Knowledge-Building Activities Activity Type Brief Description listen to audio students listen to digital or nondigital recordings of speeches, radio broadcasts, oral histories, music, etc. simulation students engage in paper-based or digital experiences that mirror the complexity of the real world
Possible Technologies
podcasts (“great speeches in history”),
audacity, odeo, evoca
Fantasy congress, the stock market game
Convergent Knowledge-Expression Activities
Activity Type Brief Description Possible Technologies
create a timeline students sequence events on a paper or digital timeline,
online or offline
timeliner, photostory, Voicethread
complete a review activity students answer questions to review content on paper
or digitally; didactic or game-based
prs systems, Jeopardy (or other games),
online survey tools
Divergent Knowledge-Expression Actvities
Activity Type Brief Description
create a Diary students write about an event from the past from a first-person perspective
Draw a cartoon students create a drawing or caricature using paper or
digital tools
comic creator, digital cameras
Develop a knowledge Web Using teacher- or student-created idea webs, students
organize information in a visual/spatial manner, on paper
or digitally
inspiration, powerpoint, mindmeister
Design an exhibit students synthesize key elements of a topic in a
physical or virtual exhibit
Wiki, powerpoint, scrapblog
engage in historical role play students impersonate a historical figure, live or recorded moviemaker, imovie, digital camera
Possible Technologies
Blog, Word, google Docs
The remaining 21 knowledge-expression activity types help students share
divergent understandings of social studies concepts and ideas. The complete
taxonomy divides these into written,
visual, conceptual, product-oriented,
and participatory activity subcategories.
Divergent Knowledge-Expression Activities includes a sample learning activity type from each subcategory.
Combining Activity Types: An Example
As helpful as this taxonomy may be
for discovering (or rediscovering) social studies learning activities, rarely
would a teacher use a single activity
type in isolation—even during a single
class session. Instead, we combine
knowledge-building with knowledge-expression activity types to form engaging learning experiences that help
students develop and communicate
social studies knowledge.
For example, in a two-day lesson
designed to introduce her students to
Manifest Destiny and westward expansion, sixth grade U.S. history teacher
Julie Bray used the activity-types planning approach to design a lesson to
engage students in a variety of learning
opportunities. Specifically, she helped
her students describe territorial expansion and how it affected the political
map of the United States, emphasizing
the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Realizing that her students had little
prior knowledge of westward expansion, Bray planned an opening activity that would engage students while
helping them build their knowledge.
Students viewed an image of the famous 1872 painting Manifest Destiny
by John Gast. While projecting the
image at the front of the room, Bray
brought her students into the painting
by positioning them in front of the
screen in the same poses as the painting’s figures. Bray then asked the students questions about their historical
roles depicted in the painting.
Students then viewed a presentation
in which Bray introduced the origins
and purpose of the Lewis and Clark
expedition. Previously, Bray had used
historical documents to address these
goals, but she noted that they didn’t
inspire students’ interest or deeper-level knowledge sufficiently.
To introduce the expedition more
effectively, Bray created a virtual field
trip. Students began to create an illustrated map of the expedition using the
classroom document camera. As they
progressed along the expedition route,
Bray introduced people, landmarks,
and discoveries by viewing a series of
images. As students viewed the images,
Bray engaged them in group discussions using excerpts from Lewis and
