Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Looking for suggestions on Social Studies Texts...

My 8th grade ds has decided social studies and history aren't very interesting...l which I suspect is due to the relatively low level of discussion and reading assignments going on in his class at school. I would like to try to find either a textbook or video series covering global studies - history, culture, current affairs, that is at least at the level of an AP course or higher for him to read as supplemental material. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

polarbear

Thinkwell? American govt and economics

Let me look around for other stuff

While neither a text book nor a video series, here are some popular titles in history and current events which may help spark student interest. They will not teach to the test.
I am Malala, http://www.amazon.com/Am-Malala-Stood-Education-Taliban/dp/0316322407
A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a boy soldier, http://www.amazon.com/Long-Way-Gone-Memoirs-Soldier/dp/0374531269
Night, http://www.amazon.com/Night-Elie-Wiesel/dp/0374500010/

When viewing these books on amazon, titles of other books with similar themes are presented. There is a cruel reality to the lives of many children, and these books contain mature themes. Yet a student seeking purpose in the study of history and social studies may find these books engaging and emerge with a new appreciation of things previously taken for granted, as well as a resolve to reach out and help others... essentially influencing what may be written in new chapters of world history.

If he's already disenchanted by the history offerings in school, this may be right up his alley: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

It's largely a criticism of US History textbooks, but it gives good, in-depth coverage of the topics it selects.

My own exploration of the topic is largely guided by my interests, so in order to help you better... what is he interested in?

To understand the perspective of the author, James W. Loewen, I suggest reading the Editorial Reviews of the book on Amazon and noting that customers who bought the book also bought history books by Howard Zinn and Oliver Stone.

The editorial mentions specifically the example of Helen Keller in detail, and associating that with Zinn and Stone would lead those prone to making uninformed snap judgements that the tome is pro-socialism. Is that the mistake you've made here?

If you want to actually understand his perspective, you're better off reading the book, instead. The book is about how various stories and individuals have been whitewashed by revisionist historians in order to promote "social studies" as "social engineering." The result is bland, uninteresting history full of dehumanized characters we cannot relate to, and therefore cannot learn from.

His perspective is also indicated on his open public facebook page.

It is often beneficial to consider both sides. To that end, it is often better to share information others may not have, rather than to attempt to discredit or undermine the information or authentic experiences of another. In sharing information, we can realize that it may be interpreted differently by each person through the filter of their own personal experiences... we can agree to disagree about the conclusions each comes to.

In many works, the lack of (or scant) bibliography, citation, or reference to source documents, possibly substituting opinion/conclusion/inference of motivation, rather than a balanced view, may shortchange the development of our students' analytical and critical thinking. This may also occur in the media, as evidenced anecdotally by several local families from other countries stating that they prefer to get their news from non-US-media sources.

For current events of-the-moment, there are many resources popping up on the life and times of Nelson Mandela since his recent passing.

As another possible resource source, the Davidson database has compiled a collection of parent-recommended resources, including this page of Social Studies resources which may be of interest to the OP's child and others. (link- http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/browse_resources_149.aspx)

The author of several wonderful books on the topic of Social Thinking, Michelle Garcia Winner, was born to a father who is also an author; He has written of his experiences in Auschwitz, Auschwitz.

Thanks to everyone for your input - as fate would have it, Nelson Mandela's passing yesterday (in what seemed like minutes after I posted this question!) opened up a lot of great discussion at our house. I really appreciated indigo mentioning the biographies too... because I'd been thinking history textbook... but realized after reading the suggestion that ds has actually been really interested with the literature his class has read this year - language arts and social studies/history are integrated, so they have been reading fiction and non-fiction related to the area of the world they are studying. So perhaps I just need to keep feeding him more of these types of books... he is such a fast reader he finishes the books that the class is discussing long before the class is done discussing them.

I also want to thank indigo for pointing out the obvious - the resources listed here at the Davidson website. I tend to forget those!

polarbear

ps - I also wanted to share mention - when Malala appeared at the UN (earlier this year? I can't remember exactly when it was), there were interviews with her on tv, and they were great interviews to view with my children.

My son and I enjoyed David Christian's Teaching Company lecture series called Big History and he has also now authored a college textbook by the same name. There is also a high school curriculum online, but it is more simplistic than the lectures/book.

Another text that is excellent is Robert Strayer's Ways of the World, which is also college level. I actually read the entire thing aloud and found it to be very well written.

I agree with the others that Lies My Teacher Told Me is good, but be sure he has a good background in American history first--it's important to have been exposed to the lies to be able to appreciate the book. There is a Teaching Company course called The Skeptic's Guide to American History that sounds like it might be similar, but I haven't seen it.

We have also had success with reading books on current issues such as Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma.