) “Pearson and Fielding (1991) reported that 13 series of studies teaching students to study or create visual representations of key ideas in text (e.g., networking, flowcharting, Con Struct, mapping, conceptual frames, graphic organizers, conceptual mapping) benefited reading comprehension.” (Dickson, Simmons, and Kameenui 21)

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Strand 1 – Reading Informative and Expository Texts

From Research to Practice Considerate Text Considerate texts, or texts that are “friendly” to readers, are written at a level appropriate for their audience and have a coherent, easy-to-follow organization and structure. Such texts use visual design and verbal explanations to enhance, clarify, and prioritize the concepts and skills to be mastered. Both the visual design and the instructional design of Holt Social Studies: United States History were created with consideration for the needs of all students. For examples of considerate text, see the following pages. SE: pp. 76, 224, 461, 684, 892-893 TE: pp. 100, 167, 474, 812

Vocabulary Development One important part of comprehension, or meaning making, while reading informational texts is vocabulary knowledge and development. Research shows that students can improve their vocabularies through instruction in words and word study. Holt Social Studies: United States History provides students with numerous and varied opportunities to develop vocabulary. The Student Edition introduces subject area vocabulary at the beginning of each chapter and section, reinforces both the vocabulary word and the definition during the reading of the section, and provides practice at the end of the section. Additionally, vocabulary used in an academic setting is defined throughout the text. Several “Reading Social Studies” feature in-depth explanations of how vocabulary skills work while reading. The Teacher’s Edition provides additional instructional strategies and suggestions, and ancillaries provide opportunities for word study and practice activities. For examples of vocabulary instruction, see the following pages. SE: pp. 344, 448, 450, 453 TE: pp. 52, 298, 344 Chapter Resource File: Expanding West: pp. 1, 3, 4

Comprehension Strategy Instruction Students must learn that reading is an active process of making meaning, and they must practice using the various skills and strategies involved in that process. Holt Social Studies: United States History applies strategy instruction to different topics, teaches strategies, and provides support and assessment of strategies. SE: pp. H1-H9, H10-H13, 296-297, 305, 316 TE: pp. H1-H9, H10-H13, 388

Graphic Organizers Research suggests that graphic organizers that are used in textbooks or are teacher-created are effective in helping students understand and make connections between ideas. Holt Social Studies: United States History provides graphic organizers for every section, and assessment of the material in the section review. For examples of the use of graphic organizers and assessment of their content, see the following pages. SE: pp. 322, 324, 593, 598

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Strand 2 – Effective Instructional Approaches

What Does Scientifically Based Research Tell Us about

Strand 2 - Effective Instructional Approaches Defining the Strand Effective social studies programs use instructional approaches that have been proven effective by research across the content areas. A program that includes appropriate instruction for all students will include the following approaches: • providing direct and explicit instruction; • giving needed support while students are learning; • modeling both processes and products; • making interdisciplinary connections; • supporting group and peer collaboration.

Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development Direct/Explicit Instruction “The term direct instruction has been used by researchers to refer to a pattern of teaching that consists of the teacher’s explaining a new concept or skill to a large group of students, having them test their understanding by practicing under teacher direction (that is, controlled practice), and encouraging them to continue to practice under teacher guidance (guided practice).” (Joyce, Weil, and Calhoun 339) “Brown and Palincsar (1982) have shown that direct instruction involving three strategies is particularly effective: instruction in comprehension-fostering strategies, instruction on the importance and usefulness of the strategies, and metacognitive monitoring strategies to check the appropriateness of strategy use. This type of direct instruction on strategies has been applied successfully in a number of studies on a variety of comprehension skills…” (Stevens, Slavin, and Farnish 8) “Students in the two instructional treatments which incorporated direct instruction on main idea strategies performed significantly better than control students in identifying main ideas of passages.” (Stevens, Slavin, and Farnish 8) “The results of this study show the significant impact of direct instruction and cooperative learning teaching students specific reading-comprehension strategies. Clearly, direct instruction on comprehension strategies, a component of both experimental treatments, is an important aspect of effective teaching. Direct instruction involves teachers presenting comprehension and metacomprehension strategies, and students practicing the strategies with teachers guiding them and giving them corrective feedback. In this study, the two experimental treatments that

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Strand 2 – Effective Instructional Approaches

incorporated direct instruction yielded significant and substantial effects on students’ achievement. This evidence replicates the findings in a number of previous studies…” (Stevens, Slavin, and Farnish 14) “The findings substantiate[d] that strategies can be directly taught and that direct teaching of strategies benefits struggling readers.” (Duffy 33) “Content area teachers can make a difference in the school lives of adolescents when they incorporate reading strategy minilessons into their instructional repertoire. Explicit instruction in the development and use of reading strategies requires explanation, modeling, practice, and application…” (Vacca 194) “The rationale for the explicit teaching of comprehension skills is that comprehension can be improved by teaching students to use specific cognitive strategies or to reason strategically when they encounter barriers to understanding what they are reading. Readers acquire these strategies informally to some extent, but explicit or formal instruction in the application of comprehension strategies has been shown to be highly effective in enhancing understanding. The teacher generally demonstrates such strategies for students until the students are able to carry them out independently.” (Report of the National Reading Panel 14) “A series of dependent measures assessing students’ ability to recognize and produce explicit and implicit main ideas at the paragraph and short passage levels indicated a powerful treatment effect favoring the Strategy group over both the Basal and Control groups. These results are interpreted as further support for the efficacy of a direct instruction paradigm for teaching children reading comprehension skills.” (Baumann 93)

Scaffolding “…scaffolding has repeatedly been identified as one of the most effective instructional techniques available... “ (Graves and Avery 138) “The students’ engagement in complex processes is made possible by providing them with a variety of supports [e.g., well-structured assignments; models and examples, strategic sequencing of activities, peer-response groups] and gradually withdrawing the supports as students appear to become more fluent in their use.” (Hillocks 255) “Although scaffolds can be applied to the teaching of all skills, they are particularly useful, and often indispensable, for teaching higher-level cognitive strategies where many of the steps or procedures necessary to carry out these strategies cannot be specified.” (Rosenshine and Meister 26) “The study of history provides an ideal opportunity to develop and practice the kind of complex thinking skills needed for a rapidly changing world. Historical readings, however, can be difficult for young people…At the secondary level in particular, teachers are frequently unfamiliar with reading strategies that could help bridge the gap between the text and student understanding. A few relatively simple techniques, however, can make the difference between a frustrating reading experience and one that is meaningful to students. The Scaffolded Reading Experience offers an array of strategies for structuring and enhancing the reading of historical documents and texts…” (Graves and Avery 138)

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Strand 2 – Effective Instructional Approaches

