Self-Direction/Geography and History

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How Can Initiative and Self-Direction Skills Support Geography and History Curriculum at the K-5 Level?

This snapshot provides resources that show how initiative and self-direction skills can be used to support geography and history curriculum. It includes the following:

  • Definition of Initiative and Self-Direction
  • How Initiative and Self-Direction Support Geography and History Curriculum
  • Examples
    • Professional Development Resource (National Geographic Education Network)
    • A Student-Centered Research Project on Geography and History (video clip)
  • Additional Resources

Definition

Initiative and Self-Direction:
  • Monitoring one’s own understanding and learning needs
  • Demonstrating initiative to advance professional skill levels
  • Defining, prioritizing and completing tasks without direct oversight
  • Demonstrating commitment to learning as a lifelong process
  • Utilizing time efficiently and managing workload

How Initiative and Self-Direction Support Geography and History Education

Professions and jobs in today’s economy are no longer defined by a static skill set. Participants in the modern workforce must evolve their skills and accept an expanding plate of responsibilities. Meeting this demand requires initiative and self-direction. When students are given the opportunity to develop their own projects and how they will execute them, they are challenged to take the initiative and show self-direction in their decisions. For these student-centered projects, teachers take on the role of facilitator as students engage in and become more invested in directing their learning objectives. For example, in a student-centered research project on the history and geography of a local community, students develop their own questions and research methods to study the aspects of the community that interest them most. The project enables students to go beyond textbook descriptions of their local geography and history and interact with the environment and community they are studying. This experiential learning encourages students to expand and explore their own learning potential beyond the immediate work at hand.

Professional Development Resource

National Geographic Education Network (EdNet) provides teachers with access to ongoing local and national professional development opportunities. Professional development opportunities include training, workshops and conferences, and field studies for educators and their students around a specific theme. For example, the 2006 Geography Action! Institute focused on Africa and supported educators in learning about and protecting the earth and its people. EdNet is also home to a number of online communities that encourage collaboration between large groups of educators interested in similar geography education topics.

A Student-Centered Research Project Focused on Geography and History

       Students visit a local blacksmith for their research
       project.  Credit: edutopia.org

In this Edutopia video clip, produced by The George Lucas Educational Foundation, Eva La Mar’s 3rd grade class participates in a student-centered research project focused on the geography and history of a local ranch. For this “geo-literacy” project, students begin their investigation by identifying an essential question that they need to answer and how they are going to answer that question. Students wanted to know, “Why is the preservation of Rush Ranch important?” To conduct their research, students choose to study three different aspects of Rush Ranch: The Native American community, a blacksmith shop, and plants and animals endemic to the area.

In the video students interview a local blacksmith about the trade, go on field trips to observe and document wildlife on the ranch, and invite a historian to their class to hear about Native American artifacts. Students then present their findings on a website that supports geo-literacy projects so that they can share their local history and geography project with other classes across the country that have developed their own research projects.

Additional Resources

For additional resources, search the Route21 Database or visit:
Partnership for 21st Century Skills