1. Situated Learning and Anchored Instruction As Vehicles for Social Education
Hughes, A. S., & Sears, A. (2004). Situated learning and anchored instruction as vehicles for social education. In A. Sears & I. Wright (Eds.), Challenges & Prospects for Canadian Social Studies (pp ). Vancouver: Pacific Educational Press.

2. 3 Components to Situated Learning & Anchored Instruction:
Constructivism
Paying attention to Prior Knowledge
Anchoring Instruction

3. 1. Constructivist teachers:
Encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative.
Allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies, and alter content.
Use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulative, interactive and physical materials.

4. Engage “cognitive dissonance”
Inquire about students’ understandings of concepts before sharing their own understandings of those concepts.
Encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another.
Encourage students to engage in reflective thinking.
From: Brown, S.C. & Kysilka, M. L. (2002). The Instruction. Applying multicultural and global concepts in the classroom and beyond ( ). Toronto: Allyn and Bacon.

5. 2. The Importance of Prior Knowledge
Students are not “blank slates”
Prior knowledge is often resistant to change
Teachers’ job: to help students construct new knowledge on their pre-existing foundation of prior knowledge
help students tear apart and reconstruct that same prior knowledge when needed.

6. Create cognitive dissonance
Find ways to uncover what students already know by:
Listening to our students (generally)
Strategically planning to uncover their thinking
Paying attention to relevant research

7. 3. Anchoring Instruction in Situations
“Anchors” or “Springboards” – are interesting, real world situations that enable the exploration of concepts.
Example: “no hats rule” + diversity

8. Effective springboards are:
Authentic – best ones tend to be drawn from actual events
Vivid – have to catch and hold student interest and enthusiasm
Succinct – the springboards are only the starting point.

9. Multidimensional – explore concepts at a number of different levels and/or from a number of different perspectives
Deliberately ambiguous – purpose of springboards is to promote questioning and investigation, not to provide answers. The best ones are open-ended and open to interpretation.
Representative – springboards should open up students to the wider world

10. Postscript: Fostering Dialogue
Important to foster 2 kinds of dialogue during this process:
Interpersonal dialogue can happen between:
Students and the teacher
Student(s) to student(s)
Students and historical figures
Intrapersonal dialogue: students think deeply about their thinking