“Scaffolding means supporting students in their initial learning. History instruction should provide students with temporary support until their learning becomes self-regulated. Scaffolding in history can be accomplished in many different ways. One form of scaffolding is interspersed questioning… Another form of scaffolding is to support students by using illustrations in an attempt to portray visually the concepts being discussed in the textbook.” (Carnine, Caros, Crawford, Hollenbeck, and Harniss 215-216)

Modeling “[Comprehension] strategies can be taught directly and explicitly following a process in which the teacher models and explains the strategy, then students apply the strategy by practicing it with a range of texts under the coaching of the teacher or more skilled reader (scaffolded practice). The teacher’s role is to monitor the use of the strategy, offer less coaching as less is called for (removing the scaffold), ask students what strategy they are using and why (therefore bringing the use of the strategy to the students’ awareness), give students continued opportunity to observe more modeling, and provide multiple and ongoing opportunities for students to transact with other students with a range of texts.” (Beers 37) “The research on comprehension strategy teaching provides powerful evidence that most struggling readers (and many not so struggling readers) benefit enormously when we can construct lessons that help make the comprehension processes visible … students need demonstrations of effective strategy use and lots of opportunities to apply the demonstrated strategy over time.” (Allington, 2001, 98) “Teachers should also demonstrate how to apply each strategy successfully – what it is, how it is carried out, and when and why it should be used … Instead of just talking about a strategy, teachers need to illustrate the processes they use by thinking aloud, or modeling mental processes, while they read.” (Fielding and Pearson 65)

Interdisciplinary/Cross-curricular Instruction “Social studies teaching and learning are powerful when they are integrative. • Social studies is integrative in its treatment of topics. • It is integrative across time and space. • Social studies teaching integrates knowledge, skills, beliefs, values, and attitudes to action. • Social studies teaching and learning integrate effective use of technology. • Social studies teaching and learning integrate across the curriculum.” (Curriculum Standards for Social Studies 11) “There are several reasons why interdisciplinary teaching is important: 1. The brain searches for common patterns and connections. Thus history, properly enlivened by relevant literature, becomes a way of making meaning out of other content. 2. Every experience actually contains with it the seeds of many, and possibly all, disciplines. Thus recent developments in Eastern Europe involve history, geography, politics, comparative religion, economics, and social science… 3. One of the keys to understanding is what is technically called redundancy. In other words, if the same message can be packed in several ways, the receiver has a much better chance of grasping what is actually happening.” (Caine and Caine 119-120)

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Strand 2 – Effective Instructional Approaches

“Today’s interest in curriculum integration is also generated from … the recent research in cognitive science and neuroscience demonstrating the necessity of helping learners establish bridges between school and life, knowing and doing, and content and context…[see Solomon (1997), Abbott (1997), and Pool (1997)]” (Roberts and Kellough 4)

Group and Peer Collaboration “…the social studies program should be designed to increase the student’s ability to express and advocate reasoned personal convictions within groups, recognize mutual ethical responsibility within groups, participate in negotiating conflicts and differences or maintain an individual position because of its ethical basis, work individually and in groups, and accept and fulfill responsibilities associated with citizenship in a democratic republic.” (Curriculum Standards for Social Studies 8) “Cooperative learning methods are instructional techniques in which students work in small groups to help one another master academic content or carry out group projects….Motivational theories emphasize the idea that in groups working toward a common goal, students support one another’s academic efforts, because each group member’s success helps the group to succeed. Cognitive theories emphasize opportunities for collaborating students to model higher order solutions for one another, and to provide immediate, context-appropriate explanations and feedback to one another.” (Slavin, 2002, 115) “Over 323 studies have been conducted over the past 90 years comparing the relative impact of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning situations on achievement. On the basis of this research, it may be concluded that generally achievement is higher in cooperative situations than in competitive or individualistic ones and that cooperative efforts result in more frequent use of higher-level reasoning strategies, more frequent process gain and collective induction, and higher performance on subsequent tests taken individually…” (Johnson and Johnson, 1990, 33) “Research evidence convincingly argues that ‘good things’ can and do happen when Cooperative Learning Groups are used (Slavin 1987; Vermette 1987). Users of CLGs can expect these outcomes for their own students: • an increase in conceptual achievement • an increase in the use of critical thinking and higher-order thinking skills • an increase in individual self-esteem • an increase in positive attitudes toward those who are culturally or racially different” (Vermette 271) “Having peers … interact over the use of reading strategies leads to an increase in the learning of strategies, promotes intellectual discussion, and increases reading comprehension.” (Report of the National Reading Panel 4-45) “(Effective) Teachers form instructional groups that fit students’ academic and affective needs. Teachers: a. Use whole group instruction when introducing new concepts and skills. b. Form smaller groups as needed to make sure all students learn thoroughly. … f. Make use of heterogeneous cooperative learning groups, structuring these so that there are both group rewards and individual accountability. … (Cotton 9-10)

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Strand 2 – Effective Instructional Approaches

From Research to Practice Direct/Explicit Instruction: Asking students to read a text or discussing the contents of text may help students learn from that text, but it will not teach students how to read and comprehend on their own. To meet the needs of their students, educators must show students, directly and explicitly, how to comprehend a text. Educators must make visible the invisible processes of comprehension so that students can learn how to read and understand texts. Holt Social Studies: United States History provides direct instruction and assessment of numerous strategies that students can use independently to understand texts. For examples of explicit strategy instruction, see the following pages. SE: pp. H1-H9, H10-H13, 36-37, 226, 508-509, 574 TE: pp. 149, 452, 815

Scaffolding: Any process that supports a learner in solving a challenging problem or carrying out a difficult task is scaffolding. A scaffold might be a tool (such as a graphic organizer) or an instructional technique (such as a prereading discussion). An instructional program that provides scaffolding follows a logical structure, purposefully selects and sequences models and examples, and includes materials to guide student learning (such as key words, worksheets, visuals, and graphic organizers). The goal of scaffolding is independence. Holt Social Studies: United States History provides scaffolded assessment in section and chapter reviews. For examples of scaffolding, see the following pages. SE: pp. 110-111, 376-377, 634-635, 970-971 Several systems have been created to assess the level of difficulty of skills needed to answer social studies questions. Holt Social Studies: United States History provides labels from Bloom’s Taxonomy in its scaffolded assessment in section and chapter reviews. For examples of scaffolded assessment, see the following pages. SE: pp. 134, 573-575, 824

Modeling: When we learn any new skill, the first step is often to watch the performance of an expert. The next step is to take this expert performance and break it down into a set of more easily learned steps. Modeling refers to this kind of expert demonstration. Holt Social Studies: United States History uses modeling to teach reading strategies in each chapter. For examples of modeling, see the following pages. SE: pp. 180, 382, 660

