Social studies- Learnings from Drawing on children’s “sense of place”, Hutchison, 2007

3 ways I might address some of the five strategies suggested by Hutchison (2007) -- how, why and what I would hope to see as a result.

For mapping units, I would start with students exploring their own community and constructing maps. Students can use maps of their own area and places interest them to learn mapping, scaling, measurements, navigation etc. Google earth can also be used for students to explore their areas or other areas of their interest (eg. Disney land, their native country, vacation destinations).

To teach data handling units’ students can be asked to construct questionnaires to investigate their own community members.

We can ask students to debate about changes in their communities. They can investigate the effects of the changes and create questionnaires to ask the locals.

2 points that stood out to me, and the questions these points generated

Children’s make sense of places in different ways at various ages. Children’s develop their understanding of space gradually. Often as adults we tend to forget that and teach mapping as we understand it. What are the different stages of understandings spaces?

Connect the study of places to children’s everyday environment. I have found that students are more interested in learning if they see the topic to be of value to them or is about soothing they are familiar with or interested in. It is very important for a teacher to know their students well and bring learning to life by connecting it with what they know and see around them.

1 new perspective that resonated with me as a result of reading this Monograph

“We do a disservice to children when we jump in too quickly at a prematurely abstract level in map reading and mapmaking. It’s important to have children begin mapmaking the way they begin drawing; maps and drawings are representations of things that are emotionally important to children ... . The development of emotional bonds and cognitive skills need to go hand in hand in my approach to developmentally appropriate social studies and geography.” (Ontario curriculum: social studies, 2004)

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