Club Spotlight: Social Science Education Club

SSE Club Meeting | Social Science Education Club (WSU)

On Tuesday, Oct. 1, several students who share a passion for education came together to discuss ways to creatively incorporate history in their future classrooms. The club is open to all education students; however, students who are passionate about the social sciences are especially encouraged to come.

Community

The club members began by going around the room and introducing themselves followed by something positive that happened throughout their day. It was a great way to welcome new members and break any ice that the fear of a new experience sometimes brings.

Andrew Binkley, a social science education major, and the president of the club added some reasons for why he started this club, and how it will impact his future career within education.

“Being a reason that students smile in their day, and also by being an inspiration that adds to why they want to come to class every day,” Binkley said.

He explained that when he was in school, there would be many teachers who were not passionate about their jobs, which led him to not care as deeply about his education. This is what drove him to become passionate about creating a welcoming environment for all students when he becomes a teacher.

He wants to encourage this same space with the club.

“I want this to be a welcoming environment for all education majors who want to come out,” Binkley said.

He spent the majority of the meeting allowing other members to brainstorm about different and fun student-led activities that would account for student engagement in the future. He brought up a way for students to create cereal boxes based on historical events.

In his experience, the students he taught really benefited from the activity, and he noticed how engaged they were with the creativity that his idea brought.

Social sciences

This club was originally created for specifically the social science education majors. This means that most of the members have a deep passion for historical data, and why we should teach about it within schools.

Binkley shared some insight into his past that allowed the members to connect with his reasoning behind his love for history.

He would go to the library when he was younger with his mother and found that when she would frequently sneak some books about historical figures into his reading list, he actually found it to be extremely inspiring, and continuously wanted to learn more about everything about that subject.

Caitlin Chandler, another social science education major, and the Vice President of the club, shared some reasoning as to why she believes history is so important to teach.

“Teaching about topics as sensitive as those throughout our history allows for us to try and keep them from repeating. The way it’s delivered is important so that we can break patterns that have caused terrible things in our history to happen,” Chandler said.

She went on to explain that history has always been her favorite subject, and since her experiences with history teachers were not the greatest, she wanted to give back to students and create a great environment for them that she never got to experience.

“I mean, we really just want to be able to help education majors, especially history education majors. Andrew making this club was really nice because it gives me people that I can talk to. Being able to discuss and bounce ideas off of each other is very beneficial to help with future lesson plans.” Chandler exclaimed.

Teaching

Jobe Kaufman, a member of the club and an education major, added some valuable reasons as to what his ‘why’ is as a teacher.

“My ‘why’ is to have a fulfilling job. My background is in office and manufacturing work, so I did a lot of stuff that didn’t really mean anything to me. Teaching, I found to be extremely inspirational and fulfilling.” Kaufman said.

Members of this club are passionate about exploring the future of their educational careers. Each person will more than likely bring so much positivity to their future classrooms, and shed some light on learning why history is such an important topic for our youth to learn about.

“There are so many lessons to be learned from our history that, to me, it is portrayed as a beautiful story,” Kaufman said. “And what is better than a story?”