Interdisciplinary/Cross-curricular Instruction: By its nature, social studies is interdisciplinary. A student cannot understand the history of a place without recognizing the impact of its geography. Similarly, a study of geography cannot be undertaken without recognition of the impact of the environment on the history of a people. The social studies also lend themselves well to connections across disciplines, including: • Mathematics – the social studies present opportunities for measuring and graphing data Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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Earth science – the social studies require understanding of landforms, the environment, and Earth’s ecosystems • English language arts – the social studies provide opportunities for reading primary source documents and historical fiction. Holt Social Studies: United States History provides instruction in interdisciplinary connections. For examples, see the following pages. SE: pp. 279, 444, 526, 780 TE: 616, 694, 723 Chapter Resource File: Expanding West: pp. 34-35

Group and Peer Collaboration: Effective instruction involves a combination of whole-group, small-group, and independent activities. Research attests to the benefits of having students learn together in collaborative and cooperative groups. In addition, this kind of group and peer collaboration may help develop students’ social abilities and their understanding and tolerance of all students. Holt Social Studies: United States History offers instruction and practice in group activities. For examples of group activities, see the following pages. SE: pp. 254, 290, 796, 966 TE: pp. 485, 616, 722

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Strand 3 – Meeting the Needs of All Student

What Does Scientifically Based Research Tell Us about

Strand 3 - Meeting the Needs of All Students Defining the Strand Effective reading and social studies instruction successfully meets the needs of students with a wide range of backgrounds, ability levels, and learning styles. Effective instruction addresses the needs of English-language learners, advanced learners, students with modality preferences, standard-English learners, and struggling/developmental learners. The No Child Left Behind Act is inclusive: Schools must reach all learners and meet their learning needs. A program that meets the needs of all students will: • Provide suggestions for differentiation, or presenting instruction in varied ways to meet each learner’s needs; and • Give specific instructional suggestions to meet the needs of special populations of students.

Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development Differentiated Instruction “Differentiation seems a common-sense approach to addressing the needs of a wide variety of learners, promoting equity and excellence and focusing on best-practice instruction in mixedability classrooms. This makes more sense than the timeworn method of aiming for students in the middle and hoping for the best for those on the upper and lower extremes.” (Tomlinson, 2001, 5) “In all classrooms, teachers deal with at least three curricular elements: (1) content – input, what students learn; (2) process – how students go about making sense of ideas and information; and (3) product – output, how students demonstrate what they have learned. … By differentiating these three elements, teachers offer different approaches to what students learn, how they learn it, and how they demonstrate what they’ve learned.” (Tomlinson, 2001, 4-5) “[S]tudents not only have strengths in different types of intelligences, but they also vary in… interest and learning profiles. Therefore, students should not be expected to learn using the same content, processes, and products. Students in a mixed-ability classroom need opportunities to work on different tasks rather than simply performing the same task at different levels. Differentiated instruction includes different learning products to fit individual needs.” (Baumgartner, Lipowski, and Christy 18) “In a differentiated classroom, the teacher assumes that different learners have differing needs. Therefore, the teacher proactively plans a variety of ways to ‘get at’ and express learning.” (Tomlinson, 2001, 2)

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Strand 3 – Meeting the Needs of All Student

“Teacher responsiveness to individual student levels of readiness, interest, and learning profiles mandates the use of a differentiated model of instruction.” (Kapusnick and Hauslein 156) “Students learn better and more easily when teachers use a variety of delivery methods, providing students with learning experiences that maximize their strengths.” (Kapusnick and Hauslein 156) “Differentiation then is the process by which curriculum objectives, teaching methods, assessment methods, resources and learning activities are planned to cater for the needs of individual pupils.” (George 420)

Special Populations Students Who Are Struggling Readers “The general principle is to use the same continuum of strategies with the struggling readers (including teacher read-alouds, sustained silent reading, share reading, guided reading, guided discussion…), but to augment these strategies with intensive instruction on the specific skills students need to succeed.” (Au 399) “Each of the three experiments substantiated that GOs (graphic organizers) produced significantly higher performance than self-study for the students with learning disabilities enrolled in social studies, science, and health classes at the secondary level (grades 7 and 10). Further, those findings were documented with remedial and regular education students as well.” (Horton, Lovitt, and Bergerud 20) “The research on comprehension strategy teaching provides powerful evidence that most struggling readers (and many not so struggling readers) benefit enormously when we can construct lessons that help make the comprehension processes visible. Many students only develop the strategies they need with much instructional support. Traditional “assign and assess” lessons (Read the chapter and answer questions at the end.) offer little useful assistance for these students. Instead of assign and assess lessons these students need demonstrations of effective strategy use and lots of opportunities to apply the demonstrated strategy over time.” (Allington 98) “One of the most exciting results of this body of research [see Baumann (1984), Raphael and Pearson (1985), and Armbruster (1987)] was that comprehension strategy instruction is particularly effective for students who began the study as poor comprehenders…” (Fielding and Pearson 65) Students for Whom English Is a Second Language “What can teachers do to help English language learners learn to read and write in English? These students will benefit from all the approaches recommended so far … the continuum of strategies, and intensive instruction to develop reading skills and strategies…” (Au 402) “Fitzgerald’s (1995b) review of research identifies areas in which focused, intensive instruction appears beneficial for English language learners. These include vocabulary, expository text structure, and metacognition.” (Au 402) “On the whole, the studies reviewed in this article support the contention that the cognitive reading processes of ESL learners are substantively the same as those of native English Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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speakers. … Collectively, these forms of evidence, along with other specific findings from the studies, suggested a relatively good fit to the preexisting native-language reading theories, models and views…As for instruction, …United States teachers of ESL students could follow sound principles of reading instruction based on current cognitive research done with native English speakers.” (Fitzgerald, 1995a, 180-181, 184) “There are a number of things we can do to help make the task of reading textbooks more manageable and less frustrating for ESL students. …One way we can help is by reducing the vocabulary load ESL students may have to contend with. Careful analysis of the content area text is important to get a better idea of which words are crucial for understanding, which can be skipped, which can be inferred from context…Teachers can use semantic maps, brainstorming, structured overviews, and other prereading activities to help ESL students activate background knowledge… (Teachers can) Lead students to apply selected reading and study skills or strategies (suggesting a strategy or taking students stepwise through the application)…” (Kang 647-649) Students with Varied Learning Styles “A number of studies conducted during the last decade have found that students’ achievement increases when teaching methods match their learning styles – biological and developmental characteristics that affect how they learn.” (Dunn, Beaudry, and Klavas 50) “Theoretically, the closer a teaching strategy is tailored to the learner’s conceptual level, the more learning will take place (Hunt, 1970b, p. 2).” (Joyce, Weil, and Calhoun 97-98) “[L]earning style is the way each person begins to concentrate on, process, internalize, and retain new and difficult academic information. Because each person learns differently from every other person, the same instructional environment, methods, and resources will be effective for some learners and ineffective for others.” (Burke and Dunn 104) “(Effective) Teachers provide clear and focused instruction. Teachers: …c. Take note of learning style differences among students, and, when feasible, identify and use learning strategies and materials that are appropriate to different styles. …” (Cotton 12) Students with Varied Cultural Backgrounds “Paying attention to how we teach is an important dimension of teaching in diverse classrooms. Paying attention to what we teach is another. Teachers should enrich students’ learning of social studies topics by including multiple viewpoints or perspectives. Multicultural education is good education because it is more comprehensive. It lays one perspective on an historical event or character alongside others so that students can compare them and try to draw defensible conclusions.” (Parker 36) “Multicultural education has several goals. It endeavors to ground students with multicultural knowledge, to adopt educational equity and cultural pluralism as philosophies, to empower students and promote student social action, and to teach from a multicultural perspective.” (Ford, Howard, and Harris 14) “Schools should use active problem-based, cooperative-learning activities when appropriate, as well as activities related to the student’s culture and gender, for the student to realize the relevance of the task and curriculum.” (Arroyo and Rhoad 151)

