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High school student achievement in economics has been predominantly characterized by low test scores, while secondary social studies preservice teachers have less formal training in economics than most other social studies disciplines. In this self-study, the instructional affordances and constraints of an experimental economics methods course are analyzed in terms of developing secondary social studies preservice and inservice teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in economics from both the instructor and pre and inservice teachers’ perspectives. Two course assignments appeared to most notably develop PCK in economics, the Analysis of Economic Events and the Active-Learning, Interdisciplinary Economic Lesson. Findings suggest interrelationships exist among common content knowledge, specialized content knowledge, and horizon content knowledge for teaching economics. Implications and instructional suggestions for social studies teacher education and professional development are discussed.

Teacher educators are expected to create experiences for pre-service teachers to prepare them for the world of teaching and the ever-changing contexts of schools and teaching. In this article, we discussed integrating two different aspects of teacher education—field-based instruction and technology—through the use of Evernote^®, a digital note-taking and archiving application, to create digital interactive student notebooks. Our goal was to provide other practitioners with insight into our use of Evernote^® to address two different pedagogical goals of a field-based course: 1) to enrich our pedagogies through the use of a digital interactive notebook with pre-service teachers who were spending more time in Pre-Kindergarten-12 social studies classrooms, and 2) to teach pre-service teachers to use a particular cloud-based technology that could be implemented in their future classrooms. We described Evernote^®, how we used it to work against the notorious theory and practice gap in teacher preparation, and discussed the importance of taking the time in teacher education to teach technology to digital natives.

This study describes and explains the ways in which three urban cultural institutions/museums provide opportunities to students for learning in the social studies. Through interviews, observations, and a content analysis of museum-produced materials, I examine the opportunities for various audiences (elementary, middle, and high school students) to engage with, and utilize, museum resources to facilitate meaningful social studies learning. This article includes a discussion of state standards, field trips, and use of technology to engage social studies learners. This study has implications for both classroom and museum-based educators.

Developmental science and school research identify children’s transition to kindergarten as a sensitive period with significant implications for formal school success. In this chapter, we present evidence that a successful transition to kindergarten requires more than ensuring that children have requisite competencies. Instead, we present an ecological model that conceptualizes smooth transitions from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten as a function of linkages between systems, such as connections between schools and families and between pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers and classrooms, especially those made prior to kindergarten entry. This chapter provides an overview of research on and best practices for effective pre-kindergarten to kindergarten transitions that support children’s development and school readiness. Evidence for the ecological framework supporting this critical transition is provided, including how transition and alignment practices are associated with optimal outcomes for children. Promising practices from the field that promote alignment between pre-kindergarten and kindergarten experiences are also addressed. Additionally, we present several case studies detailing the ways in which different localities have used empirically supported transition practices to support children’s early school success. Finally, we conclude with thoughts regarding future directions for transition and alignment work in early childhood.

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 National Council for the Social Studies has revised its original standards document published nearly two decades ago. This study investigated what the revised document reveals in terms of gendered discourses. Through employing the tools of discourse analysis, the dominant discourses advanced in the document’s curricular recommendations were revealed. Two discourses prevailed in the analysis: gender imbalance with a narrow view of valued masculinity and gender-free with a hidden discourse of males dominating in those spaces. A discussion of the presence of trans and other gender identities in the document is included. As gender is sparsely mentioned in the curricular recommendations, and a binary view of gender is adhered to throughout, there is little guidance for curriculum writers and teachers to teach in transformative ways that challenge the status quo.

Although the civil rights movement in the United States occurred more than 50 years ago, voter suppression, as witnessed in the 2012 election, for diverse groups of people continues. The information presented in this article supports the teaching and learning of social studies within early childhood and elementary grades as teachers and students consider and examine issues and problems concerning those who have been disenfranchised as voters within the United States. The use of historic role models, artwork, musical lyrics, and primary documents are various ways to assist young learners as they analyze and confront controversial issues such as discrimination within a pluralistic society. Through research, young learners can construct narratives from the present to make meaning from historical figures, events, and places of the past. Children’s understandings of historical people and events that took action against discriminatory practices and opportunities to expand learning about the topic may enable them to take the lead to make our democracy a reality for life, liberty and happiness.

In this study we explored prospective social studies teachers’ memories of their middle and high school social studies teachers. Our goal was to determine what lessons, if any, their apprenticeships of observation taught them about teaching. Analysis of interviews with these prospective teachers indicated they talked about five ways of being a social studies teacher: an information giver, a content knowledge expert, a “character”, a caring, committed teacher, and “powerful.” After discussing these five ways of being a social studies teacher we present implications for teacher educators interested in building upon prospective teachers' initial conceptions of powerful social studies teaching and learning.

The teaching of economics at the Kindergarten-12 level has been highly researched and reported upon since the 1970’s and has primarily concentrated on curriculum, materials, enrollments, and effectiveness of teaching techniques. This paper summarizes two recent reviews of research, the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Economics, and two recent national surveys. Taken together, the findings suggest that more students are taking high school economics than ever before, and that their performance is better than reported performance in other social studies fields. While adequate teacher training remains a stubborn problem, economics teachers appear to use somewhat more variety in their teaching than do their peers.

Students need to learn and practice creative thinking skills to ensure success in solving everyday, national, and global problems that include those affecting economic issues. The global economy requires workers to have research and innovation skills that depend upon creativity. However, many current educational programs focus mostly on factual content, doing little to inspire or apply the creative process. The project presented here shows an engaging activity that combines creative thinking skills with economic content. Although the activity occurred in a college course on creativity theory and practice, this challenging game can be easily adapted and embedded in the Kindergarten-12 social studies curriculum. This article discusses the set-up of the activity and its connection to creativity theory and curriculum standards. It showcases the work of eleven participants who each made a unique object or scene from a given set of craft and recycled materials, subsequently relating the resulting product to a current economic issue. Photographs of the resulting products are provided along with descriptions of the theme of each item, its connection to economics, and creative aspects of the work. Suggestions for adaptation to the Kindergarten-12 classroom are given.