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Document Type

Article

Abstract

The notion of representation has entertained philosophers and thinkers for centuries. How can anything, any idea, any concept or object truly be represented by a language, institution, idea or image? In the information age, the notion of representation is even more pressing. Twenty-four hour news feeds, YouTube, social media, government propaganda, iPhones, the media, the advertising industry and other agencies and devices disseminate a seemingly infinite amount of images that portend to represent something, from consumer products to political intentions. However, more times than not, supposed truths do not correspond to any underlying reality because they no longer need to. Information is now viral; it proliferates and leaves its referents behind. And it is the social studies that deal with many of these emerging avenues of information. Economist’s reports, political pundits, the seemingly endless plethora of historical information on the internet, all of these must be grappled with by teachers and students in the social studies. With the proliferation of information, truth becomes precarious. Nonetheless, it is the job of the social studies to provide some truth, or some notion of truth. This paper devises a methodological tool to better examine misrepresentations that may arise in the course of the teaching and learning of the social studies.

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