How have social studies theories and research assisted you in meeting the needs of individual learners?

 Social studies research and theories have helped me reach the needs of individual learners because they help me target what students are interested in learning about in a given topic. At the beginning of my units, I ask my students what they would like to learn about. Many students say they don't know but some will respond with very interesting questions or topics. For example, one student asked about fighting monks. While I was not sure what he meant at first, upon some Google and Youtube searched, I found out that he was talking about the Shaolin monks. Different social studies theories and research have helped me expand my knowledge and expand upon the content that I teach in my class in order to meet the interests of my students. My students often like to expand beyond the historical schools covered in the textbook like military and political history. Sometimes they want to know more about certain topics covered in the textbook. Using primary sources and secondary sources has helped me to build interesting and historically accurate lessons. Using multiple perspectives given in secondary sources has complexified issues making them more interesting for students to learn about.