Education Commons^™

Teaching The New Deal: 1932-1941 – Review And Analysis, Susan M. Foster, Brian Walker Johnson

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Teaching the New Deal: 1932-1941 is a text of crucial and timely importance for students and teachers of middle and high school social studies. Through the lenses of four major themes, authors demonstrate inquiry-based pedagogy to intentionally provoke students to consider non-binary conclusions that closely examine the purported heroes, villains, and martyrs of traditional historical narratives. Rather than presenting a factual or ideological approach to teaching disciplinary standards, this text depicts the New Deal Era as a period in history that can be used to critically and creatively discuss the politics of personal identity and to explore the legacies of …

Integrating Ncss Notable Trade Books Into Elementary Social Studies Classrooms, Tristin G. Lucas

Student Scholar Showcase

Each year the NCSS Notable Trade Book Committee selects “books that emphasize human relations, represent a diversity of groups and are sensitive to a broad range of cultural experiences, present an original theme or a fresh slant on a traditional topic, are easily readable and of high literary quality, and have a pleasing format and, when appropriate, illustrations that enrich the text. Each book is read by several reviewers, and books are included on the list by committee assent” (NCSS, 2023). In this session presenters will show participants how to access the current and previous lists of NCSS Notable Trade …

Building Connections: The Power Of Embedding Literacy And Math Content Into Science And Social Studies Contexts, Rachel Hallett-Njuguna Edd

Constellations: Online STEM Teacher Education Journal

Nationally, the lack of improvement in literacy scores continues to baffle experts. Instructional leaders from math, science, and social studies in one district knew the value of leveraging their subject areas to support literacy achievement in secondary students. Starting with an engaging STEM-related novel, the group of curriculum experts developed meaningful literacy connected tasks for their teacher and teacher leader participants. Working through the activities as their students would, the group found a new appreciation for the importance of leveraging the relevance of science and social studies content and the usefulness of math content when creating literacy lessons. The group’s …

Making Quality Children’S Literature An Essential Ingredient: How Middle And High School Teachers Can Spice Up Their Lessons, Joy Hatcher, Joann Wood

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State

Using the language of cooking, the authors argue convincingly for the inclusion of quality children and young adult literature as an ingredient in social studies lessons at the middle and high school levels. They provide steps for using literature as a source, blending literature with inquiry, selecting the best titles, keeping up with new works, and point to a few especially helpful titles to illustrate their message.

Developing Horizontal Expertise With Professional Learning Communities In Social Studies Teacher Preparation, Charles Tocci, Ann Marie Ryan

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

As teacher education programs become increasingly organized around accreditation and licensure standards, finding opportunities to be responsive to teacher candidates' needs and interests has become more difficult. This paper traces the evolution of a professional learning community for secondary social studies teacher candidates as a key feature of one teacher education program and analyzes the collaborative projects designed for the purpose of developing horizontal expertise. We find that professional learning communities can serve as dynamic spaces to co-construct learning experiences with candidates in ways that prepare them for future professional learning as practicing social studies teachers.

Literacy Instruction And Student Writing In Middle School Social Studies, Nicole Hedman

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this action research was to determine whether using daily literacy strategies focusing on writing would make an impact on the scores of a high-level question (HLQ) among middle school social studies students. The research took place over seven weeks in a public suburban midwestern middle school. The population of students in the study included 104 sixth-grade students. The intervention included using various literacy strategies focusing on writing and incorporating reading, speaking, and listening. Data was collected from writing samples, HLQ scores, observations, and a student survey. Some positive effects of the study were an increase in the …

"The Blackbird Girls": Designing A Four Week Novel Unit For Upper Elementary And Middle Grades, While Navigating Teaching In An Ever-Changing Digital World, Ashley Kallhoff

Honors Theses

As a future teacher in an increasing digital world, I wanted to create an online curriculum I could use in my future classroom, students all over the world could use, and other teachers could implement in their own classroom. Taking all of this into consideration, I have designed a digital four-week, 20-day, novel unit for upper elementary and middle grades with social studies and language arts dual focus. The novel I chose was a historical fiction young adult text titled The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman. This novel follows the story of two young girls, one that is Jewish and …

The Reconstruction Era: As Taught In United States History, Tahj Frazier

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay………………………………..8

II. Primary Documents and Headnotes………..39

III. Textbook Critique……………………………..50

IV. New Textbook Entry………………………….57

V. Bibliography………………………………….....77

Examining Elementary Teacher Perceptions And Experiences Of Transitioning From Knowledge-Based To Inquiry-Based Social Studies Standards, Benjamin Stephen Pinnick

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Elementary educators are responsible for the earliest years of student learning in a public setting. The amount of content students are expected to master continues to grow in scope, and the methods that are utilized shift to align with educational research and social momentum. After a decade of Common Core policies, social studies education in elementary schools has become a deemphasized subject. Reading and math, as well as science, have taken a greater precedence in today’s classrooms.

Yet, expectations for the creation of knowledgeable and participatory citizens continue to serve as a goal in elementary schools. Conceptualization of citizenship form …

Doing The Work: Using Questions, Tasks, And Sources To Navigate Teaching Contentious Social Studies In Secondary Classrooms, Bonnie Patrice Lewis

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This explanatory case study examines how two secondary social studies teachers use inquiry-based learning to mitigate the risks of teaching contentious social studies in a charged classroom. Research questions included: 1. How do two in-service secondary teachers use inquiry-based instruction to navigate teaching contentious social studies during charged times? 2. What curricular and pedagogical choices were made by the in-service teachers to navigate risk when designing inquiry-based instruction that features contentious social studies during charged times? 3. What curricular and pedagogical choices were made by the in-service teachers to navigate risk when delivering inquiry-based instruction that features contentious social studies …

The Othering Of An Empire: A Historiographical And Pedagogical Assessment Of Orientalism, Genghis Khan, And The Mongol Empire, Edward Stehr

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay………………………………....3

II. Primary Documents and Headnotes………....28

III. Textbook Critique……………………………...40

IV. New Textbook Entry…………………………..44

V. Bibliography…………………………………....50

Providing Voice And Choice In The Classroom: The Effect Of Choice Boards On Student Motivation And Attitudes, Deborah B. Malinoski

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to explore how incorporating choice boards as a tool for personalized learning in social studies influenced sixth-grade students to engage in the classroom. Engagement in the classroom is necessary for students to meet educational goals. To engage in learning, students need intrinsic motivation to encourage them to strive to meet their potential. Research in personalized learning shows students who are provided opportunities for “voice and choice” show higher signs of achievement in meeting their goals (Pane et al., 2017). This action research study was guided by two research questions that explored the effect …

Enacting Disciplinary Literacy Instruction: Essential Practices In Action, Darin B. Stockdill, Stacie B. Woodward

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

In this paper, we will explore elements of the Essential Instructional Practices for Disciplinary Literacy: Grades 6-12 , a statewide initiative in Michigan designed to support exactly this kind of teaching. In particular, we will discuss key instructional implications of the Essential Practices for both social studies and ELA instruction and highlight important commonalities and distinctions across these two content areas. We provide concrete examples of these practices in action as we share activities and reflections from a curricular project we undertook with US History and ELA teachers called Equitable Futures. In this initiative, teachers engaged their students in inquiry-driven …

Learning By Doing: The Archaeology Education Program For Middle School, Tara D. Noel

Student Publications

Approached through the disciplinary and theoretical frameworks of public archaeology, the Archaeology Education Program for Middle School was created to better understand how an archaeology education program might be integrated into an existing curriculum and become nationally applicable to middle school settings. Research was conducted at St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic School, where seventh grade students, teachers, and administration were involved in the investigation of the program's feasibility and design. It was determined that the objectives of this archaeology education program are to inform students about archaeology through educational tools and exercises that are tailored to different classroom settings, in …

A Problem-Based Learning Approach To Civics Education: Exploring Citizenship Through Authentic Scenarios In A Middle School Civics Classroom, Rebekah Meri Rowland

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on implementing problem-based learning as an instructional intervention in a middle school civics classroom. This action research study responds to the observations of the teacher-researcher who noticed that her students were not make meaningful connections to the practice of citizenship. The problem of practice was developed when the teacher-researcher realized that the students were not engaged in learning with the traditional lecture-style, rote memorization instruction; she needed an intervention that was active, collaborative, and meaningful. To increase the connection to middle school learners, the intervention should emphasize problem solving skills and build empathy for others through a …

Evaluation Of The Availability And Utilization Status Of Texts In Core Subjects In Primary Schools’ Libraries, Valentine Joseph Owan, Daniel Clement Agurokpon, Abahcham V. Owan

