Search results

The purpose of the research was to, first, investigate if the use of maps as instructional resources will boost scholarly performance and, second, examine if gender can moderate the effect of map usage on scholarly performance.

The study was a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test. A sample of 260 JSS II Students from 8 schools were selected through the purposive sampling technique. A Social Studies Scholarly Performance Test (SSSPT) with a reliability index of 0.79 was the instrument for data collection. The students were assigned into two groups: control and experimental. Both groups were pre-tested taught for a timeline of six weeks and thereafter post-tested.

The study reported a significant increase in the scholarly performance of students taught with maps; a significant difference occurred in the scholarly performance of both groups and gender did not moderate the effect of maps.

The social studies teachers used for the study did not have previous knowledge or map skills; this could have affected the outcome. Secondly, the treatment took place for just six weeks, and the time allotted for social studies in the school timetable was used. This may not have given the students enough time to master map interpretation.

A major implication of the study is that results will show that maps can promote the scholarly performance of students in social studies. Secondly, the fact that gender did not moderate the effect of maps suggests that maps are gender-friendly.

The results of the study, if implemented, would make social studies teachers to become inventive and resourceful in the use of maps as instructional resources for junior secondary students' scholarly performance in social studies without taking gender into consideration.

This study is a product of the researcher’s doctoral thesis; therefore, it is original and has value. The results are the product of a painstaking study carried out by the author for a period of three years on the effect of instructional resources on social studies students’ scholarly performance. Maps were one of the instructional resources studied for the award of a Ph.D. degree.

The increased demands for access to and accountability for mastery of social studies curriculum by all students, including students with disabilities (SWDs) and diverse learning needs, is a current reality within secondary schools. Research has suggested classroom implementation of evidence-based instructional practices to improve content literacy. However, the lack of descriptive data related to classroom implementation of instructional practices seems to be an area of concern, especially following professional development (Correnti & Rowan, 2007). Research related to the context and conditions of classroom implementation is needed. This manuscript describes a district-wide professional development initiative within secondary social studies classrooms, outlines qualitative research, reports findings related to teacher perceptions of classroom implementation, and describes the considerations and implications related to implementation of professional development as part of comprehensive school reform.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not the implementation of an instructional unit about an underrepresented historical figure, specifically Elizabeth Jennings, titled “The Elizabeth Jennings Project” (EJP) creates conditions conducive for middle and secondary social studies students to demonstrate historical empathy.

A case study methodology was selected for this study because the researcher implemented the EJP at one school with a small sample size of participants to assess which pedagogical factors, if any, fostered historical empathy through analysis of an underrepresented historical figure among middle and secondary social studies students.

Major findings highlight that active learning pedagogies, such as in-class debate, were effective strategies that promote historical empathy when middle and secondary students examined documents about an underrepresented historical figure. Analysis of the implementation of “The EJP” provides insights about how historical empathy pedagogies can connect to national standards and initiatives such as the Common Core Standards for History/Social Studies and the National Council for the Social Studies College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for middle and secondary social studies.

Historical empathy refers to deep inquiry in which intellectual and affective responses to content are shaped through source analysis of the actions, motives, perspectives and beliefs of people in the past. Although there are several studies that address pedagogies that promote historical empathy through examinations of famous historical figures, there is limited research concerning whether students display historical empathy by investigating underrepresented historical figures such as Elizabeth Jennings.

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act and the reauthorization of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, inclusion of children with special needs is no longer just something to think about. Teachers are often faced with the dilemma of how to appropriately educate these students in the regular classroom. One area that is often a major concern is assessment. This paper looks specifically at assessment in the regular social studies classroom and the adaptations and modifications social studies teachers most frequently use.

This article focuses on the following questions: 1) How do secondary social studies teachers working in schools of color experience pedagogical negotiations when trying to teach students thoughtful, critically informed citizenship and government and school accountability mandates? and 2) How does teaching with lessons grounded in the principles of authentic intellectual work (AIW) affect this negotiation experience? We employed a phenomenological framework as the methodological basis for eliciting two classroom teachers’ experiences, both of whom have advanced degrees in social studies education and several years of teaching experience in schools of color and of poverty. The findings show that prior to the incorporation of lessons based on the principles of authentic intellectual work, these teachers’ negotiation experiences had strong negatively affective dimensions based on a zero-sum pedagogical conceptualization of curriculum. Following the introduction of lessons based on AIW, these negatively affective dimensions began to recede from their experiences and were replaced by more positive ones. Given that classroom teachers are the ultimate arbiters of curriculum in their classrooms, this research has implications for improving the experiences of secondary social studies teachers working in schools of color.

