Social Studies Teacher Education Research Articles

Social Studies Teacher Education and the Legacy of PCK: Exploring Situated Theories of Preservice Teacher Development

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has framed teacher education for decades, despite the difficulty of demonstrating that teacher preparation effectively develops PCK. Social studies educators have been especially wary of PCK, but their critiques have primarily challenged what knowledge is valued rather than its model of how teachers learn. This comparative case study reexamines PCK’s cognitivist assumptions by analyzing three preservice social studies teachers’ teaching and reflections from a situated perspective on role identity development. Despite unusual amounts of pedagogical experience and content knowledge, each novice had trouble facilitating whole class discussions. Their struggles did not emerge at the intersection of pedagogy and content, but within their role identity negotiations. These results suggest that a situated framework for identity development is a useful alternative to PCK in social studies teacher preparation and recommend deeper engagement with identity development through teacher education practice.

From Background to Foreground: A Retrospective Self-Study of Critical Social Studies Teacher Educating

ABSTRACT In this retrospective collaborative self-study, we examined our development as justice-based social studies teacher educators. Rooted in frameworks centered on critical social studies and teacher educator knowledge and practice, an analysis of discussions and curricular-instructional materials spanning 12 years found that justice was treated as optional in early iterations of our methods courses. Yet over time, we have taken steps to move justice from the background to the foreground of our work. We discuss and offer explanations for this growth, concluding with implications for our own practice as well as those charged with structuring (and teaching within) teacher educator preparation and induction programs.

Challenging The "Happy Slave" Mythos: Reclaiming Social Studies Teacher Education With Counternarratives

Challenging The "Happy Slave" Mythos: Reclaiming Social Studies Teacher Education With Counternarratives

Challenging The "Happy Slave" Mythos: Reclaiming Social Studies Teacher Education With Counternarratives

Challenging The "Happy Slave" Mythos: Reclaiming Social Studies Teacher Education With Counternarratives

Satisfaction Levels of Social Studies Teacher Candidates with Regard to Distance Education

This study aimed to examine the satisfaction levels of pre-service social study teachers regarding distance education. Based on this purpose, survey and causal comparison models, which are among the quantitative research approaches, were preferred together. The study population consists of students in the Social Studies Teaching undergraduate program. The sample consisted of 238 pre-service Social Studies teachers studying in the Social Studies Teacher Education program at İnönü University, who were selected from the population using the simple random sampling method. The data of the study were obtained by using the "satisfaction scale" developed by Ilgaz (2008). The data collected with the satisfaction scale used to determine the satisfaction of pre-service social studies teachers with distance education were examined for normality before being analyzed. In this direction, skewness and kurtosis values were examined (Gürbüz Şahin, 2017). It was determined that the skewness and kurtosis values obtained because of the analysis were within the "±1.5" range determined according to Tabachnick and Fidell (2013). The determined values show that the scale data meet the normal distribution criteria. Therefore, unrelated samples t-test and ANOVA, which are parametric tests, were used in the analysis because of the research, it was concluded that the satisfaction levels of pre-service teachers regarding distance education were high.

Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmen Adaylarının Küresel Yetkinlik Düzeylerinin Belirlenmesi

Many positive or negative changes occurring in the global era force countries to take the necessary steps to sustain social life and create healthier and more harmonious societies. In this context, especially under the leadership of the United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals were adopted with the participation of 193 countries in 2015. One of the competences related to the individual accepted within the scope of these goals is global competences that reveal the need to be a global citizen. Global competence is defined as the ability to examine local and global problems, to understand, respect and appreciate different perspectives, to communicate and interact openly and effectively with individuals from different places and cultures, and to take action for sustainable development as a common vision. The purpose of this study is to determine the global competence levels of pre-service social studies teachers in terms of variables such as gender, grade level, level of interest in global issues, frequency of following global issues and level of knowledge about global issues. Descriptive survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The population of the study consisted of a total of 216 pre-service social studies teachers studying at Anadolu University Faculty of Education, Social Studies Teacher Education Undergraduate Programme in the autumn term of the 2022-2023 academic year, including 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades. The Global Competence Scale developed by Brantley-Todd (2017) and adapted into Turkish by Karaca-Akarsu and Özdemir (2021) was used as a data collection tool in the study. SPSS 24 programme was used for the analysis of the scale items. As a result of the research, according to the descriptive analyses of demographic variables, it was found that the level of interest of pre-service social studies teachers in global issues, their level of knowledge about global issues and their frequency of following global issues were at medium and high levels; however, the global competence levels of pre-service social studies teachers did not differ significantly in terms of variables such as gender, grade level, level of interest, frequency of following and level of knowledge.

