Digital Commons Network^™

Crossing Selma's Bridge: Integrating Visual Discovery Strategy And Young Adult Literature To Promote Dialogue And Understanding, Steven T. Bickmore, Gretchen Rumohr-Voskuil, Paul Binford

Middle Grades Review

Urban communities, separated by race and class, experience a disproportionate number of gun deaths, police shootings, crime, violent and nonviolent protests, as well as disparities in housing, education, and employment. These discussions are visual and textual, appearing in both traditional and social media outlets. How do adolescents read and make sense of these images? We discuss integrating a Social Studies practice, Visual Discovery Strategy, with Young Adult Literature to provide students with the skills to both critique images from the events in their lives and produce responses through both traditional and digital methods.

The Effects Of Pre-Teaching Vocabulary, Along With Peer Collaboration, On Student Comprehension Of Social Studies Texts At St. Cloud Tech High School, Molly Denne

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

This action research project looked at the impact that pre-teaching vocabulary, along with peer collaboration, had on student comprehension of 5-12 social studies texts. Sixty students in a 10th grade World History class received instruction that included pre-teaching of vocabulary terms that students would be exposed to in a reading of the week through use of direct instruction, elaboration, application, and transfer using the Frayer Model, and group interactions. Student discussions of the article of the week engaged peers in collaborating around the work. Data was collected on vocabulary assessments, comprehension assessments, discussion checklists, and field notes. The students received …

The Common Core State Standards And The Elementary Social Studies Curriculum: A Case Study Of Teacher Perceptions In Florida, Kacie M. Nadeau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The most recent phase of curriculum reform in the era of accountability is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) which have essentially reshaped the landscape of public education. Its objective of preparing K-12 students for college and career upon high school graduation have prioritized English language arts, mathematics, and science over social studies, which is not part of widespread high-stakes testing for elementary students. This qualitative case study investigated eleven intermediate elementary teachers’ perceptions of alignment between CCSS and the elementary social studies curriculum. Data gathering analysis included two semi-structured interviews and an archival analysis of the mandated curriculum. The …

Curriculum Drama: Using Imagination And Inquiry In A Middle School Social Studies Classroom, Catherine Franklin

Occasional Paper Series

This essay provides a vivid window into an eighth-grade class engaged in a legislative curriculum drama. Students acted as members of political parties within the Senate and participated in legislative hearings, discussed costs and benefits to legislation, and engaged in debates. Curriculum drama formed a bridge that linked the task of teaching and learning about a defined unit of study to the authentic interests, concerns, and energies of the students

Exploring Historical Empathy In Secondary Education, Melanie Alsene

Selected Honors Theses

This thesis sought to explore the purpose of teaching history, to define historical empathy, to discover if historical empathy is being taught in secondary public schools, and to see what methods of instruction teachers utilize. Research was done by conducting interviews of middle school and high school history teachers from different schools in the area. These interviews sought to find out if teachers could come up with their purpose for learning about history, if they could define historical empathy, and what methods they utilized to teach historical empathy. Some of the teachers were able to define historical empathy and gave …

Teaching In A Global Era: Editorial Remarks, James F. Nagle, Penny A. Bishop

Middle Grades Review

No abstract provided.

Living The Change They Seek: Social Studies Teacher Educators Who Incorporate Race Into The Curriculum, Sara Beth Demoiny

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the increasingly diverse K-12 study body within the United States (National Center for Education Statistics, 2014) and the numerous examples of racism and racial tension that continue to be exposed through news outlets and social media, race and racism remain at the periphery of social studies teacher education. Although social studies is a discipline whose main goal is citizenship education, race, which has been intertwined with citizenship through U.S. history, continues to be marginalized in social studies curriculum and instruction.