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“The Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) developed Five Standards of Effective Pedagogy based on decades of research across cultural and socioeconomic contexts… The standards are: 1. Teachers and students working together 2. Developing language and literacy skills across the curriculum 3. Connecting lessons to students’ lives 4. Engaging students in challenging lessons 5. Emphasizing dialogue over lectures Studies have shown there is a positive and significant relationship between teachers’ use of the standards and student performance. [See, for example, Apthorp, D’Amato, and Richardson (2003); Demmert (2001); Hill, Kawagley, and Barnhardt (2003); Waxman and Tellez (2002).]” (Klump and McNeir 7) Students Who Are Advanced Learners “Advanced learners, like all learners, need learning experiences designed to fit them. … Advanced learners share other learners’ need for teachers who can help them set high goals, devise plans for reaching those goals, tolerate frustrations and share joys…” (Tomlinson, 2001, 12) “Cooperative learning methods generally work equally well for all types of students…Sometimes a concern is expressed that cooperative learning will hold back high achievers. The research provides absolutely no support for this claim; high achievers gain from cooperative learning (relative to high achievers in traditional classes) just as much as do low and average achievers (Slavin, 1991).” (Slavin, 2002, 118) “The gifted student should be expected to: • Plan and carry out more complex work. • Use more difficult concepts in planning their work. • Make more accurate measurements. • Complete more stages in an investigation. • Record results more precisely. • Express findings in more sophisticated vocabulary.” (George 420) “A … general response to the challenges of providing for gifted children is that these children need enriched curricula made up of learning experiences with greater depth and breadth than their peer group. Literature, science and social studies are subjects that lend themselves to the development of enriched curricula and students with special aptitudes often respond with enthusiasm to programs that allow them to deal with complex and abstract ideas.” (George 418) “In a review of research on gifted students in the regular classroom, Johnsen and Ryser (1996) describe five overall areas for differentiation: modifying content, allowing for student preferences, altering the pace of instruction, creating a flexible classroom environment, and using specific instructional strategies. The bulk of the research concentrates on instructional strategies that have been linked to improved student achievement and have been shown to increase critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and creativity. The following have been established as effective strategies (Johnsen & Ryser, 1996): • Posing open-ended questions that require higher-level thinking • Modeling thinking strategies, such as decisionmaking and evaluation • Accepting ideas and suggestions from students and expanding on them Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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• • •

Facilitating original and independent problems and solutions Helping students identify rules, principles, and relationships Taking time to explain the nature of errors” (Stepanek 16)

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From Research to Practice Holt Social Studies: United States History was developed to provide for the needs of all learners. The Student Editions contain lesson structures, activities, and models that provide opportunities for all students to master key concepts and skills successfully. The Teacher’s Editions contain numerous suggestions and strategies for adapting activities to the needs of specific groups. Special Populations. Heterogeneous classrooms contain students representing many different populations—advanced students, students having a difficulty, unmotivated students, students whose strength or preference is a particular modality or intelligence, English-language learners, and students with a variety of learning disabilities. However, differentiating instruction for such a range of abilities and interests is complex and can be extremely difficult. The following examples illustrate how Holt Social Studies: United States History helps teachers reach special populations through a variety of approaches. Students Who Are Struggling Readers. The struggling readers we worry about are the ones who struggle with almost any text, who lack strategies to use to help them make sense of the text. We sometimes call these readers “dependent readers” because they lack the cognitive ability to read independently, are not motivated by the text or by reading, and lack the ability or stamina to stick with reading that is difficult for them. To reach these students, Holt Social Studies: United States History models effective reading strategies, gives students a wealth of opportunities to practice and apply the strategies, and provides teachers with several teaching resources designed with struggling readers in mind. For examples of instruction for struggling readers, see the following pages. TE: pp. 36, 239, 753 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Full Volume): pp. 1-257 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Beginnings to 1877): pp. 1-151 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Beginnings to 1914): pp. 1-188 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Civil War to the Present): pp. 1-124

Students for Whom English is a Second Language. Holt Social Studies: United States History has provided strategies for teachers who must meet the needs of students for whom English is a second language. The following resources will help this special population. TE: pp. 356, 502, 733, 836 Differentiated Instruction Teacher Management System (Full Volume): pp. 169, 192, 230 Differentiated Instruction Teacher Management System (Beginnings to 1877): pp. 105, 115, 127 Differentiated Instruction Teacher Management System (Beginnings to 1914): pp. 114, 135, 159

Students with Varied Learning Styles. Holt Social Studies: United States History has provided strategies for teachers who must meet the needs of students with different learning style preferences. Activities are labeled with appropriate learning styles. The following resources will help address these needs. Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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TE: pp. 265, 556, 736

Students with Varied Cultural Backgrounds. Holt Social Studies: United States History has provided strategies for teachers who must meet the needs of students from varied cultural backgrounds. The following resources will help this special population. SE: pp. 174, 290, 966 Differentiated Instruction Teacher Management System: pp. 146, 153, 212 Differentiated Instruction Teacher Management System (Beginnings to 1877): pp. 83, 106, 128 Differentiated Instruction Teacher Management System (Beginnings to 1914): pp. 103, 126, 163

Students Who Are Advanced Learners. Holt Social Studies: United States History has provided strategies for teachers who must meet the needs of students that are advanced learners. The following resources will help this population. TE: pp. 235, 329, 567, 846 Differentiated Instruction Teacher Management System: pp. 141, 173, 211 Differentiated Instruction Teacher Management System (Beginnings to 1877): pp. 85, 107, 139 Differentiated Instruction Teacher Management System (Beginnings to 1914): pp. 123, 143, 157

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Strand 4 - Assessment

What Does Scientifically Based Research Tell Us about

Strand 4 - Assessment Defining the Strand Effective assessment is a requirement for effective instruction. Particularly in the social studies, where there are specific expectations for content knowledge as well as for ways of understanding and problem solving, one type of assessment cannot supply a complete picture. Using a variety of assessment types has been shown to be effective for all students, but particularly for those who have learning difficulties (Bell, 2002). Research has shown that students’ achievement improves when they receive frequent, consistent, specific feedback on their progress. This kind of ongoing assessment provides teachers with the information they need to effectively tailor and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students. A program that provides effective assessment resources will: • Take multiple, varied approaches to assessment; • Include diagnostic assessments; • Provide on-going assessment measures; and • Guide students in self-monitoring.

Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development Multiple Approaches to Assessment “Students should be given multiple opportunities on a variety of assessments to show their proficiencies. Such assessments may include portfolios, performance assessments, written reports, research projects, and other demonstrations of students’ knowledge and skills.” (National Council for the Social Studies, 2003, on-line) “Diverse approaches should be used to appraise pupil achievement in the social studies. Each approach should attempt to determine what pupils have learned and what is left to be achieved by the learner.” (Ediger 240) “Assessment should be related directly to learning activities and to the work done; it should be based on a broad range of evidence...[and] in the best of all classrooms, assessment includes observations of students in action, finished work, and students’ own self-assessment.” (Tchudi and Mitchell 360) “Results of this study lend support to the reliability and validity of vocabulary-matching measures as indicators of students’ performance in the social studies content area… as well as good indicators of students’ general social studies knowledge…” (Espin, Busch, Shin, and Kruschwitz 148-149) “(Effective) Teachers Make Use of Alternative Assessments as well as Traditional Tests. Teachers: …

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d. Plan assessment as they plan instruction – not as an afterthought… f. Teach children the scoring systems that will be used to evaluate their work and allow them to practice using these systems for self- and peer assessment…” (Cotton 19) “It is increasingly recognized that no one method can uncover the full range of students’ knowledge and that different students may need to show their knowledge in different ways (e.g., produce a video, make a presentation, or write a research paper). Thus, in a standards-based system, multiple methods of assessment are used at different times to determine students’ levels of knowledge and skill … If the knowledge is specific information such as facts, terms, or details, then selected response items (i.e., multiple-choice, true-false, or matching) may be appropriate. When the target involves complex ideas such as concepts, generalizations, or principles, then constructed response modes (e.g., performance tasks, exhibitions, writing samples, problem solving, or interviews) are more appropriate. In a standards-based system, teachers need to have a broad repertoire of assessment strategies and know how to purposefully select (or guide students to select) those that will allow students to provide evidence of their learning.” (Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning 22-23) “Our study has demonstrated that performance tests offer a viable alternative to multiple-choice tests. By offering a wider range of test formats, more students have an opportunity to show what they know and what they can do.” (Kon and Martin-Kniep 98)

Diagnostic Assessment “Teachers should not think of prior knowledge assessment as a discrete pre-test to use from time to time. Rather, it should be common classroom practice. We should routinely ask ourselves what we already know that will help us solve a problem or learn from a new unit of study.” (Shepard, 2005, 68) “Diagnostic assessment is simply a systematic approach to good teaching. It is systematic because it has a precise focus on particular important attainment targets which the teacher has for his or her pupils. In the 5-14 context, these can be from the various subject guidelines or they can be additional skills or competences which the teacher considers important for his or her class. It is also more systematic than normal practice because, in conducting the assessment, the teacher must make a conscious decision about how evidence will be gathered in relation to the target and he or she must have a clear intention of using this information to take learning forward.” (Scottish Council for Research in Education 3) On-going Assessment “Formative assessment refers to focused and ongoing evaluations like the scores on pop quizzes. Summative tests come at the end of a course of study, when students must be accountable for their achievement. The purpose of formative assessment is to guide instruction; the purpose of summative testing is to evaluate achievement...” (Graves, Juel, and Graves 544) “(Effective) Teachers: a. Monitor learning regularly, both formally and informally… f. Use routine assessment procedures to check student progress. These include conducting recitations, circulating and checking students’ work during seatwork periods, assigning and checking homework, conducting periodic reviews with students, administering tests, and reviewing student performance data...” (Cotton 18)

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“A research review published in 1986 [see Fuchs and Fuchs, 1986], concentrating primarily on classroom assessment work for children with mild handicaps, surveyed a large number of innovations, from which 23 were selected. Those chosen satisfied the condition that quantitative evidence of learning gains was obtained, both for those involved in the innovation and for a similar group not so involved. Since then, many more papers have been published describing similarly careful quantitative experiments. Our own review has selected at least 20 more studies [for full citations to these studies, see Black and Wiliam, 1998a] … All these studies show that innovations that include strengthening the practice of formative assessment [those activities that provide information used to adapt the teaching to meet student needs] produce significant and often substantial learning gains.” (Black and Wiliam, 1998b, 140) “Many of these studies arrive at another important conclusion: that improved formative assessment helps low achievers more than other students and so reduces the range of achievement while raising achievement overall.” (Black and Wiliam, 1998b, 141) “In order for assessment to play a more useful role in helping students learn it should be moved into the middle of the teaching and learning process instead of being postponed as only the end-point of instruction.” (Shepard, 2000, 10) “Christenson, Ysseldyke, and Thurlow (1989) identified 10 critical factors of instruction that are important for all students in any subject area. These factors include … active monitoring for student progress and understanding by the teacher, and frequent and appropriate evaluation of student progress by the teacher." (Spicuzza, Ysseldyke, Lemkuil, Kosciolek, Boys, and Teelucksingh 523) “As instruction is occurring, teachers need information to evaluate whether their teaching strategies are working. They also need information about the current understanding of individual students and groups of students so they can identify the most appropriate next steps for instruction. Moreover, students need feedback to monitor their own success in learning and to know how to improve.” (National Research Council, 2001, 225-226) “The research reported here shows conclusively that formative assessment does improve learning. The gains in achievement appear to be quite considerable, and as noted earlier, amongst the largest ever reported for educational interventions.” (Black and Wiliam, 1998a, 48) “The purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine the effects of systematic formative evaluation of educational programs on academic achievement. Results indicated that the use of systematic formative evaluation procedures, within a group of studies that employed predominantly mildly handicapped subjects, significantly increased students’ school achievement, both statistically and practically.” (Fuchs and Fuchs 205) “Active teacher monitoring of student performance is viewed as essential for maintaining student participation and encouraging learning. In a sense, it is what keeps the total instructional cycle effective. Teachers monitor student progress in various ways; the key for student learning appears to be the degree to which monitoring is active and frequent… (Christenson, Ysseldyke, and Thurlow 26) Self-Monitoring for Understanding “Comprehension is usually the biggest problem teachers face with struggling readers from the third grade and higher … These students are not monitoring their own comprehension to see if what they are reading is making sense … “ (Au 400) Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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“Studies of good reader-poor reader differences in text processing … suggest that poor readers fail to (1) conceptualize reading as a search for meaning, (2) monitor their comprehension to ensure that they are deriving meaning, (3) engage in strategic behavior to bring meaning to text and restore meaning when there has been a breakdown in comprehension, and (4) modify their choice of strategies to meet the varying demands of reading. This profile suggests the need for instruction which will … promote comprehension monitoring.” (Palincsar and Brown 69) “Monitoring is a critical step in self-regulation of comprehension processes. That is, it is not enough for students to be taught comprehension processing; students must also come to understand where and when to use the processes and be motivated to do so.” (Block and Pressley 387) “Fitzgerald’s (1995b) review of research identifies areas in which focused, intensive instruction appears beneficial for English language learners. These include vocabulary, expository text structure, and metacognition.” (Au 402) “These results suggest that direct instruction encourages students to use metacognitive strategies when reading, a practice that promotes improved comprehension and a greater awareness of the type of thinking good readers practice.” (Joseph 160) “[I]nstruction in metacognitive reading strategies and techniques can be conducted utilizing group instruction in a regular classroom by a classroom teacher. In addition, children can be convinced to use such strategies on their own and, therefore, assume control of their own learning.” (Payne and Manning 37) “…pupils can assess themselves only when they have a sufficiently clear picture of the targets that their learning is meant to attain.” (Black and Wiliam, 1998b, 143) “Thus we conclude: if formative assessment is to be productive, pupils should be trained in selfassessment so that they can understand the main purposes of their learning and thereby grasp what they need to do to achieve.” (Black and Wiliam, 1998b, 143) “Klenowski’s (1995) data support Wiggins’s (1992) earlier assertion that involving students in analyzing their own work builds ownership of the evaluation process and ‘makes it possible to hold students to higher standards because the criteria are clear and reasonable’ (p. 30).” (Shepard, 2000, 12) “From the students' perspective it was apparent that student self-evaluation had provoked metacognitive thinking. When the students were required to identify areas for improvement and action to be taken, they were not just thinking about what they had learnt but how they were learning. There is evidence to suggest that some students were also thinking about the efficiency of their learning strategies.” (Klenowski 161) “The results of these two studies show that providing students with a goal of learning to solve problems enhances their self-efficacy, skill, motivation, and task goal orientation and that these achievement outcomes also are promoted by allowing students to valuate their performance capabilities or progress in skill acquisition.” (Schunk 377) “Among children who are cognitively capable of evaluating their capabilities, self-evaluation may be a useful adjunct to testing as a means of assessing students’ skills and of providing Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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information to use in designing instruction. Although learning goals and self-evaluation are not necessary for all classroom activities, the present results suggest that, when combined with a sound instructional program, they facilitate self-regulated learning and achievement outcomes.” (Schunk 380)

