MAKING GENERALIZATIONS: CONCEPT AND PRACTICE FOR DEEP LEARNING IN SOCIAL STUDIES
Keywords:
Generalizations, Social Studies, Inductive Teaching, Deductive Teaching, Generalization - Based TeachingAbstract
Social studies comprises broad subject matter, meaning that instruction that emphasizes facts, skills, and processes will result in learners developing only surface learning. In contrast, generalization teaching can provide learners with an opportunity to foster surface learning, deep learning, and transfer learning. Generalizations are statements that present relationships between two or more concepts and can be inferred in a universal manner. Such statements must be obtained by summarizing or synthesizing facts which are accurate, truthful, and observable, and must also be applicable in various situations without restriction based on time, place, or culture. Developing learners’ abilities to make generalizations in social studies is valuable and pivotal to learners in a variety of areas, such as developing learners to gain a deep understanding of the studied subject, fostering various thinking abilities, promoting the application of knowledge, encouraging learners to interact with information in a variety of ways, promoting a learner - centered learning environment, directing learners to think and predict stories, and decreasing the burden of memorizing facts and information. The following teaching approaches can be applied to develop learners’ abilities to make generalizations in social studies: 1) Direct instruction, 2) Inductive instruction, 3) Deductive instruction, 4) Combination of inductive and deductive instruction, and 5) Generalization - based instruction. In addition, the instructor can assess an individual learner’s ability to make generalizations by considering three criteria: generalization elements; relevance to the concepts and facts of the lesson; and the degree of universality.
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