Social Studies Research and Practice: Volume 9 Issue 3

History Through a Child’s Eye: Pre-service Teachers Making Sense of Children’s Understandings

Cheryl Mason Bolick, Cheryl Torrez, Meghan McGlinn Manfra

A team of five researchers set out to document pre-service teachers’ experiences interviewing elementary-aged children about social studies topics. Nearly 200 pre-service teachers…

Another Missed Opportunity: Gender in the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies

Kathryn E. Engebretson

As the Era of Accountability has given rise to the prevalence of curriculum standards and multiple educational stakeholders have engaged in the writing of these documents, the…

Critical Historical Inquiry: How Might Pre-Service Teachers Confront Master Historical Narratives?

Cinthia Salinas, Brooke Blevins

In this qualitative case study, we examine pre-service teachers’ understandings’ of history as narrative. This analysis specifically explores the kinds of new historical…

A Review of Social Studies Textbook Content Analyses Since 2002

Scott L. Roberts

A content analyses study of social studies textbooks was completed in 1993 by Rahmia Wade. She found the problematic way in which researchers examined texts noting they relied too…

Teaching Historical Agency: Explicitly Connecting Past and Present with Graphic Novels

J. Spencer Clark

The use of six non-fiction graphic novels to teach historical agency in a social studies methods course was examined in a critical action research study. Pre-service social…

Teaching for Democratic Citizenship: Arriving at a Guiding Question for Pedagogical Practice

James Shiveley

Social studies teachers often feel a tension between wanting to teach for democratic citizenship and the need to cover the multiple areas of required content. This paper examines…

More Than Slaves: Black Founders, Benjamin Banneker, and Critical Intellectual Agency

LaGarrett J. King

Using the philosophical lenses of revisionist ontology and the politics of personhood, this paper explores the notion of Black Founders of the United States. I introduce the…

Needing TPACK without Knowing It: Integrating Educational Technology in Social Studies

Erik Jon Byker

Preparing future elementary teachers to connect social studies content and skills with technology necessitates the integration of technology into teacher preparation methods…

Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A.: Promoting Historical Inquiry through Music

Tina L. Heafner, Eric Groce, Alicia Finnell

Music elicits emotions and acts as a cultural definer of class values, political beliefs, and economic life. Students are intrinsically drawn to and possess an innate ability for…

NCSS Notable Trade Book Lesson Plan Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad Written by Ellen Levine

Eric Groce, Elizabeth M. Frye, Robin Groce, Elizabeth Bellows

Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad recounts the remarkable story of a Richmond slave who shipped himself in a wooden crate to Philadelphia to escape…

NCSS Notable Trade Book Lesson Plan I Am Helen Keller Written by Grace Norwich

Janie Hubbard

I Am Helen Keller is a student-friendly reader; yet, it offers realistic insights into Helen’s life as a: student, writer, lecturer, vaudeville performer, and activist. The book…

NCSS Notable Trade Book Lesson Plan Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto Written by Susan Goldman Rubin

Deborah Morowski, Theresa McCormick

This lesson uses Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto to introduce students to a true story of a Catholic, Polish social worker who saved the lives of thousands of…