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From Research to Practice A key component of Holt Social Studies: United States History is the integration of ongoing and summative assessment. The program provides a broad range of assessment options, including daily activities, chapter tests, unit tests, and end-of-year tests. Assessment formats include teacher observation, essay and objective questions, holistic and analytic scoring of written papers, and online assessment. Holt Social Studies: United States History also provides practice in standardized test taking. Multiple Approaches to Assessment. In the social studies, one type of assessment cannot supply a complete picture. Holt Social Studies: United States History provides a range of assessment tools that are effective for all students. SE: pp. 27, 175-176, 357, 609, 640 TE: pp. 172, 369, 594, 687 Chapter Resource File: Expanding West: pp. 1, 8, 26, 30-31 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Full Volume): pp. 1-257 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Beginnings to 1877): pp. 1-151 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Beginnings to 1914): pp. 1-188 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Civil War to the Present): pp. 1-124 Progress Assessment Support System with Answer Key (Full Volume): pp. 5-369 Progress Assessment Support System with Answer Key (Beginnings to 1877): pp. 5-206 Progress Assessment Support System with Answer Key (Beginnings to 1914): pp. 5-272

Diagnostic Assessment. Establishing what students need to learn and what they may already know is essential for teachers. Holt Social Studies: United States History provides a diagnostic test for the beginning of the school year. Progress Assessment Support System with Answer Key (Full Volume): pp. 5-14 Progress Assessment Support System with Answer Key (Beginnings to 1877): pp. 5-16 Progress Assessment Support System with Answer Key (Beginnings to 1914): pp. 5-14

On-going Assessment. Holt Social Studies: United States History provides assessment opportunities on a daily basis and on a longer-term cumulative basis. With regular assessment teachers can make any needed intervention and in-course corrections to ensure learning. SE: pp. 101, 287, 315-316, 464, 547, 615, 663, 734, 797-798, 835 TE: pp. 18, 147, 299, 530, 679, 846 Chapter Resource File: Expanding West: pp. 1, 8, 26, 30-31 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Full Volume): pp. 1-257 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Beginnings to 1877): pp. 1-151 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Beginnings to 1914): pp. 1-188 Interactive Reader and Study Guide (Civil War to the Present): pp. 1-124 Progress Assessment Support System with Answer Key (Full Volume): pp. 5-369 Progress Assessment Support System with Answer Key (Beginnings to 1877): pp. 5-206 Progress Assessment Support System with Answer Key (Beginnings to 1914): pp. 5-272

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Self-Monitoring for Understanding. Students using Holt Social Studies: United States History can monitor themselves using assessment provided within the text, features, and maps. SE: pp. 274, 474, 648, 823

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Strand 5 – Teaching History

What Does Scientifically Based Research Tell Us about

Strand 5 - Teaching U.S. History Defining the Strand What is history? While some students may perceive history as a timeline of names and dates, history is the interpretation of past events, the stories of our past. Consequently, effective instruction in history goes beyond the memorization of facts and takes students into the process in which historians engage: analyzing evidence from primary and secondary sources; considering multiple perspectives; making connections between ideas; and identifying causes for and effects of historical events. Students of American history must also possess knowledge of the Constitution and its continuing impact on our nation’s laws and society. The following approaches have been shown to be effective in helping students develop a rich and deep understanding of American history: • document-based instruction, based on the primary sources that historians themselves use to critically construct knowledge; • instruction that focuses on the significance and contents of the Constitution; • instruction that connects geography to history content and instruction; and • instruction that includes and links economics to history content and instruction.

