Social Studies Investigations (Ages 10-14)

Hello everyone,

My name is Lance Davis and I will be teaching this exciting Social Studies Investigator class. In this class, students will learn and become familiar with the investigation process along with clue searching to solve the weekly activities. Students will have visual resources sent to them to use in their everyday assignments. No matter how big or small the case may be, students will use the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How method to do most investigations.  They will use these techniques along with basic math problems together to solve their investigative activity.

I taught this Social Studies Investigation course several times a few years ago in an after-school class to students in upper elementary and they loved it. Students enjoyed the thought process behind investigating and finding clues to where it led to solving the daily Investigation. This class is a combination of both of my careers, law enforcement on the investigating part and my long time interest and teaching, especially of social studies courses. This is NOT a core social studies course topic because topics investigated will be limited, but some popular things that are listed will be discussed and investigated. Some topics included may have multiple viewpoints and those will be taken into consideration and discussed in class. I like to keep my classes small and limited to no more than 8-students so there is more interaction between each other.

Students will be able to:
1. Practice necessary social studies skills using time lines, identifying cause and effect relationships, and sequencing of events.
2. Through structured inquiry, investigate various historical topics.
3. Acquire and practice the techniques utilized in formal historical research.
4. Apply logical reasoning skills to solve scenes.
5. Discuss the significance of each historical topic.
6. View history as an interesting field of study, and a mystery rather than a subject of memorization.

Weekly Schedule:
Day 1 - Learning how to investigate, finding clues, & solving activities
Day 2 - Presidents                                                                                                             
Day 3 – The Westward Expansion 
Day 4 - Famous Inventors                                                                                                
Day 5 – World Geography                                                                                               
Day 6 - Early Settlements
Day 7 - U.S. Geography
Day 8 - Citizenship & Overall Review


Classes will run for 40-minutes and Documents will be sent a day prior to class to the Outschool Platform to either be printed out or pulled up on the screen to follow along. This is a very interactive class so one of my main rules is that the students camera MUST BE ON at all times and they must participate in the activities. Thank you!

*********ATTENTION ADULTS********** Due to Outschool's policy, Adults will not be allowed on camera during class unless there is technical problems, walking through, etc. Adults may sit off camera during class. This is not my rules, but Outschool's.