Evaluating Stakeholders Curricular Needs: Global Literacy in Social Studies Teacher Education

This study aims to evaluate the curriculum of the Globalization and Society course under the Social Studies Teacher Education Program. We attempted to determine the educational needs of the various curriculum stakeholders and the extent to which the relevant course met these needs. For this purpose, we aimed to reveal how effectively the globalization and society curriculum addresses stakeholders' needs regarding antecedents, transactions, and outcomes. We chose the research design (singular case study) because we evaluated the curriculum as a single case. We also used Stake's Responsive Evaluation Model during the curriculum evaluation process. We conducted structured and semi-structured interviews with curriculum stakeholders such as social studies teachers, pre-service teachers, course instructors, and a curriculum expert. The findings indicate that curriculum stakeholders have different perspectives and expectations regarding the course's objectives and contents. However, these objectives and contents needed to be better integrated into teacher education and social studies teaching. This case may indicate that social studies teaching handles globalization in a limited way.

Feeling race in the social studies classroom: a self-study

PurposeThe purpose of this self-study is to investigate how critically examining our emotions as social studies teacher educators (SSTEs) can inform practice and further the project of moving race from the margins of social studies curricula.Design/methodology/approachThis self-study's design includes the use of multiple data collection methods and continuous dialogue with Chris who served as Macy's critical friend. The authors independently analyzed the data following the same procedure with each data set and then utilized a constant comparative method to reconcile our coding.FindingsThe findings point to the importance of critical emotional reflexivity in any effort to reposition race as central rather than peripheral to teaching and learning social studies content.Originality/valueThis study is not under review with another journal.

Illuminating the Black Hole: Examining Middle Grade Social Studies Teacher Education Pathways and Student Achievement

Examining the connections among teacher characteristics, instructional decision-making, and student learning in social studies education are both complicated and contentious. In the current study, we shed light on middle grades social studies teaching and learning—a black hole of research in the subject area. Using data from the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) eighth grade U.S. history assessment, we explore the intersections of eighth grade social studies teachers’ teacher education pathways, instructional, decision-making, and curricular structure on students’ knowledge of history. Results suggest that teachers identified as having a social studies-inclusive teacher education background and who only teach social studies (as opposed to multiple subjects) were associated with higher average student performance on the NAEP exam. Findings have implications for middle grades social studies teacher education and how the subject is organized within middle schools.

Adding International Elements to a Social Studies Teacher Education Program

Here the author shares his attempt to add, without financial cost, substantive and dynamic international experiences to the secondary social studies teacher education program he facilitates. He provides thick descriptions of (1) the overarching goals of a collaborative, online, international learning project, (2) the curriculum materials he helped design and the classroom experiences he orchestrated, and (3) the project’s international context. Moreover, this paper advocates for internationalization by describing a 5-week, inquiry-based project that featured university students in Japan and the US using an online video discussion platform to asynchronously introduce themselves to international peers, share their understanding of powerful social studies instruction, explore similarities in social studies education between the two nations, refine their understanding of international education, and share ideas for a wise-practice classroom activity that could be taught to secondary students in both nations. Because this article shares the project’s rationale, schedule, assignments, and assessment rubrics, it may prove helpful for teachers and teacher educators as they envision ways to further prepare students to think and act globally.

The Use of Fundamental Rights as Active And Responsible Citizens: Tendencies of Social Studies Teacher Candidates

This study aimed to determine the tendencies of social studies teacher candidates, whose primary purpose is to raise active and responsible citizens, towards the use of fundamental rights. The study adopted a survey methodology and reached a total of 356 students studying in the Social Studies Teacher Education undergraduate program at 7 universities in different regions of Turkey. The data collected from these students with a Likert-type survey of ten dimensions, consisting of 48 items and five options, were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0 package program. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA. The analysis of the collected data showed that the scores obtained from the sub-factors of the survey, access to court and exercising consumer rights, differed significantly in favor of women, and conscious citizenship and taking responsibility differed significantly in favor of men. While none of the scores obtained from all sub-dimensions of the survey differed significantly according to the place of residence of the students, the right to petition, the right to lockout, the right to access court and conscious citizenship and taking responsibility differed according to the undergraduate class level. The overall assessment of the results is that the tendencies towards the exercise of fundamental rights do not differ significantly by students’ gender, class level and place of residence, and the overall tendencies in exercising these rights are above average, but not very high.