Excerpts from the Research that Guided the Development Document-Based Instruction “Using primary source documents allows the student not just to read about the past, but to see how the past is constructed as history through such sources. It allows students to immerse themselves into the language, events, and individuals and to take agency in reconstructing history. To use a primary source is to pose a question of the relationship between an account and evidence.” (Trofanenko 132) “These findings carry several significant instructional implications. First, students need systematic exposure to the collection and evaluation of historical evidence…” (Barton, 1997b, 423-424) “The main conclusion arising from the factual writing exercise is that work on historical documents gives children an understanding of the origin of information and it brings home to them the real meaning of phrases in a textbook such as bad housing conditions or child labour. When general issues like these are approached through individual examples in documents, the evidence of the writing of this group of children suggests that the children gain a clearer view of the problems of life in the past.” (Blake 547) “For students, reading history was not a process of puzzling about authors’ intentions or situating texts in a social world but of gathering information, with texts serving as bearers of

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information. How could such bright students be oblivious to the subtexts that jumped out at historians? … Before students can see subtexts, they must first believe they exist….When texts are viewed as human creations, what is said becomes inseparable from who says it.” (Wineburg, 1991b, 76-77) “These articles introduced teachers to the use of primary sources – documents, reports, maps, photographs, letters, diaries, posters, and recordings created by those who participated in or witnessed the events of the past – as a teaching method that exposes students to at least three important historical concepts. First, students realize that written history reflects an author’s reconstruction and interpretation of past events. Therefore, students learn the need to evaluate historical accounts carefully to recognize their subjective nature. Second, primary sources enable students to touch the lives of people in the past directly. Third, as students use primary sources, they develop a wide range of important analytical skills.” (Schamel 9) “According to research done in secondary classrooms by David Kobrin, author of Beyond the Textbook: Teaching History Using Documents and Primary Sources, the students’ sense of ‘why they might want to work as student historians – their involvement with history – was strengthened and broadened by the experience of working with challenging primary sources.’” (Schamel 10) “Making the study of history an authentic experience means giving young people the same control over definition and interpretation that professional historians have always claimed for themselves. … To work as historians, students need to accept, and master, an impressive array of complicated skills and attitudes. To begin with, they need to understand primary materials, some of which are archaic. … What the Students Said …Several [students] expressed in their own words an awareness of what we’d call the socially constructed nature of history. They also wrote – again, in their own words – that seeing the importance of who created history helped them understand the intellectual responsibilities of young adults in a democratic community.” (Kobrin, Abbott, Ellinwood, and Horton 39-41) “The definition of text in effective classrooms has been widely expanded over the past years. Internet-based text, multimedia texts, hypertext, student-constructed texts, periodicals, and newspapers all constitute the types of text that fluent readers handle on a daily basis. This same richness of text must be reflected in classroom instruction. The use of texts on multiple levels and of different genres can allow all students to do the engaged reading our principles call for. If multiple texts are used, students need to be supported in learning how to read across multiple texts.” (Ogle and Blachowicz 270)

Importance of the Constitution in Teaching U.S. History “Studying history will enrich our understanding of the present and of the future by illuminating the reasons for failures and successes of the past. The history of the United States of America relates directly to the most precious human condition—freedom to think, speak, write, and create, and freedom to possess diverse political, social, and religious views .... As we look toward the future, it is particularly important that we ask what it was about our Founders' thinking and the culture, political system, and governmental structure that emerged from the Constitution, that produced two centuries of liberty under law. … While individuals may differ over answers to that critical question, it is safe to say that if we neglect to think about it, the Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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probability of our constitutional freedoms being eroded or toppled is increased.” (Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution 6) “Another principle of How People Learn is that students need a firm foundation of factual knowledge ordered around the key concepts of the discipline. Some of the key concepts for the study of history … include, for example, political concepts such as state, government, and power, and economic concepts such as trade, wealth, and tax.” (National Research Council 3132) “In all these recurrent political conflicts one of the most salient points for our history is that many of the recent and basic constitutional controversies and decisions have to do directly with educational matters and with the public schools. They not only range across such issues as those just mentioned [desegregation of schools, etc.], but also children’s and students’ rights in relation to parents’ rights, teachers’ rights, and administrators’ rights and responsibilities, the relations of the sexes inside and outside of school, censorship or monitoring of books and school materials, criminal and civil justice for youth, the draft for men and women, and on and on. Whatever else may be said about the study of constitutional issues…it is not dull and formalistic nor remote from or irrelevant to the daily life in the schools.” (Butts 21) “All American school children should understand and appreciate this landmark document [the Constitution] and how its terms affect their daily lives. … The social studies have the principal responsibility for providing school instruction about the Constitution. While secondary school courses in American history, civics, and American government have traditionally carried the primary burden for such instruction, opportunities within social studies to teach about the Constitution or to reinforce constitutional principles exist from kindergarten through grade twelve. All schools … should use the social studies curriculum to enhance student understanding and respect for the Constitution.” (Mehlinger 142)

Importance of Connecting Geography to History Content and Instruction “Geography provides important clues to the past. Landforms and climate are related to migration patterns, land use, and the rise and fall of civilizations. How people use the land also has a strong bearing on the economic progress of countries and regions. Thus, knowing what the landscape was like in the past is important for understanding historical processes; as is knowing who lived in a place, how they lived, and how they used the land.” (The Importance of Geography in the School Curriculum) “The fact is, geography has played a crucial role in almost all significant historical events, and geography shapes the characteristics of the places where people, events, and ideas have made history.” (Boehm, Saxe, and Rutherford 1) “Social studies should not be taught in isolated segments. A wider, more integrated experience is more appropriate and leads to a deeper understanding of life’s complexities. As important as history, government, and geography are as separate fields of study, they are best taught from an interdisciplinary perspective (Alexander & George, 1981; Beane, 1990; Stevenson, 1992; Vars, 1987).” (Allen and Stevens 6) “Of all the subjects in the school curriculum, geography is probably most closely related to history. Geography is a major causative factor in historical development. … Classically, whereas history has posed the related questions When? and Why? Geography has posed the related questions Where? and Why? Moreover, according to Backler, geography and history also Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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converge as they relate to five historical concepts: (1) understanding time and chronology, (2) analyzing cause-and-effect relationships, (3) examining continuity and change, (4) recognizing and participating in a common memory, and (5) developing historical empathy.” (Reinhartz and Reinhartz 152-153) “Students who reported studying geography as part of their U.S. history classes performed better on the assessment [the NAEP 1988 Geography Assessment] than those who did not…” (Allen, Bettis, Kurfman, MacDonald, Mullis, and Salter 10) “Specialists in education are increasingly calling for a combination of geography and history as a major item on the curriculum reform agenda. In concert, these two subjects provide learners with knowledge of place and time, of where and when human activities happened. Interrelationship of these two subjects provides a context for enlightened integration of various perspectives on human behavior in the past and present.” (Backler 1) “How should curriculum developers and teachers connect geography with American history in the curriculum? They might begin with the Guidelines for Geographic Education, which provides a clear statement of the perspectives, information, concepts, and skills of geography. The five geographic themes included in the Guidelines – location, place, human/environmental interactions, movement, and regions … can be used to illuminate and enhance understanding of significant topics and events, which are highlighted in American history courses.” (Backler 18) “There is no such thing as an ‘aspatial event.’ If something occurred, it occurred in space. If it occurred in space, it is an event wrapped with the qualities, the elements, and the influences of the environment. That is why there is no history without geography. All events, as has been said so many times, occur at the intersection of space and time.” (Salter 15) “…the study of history at every grade level should incorporate the study of geography. … geographic literacy enables students to understand how people and places influence each other.” (Ravitch and Finn 209-210)

