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Full-Text Articles in Education
Scrutinizing And Supplementing Children’S Trade Books About Child Labor, John H. Bickford Iii, Cynthia W. Rich
Scrutinizing And Supplementing Children’S Trade Books About Child Labor, John H. Bickford Iii, Cynthia W. Rich
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
State and national initiatives place an increased emphasis on both students’ exposure to diverse texts and teachers’ integration of English/language arts and history/social studies. The intent is for students to critically examine diverse accounts and perspectives of the same historical event or era. Critical examination can be accomplished through teachers’ purposeful juxtaposition of age-appropriate, engaging trade books and relevant informational texts, such as primary source materials. To guide interested elementary and middle level teachers, researchers can evaluate trade books for historical representation and suggest divergent or competing narratives that compel students to scrutinize diverse perspectives. Researchers can locate germane primary …
Using History-Based Trade Books As Catalysts For Historical Writing, Speaking, And Listening In Elementary Curricula, John H. Bickford Iii, Dylan Dilley, Valerie Metz
Using History-Based Trade Books As Catalysts For Historical Writing, Speaking, And Listening In Elementary Curricula, John H. Bickford Iii, Dylan Dilley, Valerie Metz
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
State and national initiatives have aligned to compel change in elementary classroom curricula and instructional practice (Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2012; National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers [NGA & CCSSO], 2010; Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers [PARCC], 2012). An increased focus on informational texts and content area literacy are two significant changes intended to both facilitate and integrate historical thinking and historical content. For a subject that has struggled to maintain relevancy in elementary curricula, the social studies has a new, stronger position (Center on …
Historical Thinking, Reading, And Writing About The World’S Newest Nation, South Sudan, John H. Bickford Iii, Molly Sigler Bickford
Historical Thinking, Reading, And Writing About The World’S Newest Nation, South Sudan, John H. Bickford Iii, Molly Sigler Bickford
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
State and national education initiatives have significantly increased expectations of students’ non-fiction reading and writing. These initiatives provide the space for potential interdisciplinary units in English/language arts and social studies/history centered on content area reading and writing. To do so, teachers must locate age-appropriate, historically representative curricular materials and implement discipline-specific writing prompts. To guide elementary teachers’ instruction, we select a novel, underused topic: the birth of the Republic of South Sudan. Age-appropriate children’s trade books are coupled with diverse informational texts—oral histories, current event news articles, and artwork—to extend the trade books’ narratives into the realm of current events. …
Examining The Historical Representation Of The Holocaust Within Trade Books, John H. Bickford Iii, Lieren Schuette, Cynthia W. Rich
Examining The Historical Representation Of The Holocaust Within Trade Books, John H. Bickford Iii, Lieren Schuette, Cynthia W. Rich
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
State and national education initiatives provide American students with opportunities to engage in close readings of complex texts from diverse perspectives as they actively construct complicated understandings as they explore complex texts. Opportunities for interdisciplinary units emerge as the role of non-fiction in English/language arts and informational texts in history/social studies increases dramatically. Trade books are a logical curricular link between these two curricula. The initiatives, however, do not prescribe specific curricular material so teachers rely on their own discretion when selecting available trade books. Scholarship indicates that historical misrepresentations emerge within trade books to varying degrees, yet only a …
Examining The Representation Of Slavery Within Children’S Literature, John H. Bickford Iii, Cynthia W. Rich
Examining The Representation Of Slavery Within Children’S Literature, John H. Bickford Iii, Cynthia W. Rich
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
Middle level teachers, at times, link historical content with relevant English literature in interdisciplinary units. Elementary teachers periodically employ history-themed literature during reading time. Interconnections between language arts and history are formed with developmentally appropriate literature for students. Historical misrepresentations, however, proliferate in children’s literature and are concealed behind engaging narratives. Since literacy and historical thinking are essential skills, children’s literature should be balanced within, not banished from, the classroom. Using America’s peculiar institution of slavery as a reference point, this article examines children’s literature, identifies almost a dozen areas of historical misrepresentation, and proffers rich primary source material to …
Trade Books’ Historical Representation Of Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, And Helen Keller, John H. Bickford Iii, Cynthia W. Rich
Trade Books’ Historical Representation Of Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, And Helen Keller, John H. Bickford Iii, Cynthia W. Rich
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
Common Core State Standards Initiative mandates increased readings of informational texts within English Language Arts starting in elementary school. Accurate, age-appropriate, and engaging content is at the center of effective social studies teaching. Textbooks and children’s literature—both literary and informational—are prominent in elementary classrooms because of the esoteric nature of primary source material. Many research projects have investigated historical accuracy and representation within textbooks, but few have done so with children’s trade books. We examined children’s trade books centered on three historical figures frequently incorporated within elementary school curricula: Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Helen Keller. Findings revealed various forms …
Historical Thinking And Common Core: Facilitating Adolescents’ Scrutiny Of The Credibility Of Slave Narratives, John H. Bickford Iii, Cynthia W. Rich
Historical Thinking And Common Core: Facilitating Adolescents’ Scrutiny Of The Credibility Of Slave Narratives, John H. Bickford Iii, Cynthia W. Rich
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
History education researchers encourage teachers to intentionally integrate content, methods, and assessment in discipline-specific and age-appropriate ways. State and national initiatives prescribe such integration across curricula and within all areas of the social studies from early elementary through high school. The stipulation, however, does not provide a map for interested yet overwhelmed educators. This is especially true for elementary and middle level teachers as the majority of historical thinking research and methodological guides targets older students. To address this concern, we propose teachers fuse the content, methods, and assessment with specific historical thinking skills, or heuristics. We model our theoretical …
Initiating Historical Thinking In Elementary Schools, John H. Bickford
Initiating Historical Thinking In Elementary Schools, John H. Bickford
