BARBIE IN THE CLASSROOM: UNVEILING SOCIAL STUDIES THROUGH A POP-CULTURE ICON

Laurie — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 12:30:00 +0000

The Barbie Movie: A Summer Sensation with Deeper Cultural Implications

Have you thought of using an pop-icon like Barbie in the classroom? As the Barbie movie takes the season by storm, it’s not just another blockbuster; it’s become a cultural phenomenon. Audiences are donning pink outfits, hosting Barbie-themed parties, and generally taking it to a level not seen in quite some time. But, have you considered leveraging this fervor in your classroom, viewed through the lens of social studies? In this blog post, I’ll not only share some information about Barbie, but also demonstrate how this iconic pop-culture figure can be seamlessly integrated into your teaching.

Tracing the Barbie Journey: A Brief Historical Insight

In 1959, Mattel introduced the Barbie doll, an innovation that revolutionized both the toy industry and popular culture. Conceived by Ruth Handler after observing her daughter’s imaginative play with paper dolls, Barbie shattered conventional toy norms with her adult-like proportions and diverse array of professional personas. Up until Barbie came along, all dolls were baby dolls, so Barbie was quite a shock.

The inaugural Barbie, known as the “Teenage Fashion Model,” made her debut at the American International Toy Fair, captivating audiences with her stylish ensembles and accompanying accessories. Over the years, Barbie evolved in tandem with societal changes, embodying various careers, cultural trends, and aspirations. From the iconic Barbie Dream House to the introduction of Ken, Barbie has not only become a cultural icon but also an avenue for discussions about gender roles, body image, and diversity. Despite enduring criticism and controversy, Barbie’s legacy endures, consistently inspiring generations of children worldwide. For a more comprehensive historical account, you can explore this article on History.com.

THE MOST POPULAR BARBIE THE YEAR YOU WERE BORN

Ruth Handler in 1961

Do you want to know the most popular Barbie in your birth year? Check out this link from Good Housekeeping.

DECADES OF THE DOLLS: A MIRROR TO HISTORY

Placing things in historical context offers a unique perspective on events. To help develop context surrounding Barbie, I’ve created an activity linking Barbie to historical occurrences. Sometimes, Barbie made history; other times, history unfolded around her.

This activity encourages students to explore historical connections, prompting them to engage in a bit of online research.

You have the flexibility to complete the activity whole group, or assigning to individual students.

Click on this link to take you to the Google Slide deck. Don’t worry, it won’t ask for access to your Google Drive, it will just force you to make a copy of the deck.

BARBIE TIMELINE – INFOGRAPHIC

Use this fun and informative infographic to talk about timelines. (Please note that the graphic was split into two parts for easier viewing. For the complete graphic, click here.)

A quick and easy way to use this in your classroom is to place students in pairs or small groups and privately assign them a year from the timeline. The goal is for the pairs/group to act out the topic (think: charades) and the other students need to try and guess which year and topic the actors are portraying.

It’s important for students to be able to read graphics like this, and using this Barbie infographic is a fun way to implement this type of reading into your classroom.

A Key Tip: Beyond textual learning, mastering social studies involves practicing with various graphical representations like bar graphs, plot graphs, line graphs, tables, and maps.

Speaking of maps, the map below shows the trending popularity of the Barbie movie as compared to the Oppenheimer movie from July 15th to July 22nd. Shades of pink indicate higher Barbie movie popularity, while shades of blue represent the dominance of the Oppenheimer movie.

One way to implement this map is to show it to students and have them “read” the map. Here are some sample questions you can ask: What do you notice? How do you know that? Which movie is most popular in our state? When was this map published? Is it still relevant? What generalizations can you make about the Barbie movie’s popularity in the country? Oppenheimer’s?

(For the map and article, click here.)

I hope you have fun adding a little Barbie into your school day!