Supporting Exemplary Social Studies Teaching in Elementary Schools

McCall, Ava L.

doi:10.3200/tsss.97.4.161-167

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Although coursework requirements vary among institutions, overall they appear minimal (Bolick, Adams, & Willox, 2010). This makes it difficult to ensure that candidates have adequate social studies disciplinary knowledge and skills (McCall, 2006). Therefore, it is not surprising that elementary teachers often report feeling unprepared to teach social studies because of a lack of content knowledge, particularly in world citizenship (Gallavan, 2008) and geography (May, 2005).…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Preservice Elementary Teachers' 21st-Century Information and Media Literacy Skills

Fry

Seely

2011

Action in Teacher Education

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This two-semester pedagogical study investigated the effectiveness of an approach to information and media literacy instruction for elementary preservice teachers. Participants were trained in and then used a systematic process of searching for, evaluating, and using journal articles and websites. Two-thirds of the Semester one participants were unsuccessful identifying relevant, high-quality journal articles and ½ inaccurately evaluated the quality of websites. After three opportunities for formative assessment were added to the instruction model in Semester two, participants proficiently evaluated websites and ¾ were able to find relevant journal articles. The results demonstrate the importance of formative assessment and the need to provide preservice teachers with information and media literacy training so they are better able to navigate and evaluate digital-age resources in order to expand their content mastery and teach their students 21 st century skills. This pedagogical study investigated the effectiveness of an approach to information and media literacy instruction for elementary preservice teachers. We, a teacher educator and education librarian team, were specifically concerned with preservice teachers' skill using Internet search engines and library subscription databases to locate, evaluate, and use relevant, appropriate, reliable, and authoritative resources. We trained the participants in a systematic research process of searching for, evaluating, and using information resources, specifically journal articles and websites, to increase their content knowledge. After completing the training, preservice teachers used the research process to complete a major assessment in a social studies curriculum and instructional methods course. Although we focused on two forms of media in the training, the information and media literacy skills they learned are transferable to other resources. We evaluated the effectiveness of our instructional approach over a 2-semester academic year by collecting data to explore the questions: How successful are preservice teachers in selecting and evaluating high-quality resources? How do preservice teachers' perceptions of their information and media literacy skills compare with their abilities to evaluate resource quality? What is the relationship between preservice teacher age and ability to evaluate resource quality?

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Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Preservice Elementary Teachers' 21st-Century Information and Media Literacy Skills

Fry

Seely

2011

Action in Teacher Education

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“…Furthermore, detrimentally to history education, the time to teach history has also been reduced because of the No Child Left Behind imperative to focus on standards most relevant to increasing standardized test scores. This decreased exposure impairs time for students to engage in in-depth learning and also creates a greater incentive for teachers to rely on the history textbook, given their time constraints (Duplass 2007;McCall 2006;Zhao and Hoge 2005). There is no surprise then that research indicates many students do not view studying history positively, "hold negative attitudes towards social studies and do not understand the importance of social studies or its relation to their lives" (Zhao and Hoge 2005, 220).…”

Section: Implications For Educationmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The literature suggests that, overwhelmingly, the textbook is and has been the driver of history curriculum (American Textbook Council 1994;Duplass 2007;McCall 2006;Neumann 2012;Parsons 1982;Romanowski 2009a;Shaver, Davis, and Helburn 1979;Simms 1975;Wolf 1992;Zhao and Hoge 2005). This is a primary concern when the content of such texts has been identified for decades as disjointed (Duplass 2007;Loewen 1995), biased (Brown and Brown 2010), superficial (Elliott, Nagel, and Woodward 1985), erroneous (Paxton 1999), and heroic (Loewen 1995).…”

Section: Criticisms Of History Textbooksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Bias in Elementary History Curriculum with Preservice and Practicing Teachers in Professional Development Schools

MacPhee

Kaufman

2014

The Social Studies

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This article examines the discourses of preservice and practicing elementary school teachers as they participated in focus group discussions about instructional materials and resources for planning and teaching historical content within their social studies curriculum. The study took place in a professional development school setting in which preservice and practicing teachers were working together to plan and implement history curriculum. The university researchers, who were the instructors for the Professional Development School courses, sought to understand teachers' perspectives regarding bias in their social studies textbooks as it pertains to specific historical content. Findings indicate that the participating teachers spend a considerable amount of time negotiating the competing discourses that exist personally, within the institution of school, and in the field of social studies education.

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“…To develop and strengthen such perspectives, social studies methods instructors must teach pre-service teachers how to critically analyze rather than blindly embrace situations that they observe within individual classrooms. They can start by introducing local teachers and sharing information about those, highlighted in the literature, who 'do' manage to schedule and teach social studies in their classrooms (see Hutton & Burstein, 2008;Hutton et al, 2006;McCall, 2006).…”

Section: Impacts Of Marginalization For Pre-service Teachers and K-6 ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social studies marginalization: Examining the effects on K-6 pre-service teachers and students

Hubbard

2013

The Journal of Social Studies Research

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The consequences of a trend to marginalize social studies in the early grades are complex and widespread, as a new wave of novice teachers and K-6 students are receiving a message clearly implying that social studies education is unimportant. Convincing them of the value in teaching and learning social studies is progressively becoming more difficult for social studies methods instructors. The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service teachers’ observations of the extent to which social studies is being marginalized, possible barriers involved, and the impact that this phenomenon has on pre-service teachers and K-6 students in the classroom. Through a mixed-method design, 88 pre-service teachers were asked to report their classroom observations. Over half observed social studies instruction. Of those who observed social studies instruction, about a third indicated that teachers taught 5–15 min per day. Pre-service teachers reported personal success in planning and teaching social studies lessons during their practicum experiences; likewise, K-6 students were motivated by pre-service teachers’ student-centered activities in the lessons. The results of this study provide one form of current documentation regarding the effects of social studies marginalization in K-6 schools.

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Supporting Exemplary Social Studies Teaching in Elementary Schools

Cited by 9 publications

References 7 publications

Enhancing Preservice Elementary Teachers' 21st-Century Information and Media Literacy Skills

Enhancing Preservice Elementary Teachers' 21st-Century Information and Media Literacy Skills

Exploring Bias in Elementary History Curriculum with Preservice and Practicing Teachers in Professional Development Schools

Social studies marginalization: Examining the effects on K-6 pre-service teachers and students

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