Interview Assignment

For this assignment, I chose to conduct an interview on the historical option. I spoke with both my father and my friend to discuss social studies in elementary school in Canada. Throughout my analysis, I used the historical significance, evidence and interpretation, continuity and change as well as historical perspectives to compare my father’s elementary education around 1966 and my friend’s, which began in 2002. I conclude that while social studies are often seen as less important than other topics, in the end, the teacher is in charge of making the topic both interesting and of value to his/her students.

The questions I decided to ask during my interview were the following:

1. Which significant event was occurring in the world while

How did technology impact the way you learned social studies in school?

I connected this question to evidence and interpretation because both my father and my friend discussed the use of technology in terms of being exposed to images and videos of world events as well as Quebec’s history.

3. How did your social studies classes from elementary school impact the way you viewed social studies throughout the rest of years in school?

This question is tied into cause and consequence due to the impact that was left on both my father and my friend after their social studies classes in elementary school. They each had different feelings towards the subject due to their experiences.

4. How would you improve your social studies experience? What aspects of your social studies classes were successful?

This question developed the historical perspective and ethical dimension historical thinking skill. I asked this question in order to discuss how they could both appreciate and understand the information they were being taught as well as the difficulties they experienced.

5. What type of teacher did you have in your social studies classes in elementary

My father and my friend felt as though their own interests were maybe overlooked in their social studies classes. A lot of the information that they received was about the history, geography and family life of Quebec. My father claimed that “[he] doesn’t remember a lot of what they learned, but that is because it probably did not feel relevant to me as a nine-year-old kid.” Unfortunately, social studies classes often receive very little emphasis and when there is time for the subject, they teach according to their curriculum. My friend found that while she did not receive the opportunity to necessarily learn about a topic that she found interesting, her teacher “was really open to group work, online research and any other resources that would help students feel engaged in the