Importance of Economics in Teaching U.S. History “To counter students’ perception of a uniform and linear pattern of historical change, it is imperative that instruction focus on the diversity of experience that characterizes a given time period… students’ limited perception of the expanse of history could be addressed by devoting attention to gradual and long-term social, economic, and political changes…” (Barton, 1996, 74) “Another principle of How People Learn is that students need a firm foundation of factual knowledge ordered around the key concepts of the discipline. Some of the key concepts for the study of history … include, for example, political concepts such as state, government, and power, and economic concepts such as trade, wealth, and tax.” (National Research Council 3132) “In economic matters (money, profit making, banking, ownership, poverty, and wealth) … an understanding of these things at the level of everyday life does not necessarily carry over into other areas. Ninth or tenth graders may have difficulty understanding how banks make profits [see Furnham 1992]… We need to remember that even when students have a quite sophisticated understanding of political and economic concepts, they may find it difficult to transfer those concepts from one case to another in history. A consequence of changes in the meaning of Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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concepts in history is that learning history means paying attention to details and to contexts because they often determine what can and cannot be transferred. … In short, students need to know some substantive history well: they need to have a deep foundation of factual and conceptual knowledge and to understand these facts and ideas in a broader framework.” (National Research Council 64-65) “Many have made arguments that an understanding of economics allows individuals to function better as consumers, producers, workers, and citizens. Others argue that without knowledge of economics, students cannot fully understand history or the social studies. … Teaching economics also provides a fuller understanding of institutions and historical events. Students find economic events interesting and of daily concern. If economic analysis is included in social studies, history, and other courses, these courses can be enriched, and the significance of the topics studied can be completely revealed and used to achieve better understanding of the economic questions facing today’s world. …as stated by Keynes [1930], Boulding [1969], and Stigler [1983], there are significant benefits from economic education.” (Buckles 26) “…there are important reasons to improve the infusion approach. The first is the critical explanatory power of economics for other subjects, such as U.S. history. For instance, unionization can be thought of as attempting to oppose the monopsony in employment (one buyer) of the one company town with a countervailing monopoly over the supply of labor. Productivity and capital investment are critical concepts in understanding the Industrial Revolution (Miller, 1988, p. 19). Indeed, the failure to include economics in such courses as U.S. history results in serious misteaching (Miller & Rose, 1983).” (Miller 45) “Infusion of economics into another course such as American history, civics, or geography can take one of several forms…examples of specific economic terms can be selected from the content of the course. For example, students can be taught the term ‘scarcity,’ then during the study of colonial America asked to find examples of scarcity and the decisions people made because of it. … an economic aspect of a topic already present in the course may be taught. For instance, the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the panics of the 1800s, the establishment of the national bank and its ending under Jackson, and the impact of economic growth on society are economic topics that could be taught in an American history course.” (Banaszak 51) “In order to decide what should be taught in an economics course and how such economics instruction should take place, an explicit goal needs to be defined. Horton and Weidenaar (1975) tried to do this and interviewed more than 200 economics educators, economists, other social scientists, trainers of social studies teachers, businessmen, and others. Three goals were singled out: (a) to help us be more capable as direct participants in the economy – that is, as consumers, workers, businessmen, or investors; (b) to ‘improve’ decisions when we act in our society as citizens; and (c) to improve our understanding of the world in which we live.” (Furnham 42) “…these tentative findings do support other researchers who have found that high school students can increase their knowledge of economics when it is infused into American History (see Lewis, 1981). They also suggest that the treatment can be effective even with students who have already taken a separate economics course, and with students whose initial knowledge was relatively weak.” (Dawson 67)

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Strand 5 – Teaching History

From Research to Practice Document-Based Instruction. Holt Social Studies: United States History makes extensive use of primary sources to enhance students’ understanding of history. Students have the opportunity to examine and analyze the writings of important historical figures as well as the opinions of ordinary men and women. SE: pp. 79, 107, 122-125, 405, 446, 653, 795, 935 Importance of the Constitution in Teaching U.S. History. Holt Social Studies: United States History teaches the Constitution through the original text as well as margin notes that explain and clarify difficult vocabulary and ideas. The book contains an entire chapter devoted to teaching the meaning of the Constitution. SE: pp. 182-187, 188-215, 216-221 Importance of Connecting Geography to History Content and Instruction. Holt Social Studies: United States History teaches map skills and the techniques of geography through maps and features focusing on the relationship of history to geography. SE: pp. H24-H25, 76, 154, 336-337, 477, 565, 699, 906-907, 955 TE: pp. 13, 337, 644, 681 Importance of Economics in Teaching U.S. History. Holt Social Studies: United States History teaches the importance of economics by showing connections to history in features. SE: pp. 603, 780, 927 TE: pp. 620, 707

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Bibliography

Holt Social Studies: United States History Pedagogical Research Report

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Miller, S.L., and Rose, S.A. (1983). The Great Depression: A Textbook Case of Problems with American History Textbooks. Theory and Research in Social Evaluation, 11(1), 25-39. National Council for Geographic Education. (Undated pamphlet). The Importance of Geography in the School Curriculum. Jacksonville, AL: Author. Order online at: http://www.ncge.org/. National Research Council. (2005). How Students Learn: History in the Classroom. Committee on How People Learn, A Targeted Report for Teachers. M.S. Donovan and J.D. Bransford, Editors. Division of Behavioral Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Ogle, D. and Blachowicz, C. (2002). Beyond Literature Circles: Helping Students Comprehend Informational Texts. In Comprehension Instruction: ResearchBased Best Practices, Block, C. and Pressley, M. (Ed.) New York, NY: Guilford Press. Ravitch, D., and Finn, Jr., C. (1987). What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know? A Report on the First National Assessment of History and Literature. New York, NY: Harper and Row. Reinhartz, D., and Reinhartz, J. (1997). Geography and History. In Teaching World History: A Resource Book, Roupp, H. (Ed.). 150-155. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Salter, C. (1988). The Intersection of Space and Time. Whole Earth Review, Spring. Stevenson, C. (1992). Teaching the Ten to Fourteen Year Old. White Plains, NY: Longman. Stigler, G.J. (1983). The Case, If Any, For Economic Literacy. Journal of Economic Education, 14(3), 60-66. Trofanenko, B. (2002). Images of History in Middle-Grade Social Studies Trade Books. New Advocate, 15(2), 129–132. Vars, G. (1987). Interdisciplinary Teaching in the Middle Grades: Why and How. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association. Wineburg, S. S. (1991a). On the Reading of Historical Texts: Notes on the Breach Between School and Academy. American Educational Research Journal, 28(3), 495–519. Wineburg, S. S. (1991b). Historical Problem Solving: A Study of the Cognitive Process Used in the Evaluation of Documentary and Pictorial Evidence. Journal of Research Base for Holt Social Studies: United States History

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