Overlapping and entangled crises that comprise and propel society require near constant (re)orientation in order to understand, explain, and address the workings of a multiplicitous world. For those invested in education, this means confronting complexity through the prism of teaching and learning. Educational scholars across fields and…

The study of history as part of the social studies curriculum is an important component of K-12 education. Yet, past research suggests that students perceive history as less important than other subjects (Brophy et al., 1992; Schug et al., 1984), find it boring and without purpose (Zhao & Hoge, 2005), and are unable to articulate why they…

Educators are faced with standardized testing weighing heavily as the basis of the curriculum. Several education policies have been put in place to support accountability in education but have created a decline in social studies instruction (Gaudelli & Laverty, 2018). This transcendental phenomenological qualitative study sought to bring…

This study aimed to investigate middle school social studies teachers' perceptions of professional development and its relation to the teacher's knowledge of the subject, teaching methods, and improving student outcomes. The primary questions addressed in this study focused on middle school social studies teachers perceptions of current…

Virtual learning environments have increased in frequency in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. There are differences in the social learning structure between virtual learning environments and traditional learning environments. A growing body of scholarship has aimed to investigate the impacts of the virtual learning environment on student…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of newly hired social studies educators currently employed in varying high schools throughout the State of Illinois. Specifically, this study sought to explore newly hired social studies teachers' perceptions of their teacher preparation program, and how…

This dissertation examines the pedagogical decision making processes of eight social studies teachers in West Virginia who taught about race and racism during the 2021-2022 school year. Teaching about racism and issues of race has become highly politicized, but social studies educators remain uniquely poised to have meaningful discussions about…

Care is something we expect educators to demonstrate towards their students, but are they themselves being taught the importance of care in education and prepared to enact it in their classrooms? The existing literature on care and care theory in education is limited, but shows a link between care and student success; many educators also point to…

This study assesses the role a teacher-led social studies group played in the evolution of three teachers' professional biographies over the course of seven years. It uses a conceptual framework based on Priestley, Biesta and Robinson's (2015) theory of teacher agency to explore the ecological relationships between professional biography, the…

This interpretive case study used Black Critical Patriotism (Busey & Walker, 2017) as a theoretical framework to make meaning of two Black men secondary social studies teachers' thoughts on American citizenship, the purposes of social studies education, and the extent to which they taught for social justice amid anti-CRT legislation and…

The discourse of economic literacy has influenced high school economics instruction for decades. Using Foucauldian genealogy, this study examined the events and circumstances which allowed that discourse to emerge. By mapping the relationships in the discourse through the economic literacy, it is possible to examine the mechanisms and rules which…

This study investigated high school social studies teachers' perceptions of Robert Stahl's decision-making materials within their content area and the relevance of curricular implementation. The primary questions addressed in this study focused on high school social studies teachers' perception of current instructional practices, inquiry-based…

In this comparative case study, the purpose was to describe how teacher language works during political lessons in order to understand it in one case and compare it to cases in different contexts. Three Macomb County, Michigan teachers were interviewed about their planning and then observed teaching a civics lesson to high school students. In…

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to investigate the lived experiences of secondary social studies teachers in a suburban school as they implemented inquiry-based methods in their classrooms. Teacher perceptions of pedagogy, student learning and methods were analyzed using defined themes to evaluate the lived experiences of secondary…

In 2014, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) communicated a plan to replace five Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments with alternative assessments based on legislation passed by the Virginia General Assembly (VDOE, 2014b, p. 1). School districts were able to choose the type of alternative assessment to implement, yet they were…