Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how preservice teachers constructed detours in teaching a less favored area of Social Studies, with implications for their development as professional educators. Methods: To this end, data collected from sixty-five preservice teachers were analyzed based on grounded theory. Results: The results showed that the phenomenon was 'hesitancy to teach non-preferred areas' and the causal condition was 'negative experiences with Social Studies in school'. The contextual condition influencing the change in the central phenomenon was “the influence of the preservice teacher education program,” and the mediating condition was “adjustment with fellow preservice teachers. The action/interaction for breakthrough in teaching non-preferred areas of Social Studies was “the sum of student experiences, preservice curriculum, and teamwork,” which resulted in “a desire to improve the quality of Social Studies teaching. The pattern of bypassing for teaching non-preferred areas of Social Studies was that: first, the causal conditions associated with the central phenomenon acted as antecedents for intervention strategies, with experiences as a student guiding teaching and learning choices; second, knowledge accumulation did not occur as a strategy to counteract the lack of content area knowledge identified as an important reason for non-preferred areas of Social Studies; and third, preservice teachers' current focus was on “how to learn”. Third, a strong perception that Social Studies should reflect life and that life should be influenced by Social Studies was the dominant criterion for choices related to Social Studies instruction. Fourth, circumvention strategies differed across Social Studies content areas, with differences in post-teaching efficacy depending on the degree of congruence between teaching intentions, teaching methods, and demonstration performance. Finally, lesson demonstrations that targeted weaknesses were found to strengthen their commitment to improving the quality of their teaching. Conclusion: Based on the results of the analysis, it is recommended that programs for learning the knowledge and skills of Social Studies should be strengthened, opportunities for lesson demonstration and reflection should be expanded, and the perception of the “life” position of Social Studies should be changed in order to foster preservice teachers' expertise in Social Studies teaching.
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