Grounded in critical race theory, I developed a study exploring the perspectives of 11 social studies teacher educators who …

Building Community Using Experiential Education With Elementary Preservice Teachers In A Social Studies Methodology Course, Stephanie L. Speicher

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There is urgency for teacher educators to instruct preservice teachers in the core tenants of social justice education. This urgency is based upon the ever-growing shift in the American demographic landscape and the responsibility of educators to teach for equity, justice, identity and community within classrooms across the U.S. Preservice teachers report feeling inadequately prepared to educate for social justice when entering the formal classroom setting. Feelings of incompetence in social justice teaching pedagogy expressed among preservice teachers coupled with minimal examination in the literature of the effects of teacher education practices that aid in the readiness to teach for …

Rules Rule! (1st Grade), Lauren Turley

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This is a beginning of the year social studies unit for 1^st grade. It is intended to take place over 9 half-hour sessions. This unit is meant to scaffold students so they will be well positioned to create rules to solve their own problems throughout the year. It is also intended to teach students that rules are not meant to be punitive but are for their own benefit in order to maintain fairness and safety at home, school, and in the greater community. This is a literacy rich unit, anchoring relevant texts to students lived experience. Some skills addressed …

Communities Change: How Outside Factors Impact Communities [3rd Grade], Shayna Rosenthal

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This is a social studies until for 3rd grade. The suggested length is 15 days. In this unit students will learn about what it means to inquire and what an explorer is. Students will investigate how people, ideas, and events can have an impact on communities. Throughout the unit, students will have an opportunity to create their own community as well as take on a role to create change.

Integrating English And Social Studies Through The Lens Of Tokugawa Japan: An 8 Week Curriculum For Sixth Grade, Mollie Sandberg

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The following curriculum is intended for sixth grade students in a general education, integrated English and social studies classroom. This curriculum is based on the foundational ideas of child-development, concept-based, constructivist learning, and the integration of the language arts and social studies curricula as a way to deepen students’ engagement with the curricular material. Through these central pillars the curriculum immerses students in a historical era while allowing them to develop their own understanding of the past and create connections to the world in which they live. The aim of this curriculum is for students to explore the world of …

What Motivates Secondary Social Studies Teachers To Be Politically Active: A Phenomenological Study, Tracey E. Louth

Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations

Members of countries with democratic governments rely on the political involvement of its citizens to elect individuals to positions of power as well as to approve legislative initiatives that are presented for voter approval on ballots (Hahm, 2000; Mayer, 2011). However, voting is just one of many examples of political activity (Wiltfang & McAdams, 1991). This qualitative study was designed to address a gap in the research by analyzing factors that motivated secondary, social studies teachers to become politically active. Teachers are overwhelmingly absent from political activities other than voting (National Teacher Association, 2010). Even though they teach a subject …

The Importance Of National Identity In Social Studies Classes In Puerto Rico: An Examination Of Teacher And Student Perceptions Of “Lo Nacional”, Jesus Daniel Diaz

Dissertations

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, is home to approximately 3.4 million U.S. citizens. The literature on Puerto Rican national identity (PRNI) describes how and why it has been debated on the island for more than five hundred years throughout the colonial trajectory, once under Spain and now as a commonwealth of the United States.

The education system in Puerto Rico, and particularly the social studies curriculum, has been used to promote particular ideologies regarding national identity. This study identifies what middle school teachers teach about PRNI and how seventh grade students identify themselves …

What About The Little People?: Empowering Middle School Students To Discard The Great Man Theory, Sarah Straub

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

This paper attempts to address the promotion of critical thinking in our middle school students as they reflect on the widely-accepted White Eurocentric perspective of history that has been traditionally taught in school. In this article, the incomplete treatment of history is identified as Carlyle’s Great Man Theory. The hope is that educators can be critical of the curriculum they are teaching so as to promote critical perspectives in their own students. History is not just the story of Great Men – it is a collective story of which many of us have a partial understanding. Specifically, this article addresses …

Perceptions Of Efficacy In Connecticut Social Studies Certification: An Analysis Of The #026 Social Studies Certification As It Relates To Sufficiency In Content Knowledge According To The Perceptions Of Department Chairpersons, Vincent A. Artese