The purpose of this paper is to present results from three years of a longitudinal “Assessment Attitudes and Practices” survey collected from a large school district in the Southern USA.

This paper focuses on both formative and summative “assessment practices” results from secondary (middle and high school) social studies teachers.

There was no statistically significant difference between secondary social studies teachers’ use of assessments and secondary teachers of other disciplines, nor was there a statistically significant difference in assessment use by year. Data results by assessment type were ranked in order of how often teachers claimed to use various assessment practices, and discussed in terms of assessment practices recommended by NCSS. Social studies teachers in this study were often more likely to report use of assessments of knowledge (including selected-response items) than performance-based assessment techniques (such as authentic assessments).

The lack of statistically significant differences in assessment practices along disciplinary lines indicates homogeneity in the use of assessments that does not do justice to social studies.

Using Common Core standards or not, having a 1:1 technological environment or not, teacher respondents essentially reported using the same assessments, perhaps because high-stakes assessments did not change.

There is a need for professional development that helps teachers see how performance-based assessments can be used to boost student performance on high-stakes assessments.

Studies of actual assessment practices (as opposed to ideas about how teachers should assess) are still quite rare, and provide a helpful window in understanding what is actually happening inside schools.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the major development of global citizenship education (GCE) as part of Hong Kong’s secondary school curriculum guidelines, which reveals how it has developed from, first, asking students to understand their responsibilities as citizens to now challenging injustice and inequality in the world. Hong Kong’s curriculum guidelines started to teach GCE as a result of the last civic education guideline issued just before the return of sovereignty to China in 1997. Through documentary analysis, this paper examines how GCE has developed against the backdrop of globalization in Hong Kong’s various secondary school curriculum guidelines.

This study used documentary analysis to examine the developments in the teaching of GCE via Hong Kong’s official secondary school curriculum guidelines. It has studied the aims, knowledge and concepts that are related to GCE by coding the GCE literature and categorizing the findings from the curriculum guidelines.

From the coding and categorizing processes employed, it has been found that GCE in Hong Kong’s official curriculum guidelines has evolved from learning about rights and responsibilities in the 1990s to challenging injustice, discrimination, exclusion and inequality since the late 1990s. Indeed, understanding the world and especially globalization, in terms of comprehending the processes and phenomena through which people around the globe become more connected, has presented challenges for the teaching of civic education. For example, categories of GCE have developed from the simpler expression of concerns about the world to encompass moral obligations and taking action. Similarly, the concerns for the maintenance of peace that were studied initially have since grown and now include work about challenging inequalities and taking action on human rights violations.

This study would have implications for the understanding of GCE in Hong Kong as well as other fast-changing societies in this age of globalization, as civic education curricula need to respond to the impacts of globalization. GCE is an under-researched area, but topics concerning world/international/global affairs have been covered in Hong Kong secondary school curriculum guidelines for several decades.

This study explored perspectives of secondary social studies teachers, who reported using live media broad-casts to engage students in an examination of terrorism on 9/11. Specifically, this study queried these teachers’ perceptions of preparedness on 9/11 to engage it as a learning event. Respondents (N=29) in one Mid-Atlantic state who were teaching in secondary social studies classrooms on September 11, 2001 (9/11), were asked to reflect on their level of preparedness to adapt and implement real-time teaching to address unfolding events. A Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test for matched pairs revealed that respondents’ current perceptions of self-efficacy to teach about an unfolding terrorist act were positively modified by their experiences teaching about terrorism on 9/11 [Z = -4.507, p <.001 (two tailed)]. Respondents reported gains in confidence to teach about terrorism because of their teaching experiences on 9/11. Results add to the small knowledge base on the topic, even as they highlight the need for further research on the classroom response to 9/11.

An investigation of how secondary history teacher education candidates implemented research-based instructional practices for instruction is described as a model of pre-service teacher preparation for social studies teachers. Cohorts of candidates participated in a five-year project while enrolled in a discipline-specific capstone senior methods course and subsequent student teaching experiences. Candidates were surveyed and interviewed concerning their use of, and feelings about, twelve instructional strategies developed with a focus on authentic history pedagogy. Surveys were administered three times: before the secondary social studies methods course, after the methods course, and after student teaching. A variation on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model was used to measure the levels of use and stages of concern of the candidates. Artifacts of practice, including lesson plans from a model unit plan and actual student teaching, also were analyzed to document use of the strategies. Results indicate an increasingly high level of implementation of and comfort with the strategies, as well as the developmental nature of the process. Implications and recommendations for pre-service activities in history teacher education are presented.