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  • Essay / Capturing Students' Attention Through Artistic Representation...

    This article discusses the importance of artistic depictions of historical events that can capture a student's imagination. He asserts that the use of art in social studies requires going beyond art appreciation to maintain a higher level of awareness of inference and critical interpretation. In order to help students in this process, the authors of this article developed a scaffolding method (REED-LO) that supports the interpretation of a work of art and a Web 2.0 tool that is a tool interactive, web-based art available for free. (WAIT) which allows students to virtually visit selected works of art in a museum. Although it can be difficult and limited in terms of time and distance to organize a museum visit or field trip for students, this tool brings the museum to the students and also allows them to have a more hands-on experience, as opposed to "sitting down and gaining experience otherwise available, to learn, explore and interpret works of art." A teacher's goal in a social studies classroom should be to improve students' critical thinking skills while learning the content of the subject they are studying. . This article discusses constructivist scaffolding theory and it is useful in this context because it allows teachers to teach content as well as teach students the ability to analyze and critique information based on their own interpretation of the art discussed. discovered in class, the collective experience of the social studies class was that, depending on the content and the teacher's particular teaching style, lessons revolved around a worksheet where students find answers in a textbook where they are asked to research a building or landmark and then write about its history...... middle of paper ...... m will help students become active participants in their community . Technology is a tool that can be used to create a constructivist classroom in which students can develop their understanding using Web 2.0 features, such as WAIT, which they will use throughout their learning experience to help them to make judicious interpretations of what they learn. . As a social studies teacher, we should not be afraid of constructivism or the use of technology, but rather embrace both because they create a rich learning environment and make the content area essential to a time where standardized testing prevents schools from focusing in the most effective way possible. a lot on this type of course. With the implementation of Common Core, it will now be more accessible and supportive for students to learn about content areas while aligning lessons to language arts and math standards..