“What is slavery?”: Third-grade students’ sensemaking about enslavement through historical inquiry

ABSTRACT This study investigates how 19 third-grade students developed their understandings of enslavement during a six-week social studies inquiry. Using Teaching Tolerance’s key concepts as my analytic framework, I analyzed the students’ pre- and post-concept maps and classwork to understand their learning. The findings show that students conceptualized enslavement as interactions between individuals—such as getting whipped by an overseer or forced to work by a master—but did not focus on the systemic nature of power and economic gain. Furthermore, students’ sensemaking about race was limited to naming enslaved people as African Americans without naming the enslavers as whites. These results point to the need for critical inquiries on enslavement in elementary schools that explicitly focus on systemic race/ism and white supremacy. I provide implications to support antiracist teaching about enslavement in K–5 social studies education and teacher education.

Opinions of Social Studies Teacher Education Students about the Impact of Environmental Education on Ecological Literacy

In the century we live in, the level of environmental awareness, environmental knowledge, and ecological literacy of Social Studies teacher education candidates is of great importance to raise individuals who possess high ecological culture and environmental sensitivity. The research was carried out with a phenomenological pattern from qualitative research methods. The study group of research was determined by criterion sampling, which is a purposeful sampling method. The study group consists of 15 teacher education students who studied in the Department of Turkish and Social Sciences Education, Department of Social Studies Education and took the environmental education course in a Faculty of Education at a university in Turkey during the 2019-2020 academic years. The research data was obtained through a semi-structured interview form. The research data were analyzed by the content analysis method and evaluated with a qualitative data analysis program. One of the most important results obtained from this research includes that Social Studies teacher education students correctly perceive the concepts of Environmental Education and ecological literacy overall. Also, it is seen that Social Studies teacher education students stated that Environmental Education can provide development in their cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions such as information and increased consciousness about resource consumption, environmental awareness and sensitivity, problem-solving, understanding about sustainability, positive attitudes and behavioral development and changes and that will positively affect the ecological literacy levels of an individual. For this reason, the concepts of Environmental Education and ecological literacy should be emphasized because it is necessary for ecological literacy to be explained to the students and projects should be carried out accordingly.

An examination of relationship between preservice teachers’ reading habits and critical reading skills

This study aims at determining the relationship between preservice teachers’ reading habits and critical reading skills as well as assessing whether preservice teachers’ reading habits and critical reading skills vary with their gender, age, education year in the college, program type, and the number of books read per year. A relational survey model was used according to the objectives of our study. The sample consists of 255 preservice teachers studying at Turkish Language Teacher Education, Primary School Teacher Education, Social Studies Teacher Education, and Psychological Counseling and Guidance programs. “Attitude Scale on Reading Habit” (Gömleksiz (2004) and “Critical Reading Self-Efficacy Perception Scale” Karadeniz (2014) were used as data collection tools. The obtained data analyzed using IBM SPSS software version 22.0. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis H-test as, nonparametric tests, and correlation and regression tests were conducted to analyze data. Significant differences were found between variables and scores of reading habits and critical reading skills. Furthermore, a positive correlation was determined between preservice teachers’ reading habits and critical reading skills. The regression analysis revealed that reading habit is a significant predictor of critical reading skills. The authors believe that the findings from the present study make important contributions to the current literature.

The effect of preservice social studies teachers’ pupil control ideologies on their classroom management beliefs

The purpose of this research is to set forth the impact of preservice social studies teachers’ pupil control ideologies on their classroom management beliefs. The research was conducted via a correlational survey model, which is among quantitative research methods. The sample of the research consists of 221 preservice teachers who received their education during the 2018-2019 academic year in the Social Studies Teacher Education Program at Mugla Sitki Kocman University. In the research “Pupil Control Ideologies Scale” and “The Attitudes and Beliefs on Classroom Control (ABCC) Inventory” were used. In conclusion, it was determined that pupil control ideologies make a low degree impact in the positive direction on instructional management sub-dimension, and a low degree impact in the negative direction on people management sub-dimension, of classroom management beliefs.