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study evaluated primary texts' availability and utilisation status in core subjects (English Language, Mathematics, Social Studies and Basic Science) in primary schools’ libraries in Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State. The researchers formulated six null hypotheses to guide the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The target population of this study comprised a total of 30,036 teachers and pupils, distributed across the 73 public primary schools. A proportionate stratified sampling technique was used to select 30% and 5% of the available teachers and pupils in each school, resulting in a sample of 270 respondents. …

Assessing Teacher Candidates’ Pedagogical Judgement: An Analysis Of Clinically-Based Instructional Assignments, Sonia Janis, Mardi Schmeichel, Joseph Mcanulty, Chantelle Grace, Kaitlin Wegrzyn

Journal of Educational Supervision

Research on clinically-based teacher education indicates that facilitating clinical experiences for teacher candidates improves their preparation for the profession. While we have answered the call to implement rich clinical experiences in our teacher education program, we have found that we also needed to design new, robust strategies to assess what the candidates are taking away from their clinical experiences. This paper describes our use of Horn and Campbell’s (2015) notion of “pedagogical judgment” to analyze the work of social studies teacher candidates in clinical placements. We describe a rubric developed to evaluate candidates’ pedagogical judgment and offer insights into the …

Formative Assessment To Help Students Decode, Process, And Evaluate Social Studies Information, Cory Callahan

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Here the author explores formative assessment within a context of research-based social studies instructional approaches. While the notions of inquiry, alternative assessment, disciplinary thinking and interpretation, and using visual documents as powerful resources each provide an important element of conceptual structure, this article purposefully concentrates on the process of constructive evaluation. The author posits a wise-practice routine for developing formative assessment practices that cohere with criteria-based assessment and its tendency to describe what students did well, what they could have done differently to improve their recent academic performance, and, importantly, how they can improve subsequent academic performance. The article also …

Social Studies In Non-Western Contexts: The Development, Appraisal, And Implications Of Ghana's Social Studies Curricula, Razak Dwomoh

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Analyzing the position and rigor of Ghana's history in the social studies curricula is essential in ascertaining robustness in fostering historical thinking and yielding a possible restructuring of the curricula to meet students’ social, academic, and global needs. The social studies taught at the middle and high schools in Ghana incorporate a superficial historical account of Ghana, eroding Ghana’s history in the curricula without careful consideration. This paper examined the quantity and quality of Ghana’s historical contents in the middle and high schools’ social studies curricula. Primary data collection was in-depth semi-structured interviews. Document analyses of syllabus, textbooks, and trade …

Dissonance As An Educational Tool For Coping With Students’ Racist Attitudes, Adar Cohen

Journal of Educational Controversy

Teachers in multicultural societies that are beset by severe rifts and political polarization encounter students who express racist and extreme attitudes. According to the students’ dichotomous views, anyone who is different from them poses a threat, and teachers find it difficult to overcome this challenge solely with moralistic utterances. Anger, shock, and punishment do not help change the students’ opinions; they often have the opposite effect. This article proposes, instead, that teachers use dissonance as a tool for helping students rid themselves of their dichotomous views and become accustomed to complex thinking about society. On the basis of an educational …

Civic Education In K-12 School Enhanced Through A Christian Faith Lens Perspective, Alex R. Lin Dr., Kathy H. Rim Dr.

International Christian Community of Teacher Educators Journal

Nationwide concerns about the declining political health of the United States has prompted questions on how to instruct and prepare youth to engage in civic life, particularly in K-12 public schools. This priority is also known as civic education, a broad curricular approach aimed at facilitating students’ development of key civic knowledge, skills, and behaviors. Fortunately, the Christian worldview can enhance the individuals' ability to effectively teach students about the importance of civics due to overlaps in community values. This literature review draws on theoretical and empirical work to provide an integrative framework that fuses Christian ethos with civic …

The Counterculture Generation: Idolized, Appropriated, And Misunderstood, Rina R. Bousalis

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Students today possess the impression that all members of the 1960s-70s counterculture generation, or hippies, were long-haired radicals who engaged in deviant behavior. This is attributable to the way media has portrayed youth from this era. Contemporary youth have appropriated the counterculture style without understanding the movement. Businesses transformed the hippies into symbolic commodities, thus reducing their historical significance. This paper describes the implications of this shift and how educators should go beyond the emblematic symbols to teach the counterculture movement in a meaningful way.

