My biggest fear about teaching a social studies methods class with COVID restrictions was talking "at" my teacher candidates and not modeling interactive and engaging social studies education. Social studies education should be engaging and student-centered. In this article, I offer technological adaptations to lessons that center around…

Although Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) has been a guiding framework for the development of novice teachers for decades, less attention has been paid to the PCK of teacher educators. This comparative case study analyzes the PCK of two social studies methods instructors as they teach the practice of facilitating historical discussions and…

This study contributes to a body of research exploring sets of learning experiences for developing global competencies among middle childhood social studies teacher candidates. This multi-year study examines data related to teacher candidates' global knowledge, skills, and dispositions using a convergent parallel mixed methods design. Findings…

This manuscript presents findings and implications from a multiple case study of how teacher candidates in secondary and middle childhood programs learn specialized knowledge, skills, and expertise from disciplinary experts in content courses and enact practices of disciplinary literacy in field placements. An expert-novice framework was employed…

This conceptual article explores the use of threshold concepts to help pre-service teachers develop antiracist dispositions. Threshold concepts are "troublesome knowledge" within a discipline that serve as gateways to expanded modes of thinking about subject matter. Grappling with threshold concepts places learners in a liminal space as…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate one effort to challenge the problematic assumptions of the dominant narrative of neoclassical economics within a teacher preparation program that focuses on addressing dominant narratives throughout the social studies curriculum. Design/methodology/approach: Utilizing a theoretical framework that…

Contextualized in the critical pedagogies of universal design for learning (UDL) and social justice education, our study aimed to equip teacher candidates (TCs) to provide students with equitable access to learning social studies content knowledge, skills, and processes as a way to equally empower all students to be civically engaged, and thus to…

This study applied an Integrated Triadic Model (ITM) to a social studies methods course and measured the extent that preservice teachers' TPACK changed. The study also gathered beliefs about the effectiveness of course activities for developing TPACK. Data collected and analyzed from self-assessment surveys and reflective writings indicated an…

This dissertation research examines a teacher educator's instructional practices and preservice teachers' learning in two elementary social studies methods courses. As self-study, it focuses on learning to teach preservice teachers how to select and use visual images to teacher history and social studies. The research uses the Grossman Framework…

Grounded in a belief in the transformative possibilities of social studies teacher education, I present an argument for considering the development of purpose as both content and pedagogy of social studies teacher education. As part of developing a coherent pedagogy of rationale-based social studies teacher education, I begin by exploring the…

In an examination of how content knowledge influenced her initial third grade social studies teaching experiences, Suzanne Wilson found that it, among other things, helped her "to hear what students say" and in her students' comments were "often...the seeds of complex and sophisticated historical ideas." She also found content…

In this qualitative study, researchers inquired about preservice teachers' (PST) experience in becoming culturally responsive in a graduate teacher-licensure social studies methods class (N = 20). Researchers examined PST lesson plans and reflections, and rated them based on Geneva Gay's (2002) framework for preparing culturally responsive…

The purpose of the study was to better understand social studies teacher education through preservice professional development that incorporates an online gaming and simulation component. Examination of the impact of online gaming and simulations on the self-efficacy and content knowledge of preservice teachers in the methods course was…

Preservice teachers need both awareness of and skill with the latest digital technologies in order to use these tools effectively in their teaching. Historically in our university, this preparation has been reserved for a stand-alone information technology course focused on learning how to use various computer-based programs. However, more direct…

During the past decade, there has been more than an adequate amount of research addressing issues regarding social studies methods courses. However, the apparent void is that there is no clear understanding of what pedagogical content knowledge or understanding of pedagogical approaches teacher candidates bring with them to social studies methods…