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
With an ever-expanding focus on reading and mathematics, many elementary schools have chosen to reduce time previously reserved for social studies. Elementary teachers who understand both the relevance of social studies content and the effectiveness of interdisciplinary teaching regularly incorporate applicable history-based children’s tradebooks in their curricula. Locating developmentally appropriate books is simple. Teaching history using children’s literature can be effective. It can be counterproductive, however, if the selected book is replete with historical misrepresentations. Teaching historical thinking in elementary school is problematic no matter what the teaching tool, and there are few methodological roadmaps for elementary teachers. Here, I …
Examining Historical (Mis)Representations Of Christopher Columbus Within Children’S Literature, John H. Bickford
Examining Historical (Mis)Representations Of Christopher Columbus Within Children’S Literature, John H. Bickford
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
Effective teaching, while supplemented by best practice methods and assessments, is rooted in accurate, age-appropriate, and engaging content. As a foundation for history content, elementary educators rely strongly on textbooks and children’s literature, both fiction and non-fiction. While many researchers have examined the historical accuracy of textbook content, few have rigorously scrutinized the historical accuracy of children’s literature. Those projects that carried out such examination were more descriptive than comprehensive due to significantly smaller data pools. I investigate how children’s non-fiction and fiction books depict and historicize a meaningful and frequently taught history topic: Christopher Columbus’s accomplishments and misdeeds. Results …
Examining Spiraled Elementary Curricula On Columbus: A Case Study, Maegan Wilton, John H. Bickford Iii
Examining Spiraled Elementary Curricula On Columbus: A Case Study, Maegan Wilton, John H. Bickford Iii
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
Educators’ content background and use of accurate, age-appropriate teaching materials generates quality teaching. Content in every grade level should supplement content from previous grades in a spiraled format. State test results on students’ math and reading indicate, but do not prove, the presence of these two presumptions. Because history is not tested, the authors examined the basis of these two presumptions for history in two school districts that require every elementary educator to teach about Christopher Columbus. Findings reveal significant interconnections between these two presumptions and have consequential implications as states consider standardized testing in other curricular areas, such as …
Original Political Cartoon Methodology And Adaptations, John H. Bickford Iii
Original Political Cartoon Methodology And Adaptations, John H. Bickford Iii
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
This paper is grounded on the premise that effective educators base lessons on rich and intriguing content which is relevant to students’ lives, implement the content using engaging and age-appropriate methodology, and measure students’ learning through authentic assessments. In order to support practicing teachers’ effective implementation of best practice methodology and assessment, educational researchers investigate the interconnections between content, methodology, and assessment. As technology facilitates teaching methodologies and learning assessments, meaningful activities such as students’ original political cartooning should be examined, detailed, and adapted. In this article, the methodological suggestions for, and adaptations of, students’ original political cartoons guide educators …
Students’ Original Political Cartoons As Teaching And Learning Tools, John H. Bickford Iii
Students’ Original Political Cartoons As Teaching And Learning Tools, John H. Bickford Iii
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
A meta-analysis of educators’ uses of political cartoons suggests they are mostly used for teaching interpretation skills and then usually only with gifted and older students. This demonstrates creative stagnation, limited elicitation of higher order thinking skills, and age bias. The researcher previously examined young adolescents’ use of effective and efficient technologies to express historical understandings through original political cartoon construction. This methodology elicited students’ higher order thinking as they expressed learning within their creations, which were then used as a teaching tool to facilitate constructive whole class interpretative discussions. The following questions extend previous research and guide this article: …
A Comparative Analysis Of Two Methods For Guiding Discussions Surrounding Controversial And Unresolved Topics, John H. Bickford Iii
A Comparative Analysis Of Two Methods For Guiding Discussions Surrounding Controversial And Unresolved Topics, John H. Bickford Iii
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
Debates, a popular classroom method, elicit students’ participation and critical thinking. Debates’ focus of winning, at times, generates arguments. Constructive controversy, a researched-based methodological alternative, similarly facilitates students’ engagement and critical thinking while also inventively diminishing arguments through cooperative negotiation (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). The author examines both methods’ impact on students’ engagement, students’ thinking, and the dialogues’ productivity. Three findings and three educationally significant insights emerged.
Examining Original Political Cartoon Methodology: Concept Maps And Substitution Lists, John H. Bickford Iii
Examining Original Political Cartoon Methodology: Concept Maps And Substitution Lists, John H. Bickford Iii
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
Previous research on classroom uses for political cartoons identified two negative trends: creative stagnation (as teachers utilized them solely for interpretation) and age limitation (as researchers suggested they fit best with gifted and older students). Recent scholarship has addressed both trends by enabling young adolescent students to creatively express newly generated understandings through construction of original political cartoons. During such authentic assessment activities, students demonstrated high levels of criticality by using effective and efficient technologies to create original political cartoons, which then elicited constructive whole class interpretative discussions. This prior research did not detail specific methodological steps that positively influenced …
Complicating Students’ Historical Thinking Through Primary Source Reinvention, John H. Bickford Iii
Complicating Students’ Historical Thinking Through Primary Source Reinvention, John H. Bickford Iii
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
To best challenge students’ thinking, researchers and educators must locate or create innovative ways to spark enthusiasm and facilitate criticality. This paper investigates how middle school students analyzed various primary and secondary historical documents to construct original political cartoons. Students articulated newly generated understandings about the complex historical event within these original political cartoons. Students then examined and discussed peers’ original political cartoons. This approach was novel because the research literature indicated students rarely are asked to construct original political cartoons to express opinions and understandings. Political cartoons mostly are used as tools for interpretation and usually only with gifted …