This longitudinal qualitative multicase study of social studies teachers' implementation of differentiation examined two educators' experiences as teacher candidates and beginning teachers, drawing upon theoretical perspectives of novice teacher appropriation of pedagogies across learning-to-teach settings. The study's first phase explored how…

Social studies education (SSE) commonly uses copying pedagogies (e.g., simulations) to help students develop a deeper understanding of self, others, curriculum, and society. This article argues that simulations are eminently mimetic (i.e., a theoretical orientation concerned with understanding the entangled relationships between originals and…

Although computational thinking has most often been associated with the science, technology, engineering, and math education fields, our research takes a first step toward documenting student outcomes associated with integrating and assessing computational thinking in the social studies. In this study, we pursued an embedded research design,…

Scholars of citizenship education have long regarded deliberation as the default framework for democratic discussion in the classroom and beyond. Turning to the history and theory of rhetoric, we question why the deliberative model of the Athenian assembly has been developed for social studies pedagogy without including the litigative discourse of…

To prepare their students to navigate online information about current issues, teachers must be able to critically read a range of diverse and complex data visualizations. This study presents findings from task-based interviews with 25 social studies teachers on their instructional beliefs about the use of diverse data visualization types. In the…

This study explores how the ideology of racial individualism--which prioritizes an understanding of racism as individual wrongdoing--becomes embedded in the curriculum and discourse of the middle school social studies classroom and becomes embedded in the curriculum and discourse of the middle school social studies classroom to shape the racial…

Students in social studies classrooms are faced with a barrage of images, many of which represent historical trauma and violence. Although photographs can be used as pedagogical tools to represent experiences of injustice and elicit deeper understanding, they also activate affective and unrelated responses in students. In this case study, I…

Open classroom climate for discussion (OCC) is consistently associated with positive civic outcomes for students, but research on the determinants of OCC primarily focuses on individual- and school-level indicators or uses qualitative or non-representative samples. This study considers how teacher instructional practices influence the presence of…

Fostering a sense of civic engagement is considered an essential purpose of social studies education. However, given the ways in which formal civic curricula and standards decenter the impact of racial membership on civic status, Black teachers are turning to alternative, out-of-school sites to enact critical approaches to teaching civics.…

This case study aims to expand our understanding of controversial issues teaching and teacher disclosure by illustrating how one "out" gay/queer high school teacher approaches and experiences disclosure with the National Day of Silence (DoS), a yearly event focused on increasing awareness of LGBTQ voices and concerns in schools. Using…

This exploratory case study examined how two teachers used a comparative approach to teach genocide histories in a Holocaust Literature elective course. Through interviews and observations, we studied how the teachers guided students in comparing genocides as well as how they used survivor testimonies in their instruction. We found that teachers…

Interactions within classrooms contribute to adolescents' democratic civic development by providing resources fostering students' political understanding. Many teachers participate in social or political groups in their communities and more broadly. These out-of-school experiences inform their classroom practices and are contextualized by national…

There is growing momentum in teacher education to organize the preparation of teachers around "core practices." Advocates call for identifying discipline-oriented, research-based teaching moves associated with student learning and then shifting teacher education pedagogies and programs toward preparing beginning teachers to implement…

Authentic pedagogy is a complex enterprise for students and teachers. Planning and developing the instructional procedures and scaffolds for student success is daunting. In addition, the teacher implementing the lesson makes dozens of quick decisions as they attend to student thinking and decide how to respond. These spontaneous decisions can have…

The purpose of this article is to analyze elementary school teachers' perceptions and affective experiences of an in-service training on death education taught by the first author over three years at the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute. The teacher training focused on how to teach about issues of death, loss, and grief at the elementary school. The…