Research On Global Citizenship Education In Asia: Conceptions, Perceptions, And Practice, Theresa Alviar, Mark C. Baildon

Faculty Bookshelf

This edited book provides new research highlighting philosophical traditions, emerging perceptions, and the situated practice of global citizenship education (GCE) in Asian societies. The book includes chapters that provide: 1) conceptions and frameworks of GCE in Asian societies; 2) analyses of contexts, policies, and curricula that influence GCE reform efforts in Asia; and 3) studies of students’ and teachers’ experiences of GCE in schools in different Asian contexts. While much citizenship education has focused on constructions and enactments of GCE in Western societies, this volume re-centers investigations of GCE amid Asian contexts, identities, and practices. In doing so, the contributors …

Social Studies In The Primary Classroom: Why They Are Important, Katie Simkanin

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this study is to focus on the importance of social studies topics taught in the primary classroom. I will examine the main social studies and historical topics teachers focus on under the framework of the Ohio Common Core State Standards (OCCSS). I will also examine a local school district’s primary social studies curriculum and interview a primary and high school teacher for their thoughts on the benefits of teaching social studies in the classroom, and what topics they think are the most important to cover for their students’ education and success in the higher grades and in …

Critical Media Literacy In Social Studies : A Case Study, Lauren Collet-Gildard

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There have been many efforts to address the importance of media literacy in schools, but little research has focused on critical media literacy (CML) in social studies curricula or classrooms. This is the first case study to examine the planning and implementation of a school wide CML lesson designed by teachers, and it traces this process from inspiration and collaborative conception of the lesson through its enactment within the classroom. In addition, this research provides unique insight into how teachers arrive at CML as a means of empowering students in the face of widespread disinformation and political polarization. In my …

Lesson Plan, Social Studies, 2nd Grade, Marisol Salinas

Fall Workshop November 2020

TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills): 2.4 The student understands how historical figures, patriots, and good citizens helped, shape the community, state, and nation. 2.20 The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings. The student is expected to: (B) use a decision-making process to identify a situation that requires a decision, gather information, generate options, predict outcomes, act to implement a decision, and reflect on the effectiveness of that decision.

Lesson objective(s): 1. The Learner will (TLW) make connections using problem solving strategies. 2. TLW use prior knowledge to connect to …

Lesson Plan, Social Studies, 2nd Grade, Erika Faubion

Fall Workshop November 2020

TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills): 2.4 The student understands how historical figures, patriots, and good citizens helped, shape the community, state, and nation. 2.20 The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings. The student is expected to: (B) use a decision-making process to identify a situation that requires a decision, gather information, generate options, predict outcomes, act to implement a decision, and reflect on the effectiveness of that decision.

Lesson objective(s): 1. The Learner will (TLW) make connections using problem solving strategies. 2. TLW use prior knowledge to connect to …

Lesson Plan, Social Studies, 2nd Grade, Ruby Martínez

Fall Workshop November 2020

TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills): 2.4 The student understands how historical figures, patriots, and good citizens helped, shape the community, state, and nation. 2.20 The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings. The student is expected to: (B) use a decision-making process to identify a situation that requires a decision, gather information, generate options, predict outcomes, act to implement a decision, and reflect on the effectiveness of that decision.

Lesson objective(s): 1. TLW make connections using problem solving strategies. 2. TLW use prior knowledge to connect to the article.

Differentiation …

Facilitating Experiential Learning Experiences Through A Class Pioneer Day, Ronald Vaughan Morris

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Students experience a reenactment of life on the frontier created by the interaction of their teachers and community volunteers. Students in elementary social studies learn content, skills, values, and dispositions through engaging in experiential learning. The classroom environment is described through a case study of one classroom of fourth grade students with an experienced teacher with deep roots in the community. Teachers develop skills in negotiation with volunteers to accomplish tasks that support student learning. Descriptions of student and teacher preparations in addition to budgetary constraints describe how to replicate the experience. Examples and assessments are provided as well as …

Planning For Student Initiative: Creating A Digital Textbook, Ronald Vaughan Morris

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Undergraduate students enrolled in a university class created an elementary social studies book delivered to computers, personal communication devices, and tablets. Students worked in an interdisciplinary team to create the interactive platform. The students worked with both university and community partners to create the text. The study presented described both the content and the process of student generation of material followed by community member review, and the revision cycle used by the students to create features and components of the text materials. A variety of false starts and marketing challenges reflect the obstacles undergraduate students face when creating marketable products …