Proposing Core Practices for Social Studies Teacher Education: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Inquiry-Based Lessons

As states, school districts, and teachers continue to adopt the inquiry-based principles of the College, Career, and Civic (C3) Framework, social studies teacher education must engage in a concomitant instructional shift to focus its efforts on preparing inquiry-based educators. One possible approach is to organize social studies teacher education around core practices. In this study, I attempt to surface the core practices found in social studies classrooms through a qualitative content analysis of the lessons using the Inquiry Design Model (IDM), an instructional design process based on the elements of the C3 Framework. Seven core practices to organize social studies teacher education are proposed: (a) establishing social studies academic language, (b) helping students recognize the interdisciplinary nature of social studies phenomena, (c) using interpretive questions, (d) helping students organize inquiries, (e) connecting inquiries to students’ lives, (f) structuring opportunities for discussion, and (g) extending inquiry into the civic lives of students.

Exploring new teachers conceptualizations of critical simulations in world history, American history, and economics learning experiences

In this study we examine early career social studies teachers’ use and understanding of critical simulations. We began work with participants as teacher candidates in their pre-service programs and formally studied them as they began their in-service teaching. We were particularly interested in teacher efforts to use simulation to facilitate a more critical disciplinary consciousness. Data indicate that participant teachers utilized simulations to: enhance students’ ability to critically engage with social studies content, facilitate more democratic dialogue, and critique normalized systems of power. We do not suggest that simulations in and of themselves are “critical,” rather, we argue they can be an effective means of providing a safe environment for considering the complexities of certain issues in social studies. Furthermore, we argue critical social studies teachers and teacher educators can be purposeful in their use of simulation to avoid enshrining the status quo. Finally simulations can help critical teachers illuminate oppression and facilitate a more humanizing vision within the social studies if they possess critical consciousness, strong pedagogical content knowledge and a command of the method.

Learning from Our Stories: Incorporating Free Spaces as a Necessity in Antiracist Social Studies Teacher Education

ABSTRACT This instrumental case study illustrates the necessity of free spaces within antiracist teacher education. The author uses antiracism and free spaces as a theoretical lens to examine the experiences of 11 social studies teacher educators (SSTEs) who teach and research antiracist social studies. The findings portray the SSTEs’ need for free space to persevere in antiracist teacher education as well as to improve their scholarship in antiracist social studies education, yet the SSTEs do not explicitly include the need for a free space within their course syllabi and readings for pre-service teachers. Based on these findings, the author argues the need to consider how free spaces can be extended to teacher education instruction and to alumni who desire to be K-12 antiracist educators.

Sınıf Dışı Coğrafya Öğretimi ve Müze Eğitimi Derslerini alan Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmen Adaylarının Psikososyal Kazanımlarının İncelenmesi

The academic outcomes of courses are evaluated by teacher grades or achievement tests; however, their psychological and interpersonal benefits are usually unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the views of social studies teacher candidates on the psychological and interpersonal outcomes of the outdoor education courses they took, namely Geography Teaching and Museum Education. A descriptive qualitative research methodology was employed with a homogeneous sampling technique. The participants, who were voluntarily recruited, included 24 social studies teacher candidates who took the Geography Teaching and Museum Education classes as part of the Social Studies Teacher Education Program. Data were collected through focus group interviews. Recorded interviews were transcribed and then analyzed thematically. The results showed that participation in outdoor courses improved students’ relationships with their peers and lecturers, increased their motivation for class attendance, and helped them manage their stress.

Does a “Science, Technology and Social Change” Course Improve Scientific Habits of Mind and Attitudes towards Socioscientific Issues?

The study aimed at exploring whether a “Science-Technology-Social Change” course improved pre-service social studies teachers’ (PST) scientific habits of mind and attitudes towards socio-scientific issues. Within a pre- and post-course experimental design, the study was conducted with 135 second-year PST (68 males and 67 females) from two classes at Department of Social Studies Teacher Education in a large-size university, Turkey. Two different Likert type scales, Scientific Habits of Mind Scale and Attitudes towards Socioscientific Issues Scale, were employed to collect data before and after the course. The data were imported to SPSS 15TM for descriptive and inferential statistics in order to address research questions. The results indicated that the STSC course had some shortcomings in improving the PST’s scientific habits of mind and attitudes towards socio-scientific issues. The current study recommends enriching the STSC course with tasks that integrate socio-scientific issues and scientific habits of mind into social studies.