To Use or Not to Use a PPT in Social Studies Class
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Should you use a PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation in your social studies class? Some teachers say it is an effective way of teaching; other teachers say it is not.
This article is going to argue that when implemented properly, the use of PowerPoints have many benefits.
This article will detail some good practices when using a PowerPoint in your social studies class.
1. AVOID Death by PowerPoint!
Don’t write too many words on one slide! I know, you want to get all that great information into the slide so students can learn everything. The problem is the students won’t listen to you (the teacher!) when you have too many words on the slide because they will just be reading the slide. Or they will just get confused because they are trying to read and listen at the same time. Use the slide as a backdrop with minimal words and a useful, relevant picture.
The most important words should be on the slide, but the details should come from your mouth. Students should be trained to take notes and not rely 100% on the PPT.
Look at these two slides. Which one would you prefer to view while a teacher is teaching?
2. Use the Slides to Augment Your Teaching
You are the teacher and the students should be focused on you (not the PPT). The slides just augment what you are saying. Teach the students as normal and briefly refer to the PPT to further express your point. For example, if you are teaching about the Progressive Era in American history and want to describe the condition of child labor. Verbally describe the conditions, then use the PPT to show pictures of children working in factories or simply put some numbers to show how many kids were working (e.g. “In 1900, 18% of the working population were children between the ages of ten and fifteen”).
3. Turn Your “Lecture” into a Discussion
Teachers who say PowerPoints shouldn’t be used in the classroom argue that it is too teacher centered; they are right! To fix this, turn your lecture into a discussion. Instead of just going slide by slide, use the slides as a discussion starter. First present the information, then ask students questions.
Try to ask historical thinking questions. For example, here are some questions you could ask if you are teaching about the New Deal:
- Did Herbert Hoover or Franklin D. Roosevelt do a better job dealing with the Great Depression? Explain your answer.
- Should the government get involved with private business? Do you have evidence to support your answer?
- How does the Fair Labor Standards Act affect your life today?
- Which New Deal program do you think was best? Why?
5. Intermittent Activities
In addition to turning your “lecture” into a discussion, create intermittent activities to do during the class. Let’s say your class is a one-hour class. If you just present the PPT for one full hour without the students talking or doing some sort of student centered activity, you will lose your students. Students will also not be too excited if they know they will just be going to history class where the teacher just talks to them all class.
Therefore, create a student centered activity that can be done somewhere in the middle of the presentation. Think of this like an intermission from the presentation.
Here is a time template that works for me:
- 0:00–20:00 Present the PPT (remember, turn this into a discussion!)
- 20:00–30:00 Primary source activity (student centered)
- 30:00–50:00 Present the PPT
- 50:00–60:00 Review questions
4. Include a Student Guide
To keep students focused, create a student guide sheet for students to fill out while you teach. Create questions or fill-in-the-blank activities students must complete by the end of class. Have them turn them in to you so you can grade them. This will keep them on task because they know they have to listen to get the answers.
You don’t have to write too many questions, just enough to ensure they are paying attention and understand the most important points. Students can later use these student guide sheets to prepare for exams.
5. Relevant Pictures With Captions
It’s important to use relevant pictures in your PowerPoint. There is nothing wrong with making your PPT look beautiful, but don’t use a picture just because it is pretty. Use pictures that are relevant to the content on the slide. At the same time, make sure to put a caption on each picture. This will not only help students, it will help you! It will remind you of the relevance of the picture.
Pictures can also be a great discussion starter. Students can analyze the picture and report back to class. Be careful though, pictures can help students visualize history, but they can also be deceptive. What is not in the frame of the picture can be just as important as what is in the frame. This is a good learning opportunity though. You could put two pictures that paint a different picture next to each other, then discuss as a class which is more accurate and why.
So, if you like to use PowerPoints (like me), then great. You can make them work. As a teacher, I use PPTs throughout the year, but not every class. One class might be a PPT presentation, the next a simulation, then a debate, then a PPT presentation again; I mix it up.
If you teach American history and need a series of professional PPTs (with NO Death by PowerPoint!) that you can use in your class, check out this great series from Lessons in Humanities.
Check out the American History series HERE