EDL Sixth Year Theses

Content knowledge is important to the success of any teacher. A lack of content knowledge possessed by a teacher results in challenges for both teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to analyze the perceptions of social studies department chairpersons throughout the state of Connecticut in regards to the #026 History/Social Studies 7-12 certification. The topics explored in the literature review of this paper comprise the importance of content knowledge, the sufficiency of social studies teacher preparation programs, and the benefits of content-based online professional development. The research questions asked included whether or not the #026 certification encompasses …

The Technocratic Politics Of The Common Core State Standards In History, Kate Duguid

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper shows that the explicit aims of the American educational standards for public schools, the Common Core State Standards to teach history to create “college and career ready” students, marks a shift from preparing students for political participation to preparing them for market participation. I trace the intellectual and pedagogical origins of the Common Core’s pretense of technocratic apolitical values back through the previous two major American curricular reform efforts. In the first section I discuss the origins and development of the National History Standards and show how Cold War anxiety prompted a shift in evaluating students as potential …

Map It! Creating Meaningful Learning Experiences In Social Studies With Ihmc Cmaptools, Erica M. Southworth

Faculty Creative and Scholarly Works

As a free software tool, IHMC CmapTools redefines the concept mapping learning strategy with an infusion of technology to provide students with meaningful and non-rote learning experiences. The following review discusses what IHMC

CmapTools is, the literature-supported academic benefits of student-employed concept mapping, and how my secondary social studies colleague and I introduced this software to his students to create meaningful learning opportunities with social studies content. After working with IHMC CmapTools for over four years in both social studies and non-social studies classes, I would strongly encourage social studies educators in grades 5-12 to consider implementing this tool in …

Ssr— Silent Sustained Reading Activity, Maureen Miller, Hope Bragg, Christy Keefer

Integrated Math & Social Studies Lessons

The SSR lesson outlines a strategy to incorporate literacy development in a Science or Social Studies classroom. There are short answer questions based on readings from the Hidden Figures Young Readers’ Edition, as well as open-ended journal questions. Questions are available for each chapter, so students can complete them at their own pace.

Generating Dynamic Democratic Discussions: An Analysis Of Teaching With Us Presidential Debates, Brett L.M. Levy, Lauren Collet, Thomas C. Owenby

Educational Theory and Practice Faculty Scholarship

Researchers have found that when young people participate in discussions of controversial political issues, they often become more politically engaged and informed (Hess 2009). Nonetheless, some educators avoid fostering such discussions because they can become heated and thus distract from academic learning (Hess 2002). Presidential elections, including the highly publicized debates, provide substantial material for discussions of major national and international issues, but no published research has examined how educators can leverage these events to generate productive civic learning experiences. In this paper, we analyze data collected in seven high school classrooms during the 2012 presidential election to examine the …

Social Justice Through Citizenship Education: A Collective Responsibility, Sara Winstead Fry, Jason O'Brien

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Existing research suggests that preservice elementary teachers tend to believe “good” citizens are people who follow laws and help others rather than people who embrace a more active model of citizenship that includes working to improve society. The authors propose that this trend results from a self-perpetuating cycle of passive citizenship that develops in part due to state curriculum standards and school experiences which focus on transmitting knowledge rather than preparing students to be active agents of change. The article presents the results of action research conducted in a teacher preparation course; the research was designed to investigate the impact …

Using Disciplinary Literacy To Fill The Historical Gaps In Trade Books, John Bickford, Cynthia Rich

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Times} span.s1 {font: 6.5px Times} Many elementary and middle level teachers integrate historywith disciplinary literacy.1 Balancing fiction and non-fiction, orliterature and informational texts, provides space for teachersto link multiple, diverse texts.2 Pairing distinct texts positionsstudents to explore connections between secondary sources,like textbooks and trade books, and primary sources, likeletters and photographs. Scaffolding can assist close readings,text-based writing, historical thinking, and civic engagement.3Where textbooks introduce readers to history via specificterminology and short passages, trade books present historicaleras through relatable characters and engaging prose. For mosttopics, trade books are numerous enough for teachers to …