Exciting Ways To Learn SOCIAL STUDIES With Fun And Curiosity - The Students Edition

Social Studies (History + Geography) has always been a horror subject for the majority of the learners in the school. The different contents, the varied concepts, the incidents and the various geographical features along with historical evidence has always created a daunting effect on 90% of the learners. So much so that the learners always run away from the situation when it comes to learning these subjects. Situation is so negative oriented that the students always run away from the subject teachers too, considering them to be as boring as the subject. 

Can running away fetch you good understanding and progress? Surely not. Finding solutions to understand it with full enthusiasm and fun is what a learner should look out for. 

With the same intentions in mind, In this article I will be enlisting various ways of learning social studies with fun and to fall in love with it. 

1. Correlate The Important Dates

Learning and retaining the important dates, month, year and century of a particular historical event or incident is always a big challenge for learners. The easiest way to partially remember and recall it is by using correlation method. Correlate it with anybody's birthday or important date of your life. For example: If you want to remember the date when Dandi March was started, and if the same date coincides with any of your family members' special day, then remember it in the same manner, i.e., Dandi March - 12th March 1930 - My Grandfather's Birthday and so on. 

2. Narrate The Story

Remembering the various historical incidents and events in the appropriate sequence of its happening is a task impossible for learners to Rote-learn. The easiest way to retain it for longer duration is by framing a story by oneself and narrating the same on a regular basis at bedtime Or during leisure time with your parents, siblings or others in the family will help in remembering the concept better and with proper specifications. 

3. Construct Genealogy

It's a really hectic task to remember family relationship or ancestral history like who is father or mother of whom, who is the son Or daughter of whom, what is the order of the family sequence,  who was the king leading the empire from the centuries before pre independence and post independence,  and many such events of similar types can be studied well by drawing a Genealogy Flowchart. An example is depicted in the image below which shows the genealogy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj: 

4. Watch Animated Videos

Certain concepts requires a deep understanding and it becomes difficult to remember those just by reading and understanding but still then there will always be a blurred clarity about specific events like how could this happen, how exactly the battle was initiated, what might have been the scenario then, how people used to live and survive, how the earth actually revolves and rotates, how does the space looks like, appearance of the different planets from our earth, etc can be easily understood with crystal clear clarity by watching historical or geographical movies or videos. 

5. Subscribe to Channels

Subscribing to different TV channels and YouTube channels based on History and Geography subjects can help a learner to get up-to-date information of the happenings around the world before, present and in the near future. This would instead help to get better clarity of understanding or application based approach. 

6. Visit A Museum

Museums preserve and exhibit important cultural, artistic, historical or scientific artifacts. Museums are centres filled with information designed to enlighten and educate the curious mind. Especially for children, museums introduce them to unknown worlds, spark their imagination and provide them with valuable learning experiences. Specifically, cultural history museums educate people about people, about how people of the past reacted to their environment and the effects of those reactions to our past, present, and future. 

7. Go For A Field Trip

A field trip allows students and teachers to get out of the formal context of the classroom and cultivate shared experiences. Shared experiences lead to better rapport between teachers and students, as well as a deeper bond among classmates. Field trips help students interact with what they are learning. The experience goes beyond reading about a concept; students are able to see it, manipulate it or participate in it physically. Students are able to see elements with their eyes rather than reading about it and believing what they are told because it's in print. For Example: Visiting a farm and milking a real cow is much more powerful than reading about milking a cow.

8. Locate Using Google Earth

Using Google Earth and maps in classrooms can help visualize abstract concepts across a global canvas, allowing students to connect what they learn inside to what they experience in their daily lives, community, and to the larger world. Google Earth's creation tools allow you to create your own projects. It uses satellite imagery to grab, spin, tilt and zoom down to any place on Earth. Students can explore every corner of the globe, measure distances, create their own virtual tours, and share their tours with others. You can also create and download layers of information and view them in geographic context. The main advantages of Google Earth are its free cost and simplicity. It does not require specific addresses, as locations can be identified by simply picking them off the map. This greatly expands the ability to map locations without addresses (e.g., trails) or informal locations (e.g., street vendors).

9. Go Mindmapping

The use of mind mapping in the learning of Social Studies aims to direct students in storing learning materials in Social Studies into their brain memory to be more directed and well organized so that it will make it easier to understand a subject matter. A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information into a hierarchy, showing relationships among pieces of the whole. It is often created around a single concept, drawn as an image in the center of a blank page, to which associated representations of ideas such as images, words and parts of words are added. Mind Mapping is a useful technique that supports learning, improves information recording, shows how different facts and ideas are related, and enhances creative problem solving. A simple example of mind mapping from geography for the study of soil is depicted in the image below:

10. Paying Ears To Your Grandparents

Our personal experiences and memories are very powerful. When we hear stories about our parents, our grandparents and even further back, we're pulled towards our family or towards that specific event or incident. By sharing these experiences and memories, strong emotions are triggered, and we feel closer to our event and bonds become tighter. Grandparents are a valuable resource because they have so many stories and experiences from their own lives to share. Oftentimes children will listen to grandparents even when they are not listening to their parents or other adults. Grandparents also offer a link to a child’s cultural heritage and family history. Children understand more of who they are and where they come from through their connection with their grandparents.

Excited to use these super cool techniques. Use these simple tips in your daily routine and go on a fun ride with Social Studies. 

Happy Learning!!! 

By Shobha Joy Gaddam

(Academician & Educator)