In the age of standardized testing, science and social studies are not given the same priority as mathematics and reading in the curriculum of United States schools. High stakes testing is viewed as having heavily biased schools toward teaching tested subjects and away from less frequently tested subjects. This paper is premised on the notion that…

Technological pedagogical content knowledge (now known as technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge, or TPACK) has become a widely referenced conceptual framework within teacher education. It provides a common language to discuss the integration of technology into instruction (Koehler & Mishra, 2008) and builds upon the concepts of pedagogical…

The systematic design of appropriate teaching strategies to bring about desired values is crucially important, and badly needed, in social studies education. Teachers cannot leave the accomplishment of affective objectives to chance or to learning activities planned mainly for cognitive goals. Examples of an affective strategy that develops…

The principles of Benjamin Bloom's "Taxonomy of Education Objectives" for the cognitive domain are followed in the development of this independent study unit. The sequence uses the Egyptian Rossetta Stone as the common knowledge base and illustrates how the six principles of the taxonomy of the cognitive domain can be applied to the design of a…

The focus of this paper is on the relative roles of personality and training in enabling teachers to carry out the kinds of complex learning models which are envisioned by curriculum reformers in the social sciences. The paper surveys some of the major research done in this area and concludes that: 1) Most teachers do not manifest the complex…

Robert Gagne's model as presented in "The Conditions of Learning" (1970) is modified, extended, and used to form a logical model applicable to planning and teaching the social studies. It is used to develop planning procedures and to sequence instructional activities consistent with attaining complex levels of student learning. Sample…

This paper suggests a model for the preparation of social studies teachers based on the writings of sociologist C. Wright Mills. In 1961 Mills stated that the purpose of social inquiry should be to help people understand the connection of their personal lives to the social structure, the institutional arrangements of society. Based on this…