Many elementary and middle school students are confronted by media messages constantly. They receive messages not only from family and friends, but from television and social media outlets. The media messages about current events are often politically biased, polarized in nature, and potentially inaccurate, especially on social media platforms.…

This qualitative case study explored preservice teachers' (PSTs) beliefs about disciplinary literacy as they engaged in a blog project with middle-school students to discuss historical texts. Twenty-eight PSTs, enrolled in a semester-long social studies methods course and participating in the blog project as a course assignment, constituted the…

This paper describes an innovative teaching collaboration between two university professors to prepare undergraduate preservice teachers for planning, designing, and assessing interdisciplinary curriculum. Specifically, we were interested in whether deliberate efforts to integrate social studies and assessment methods courses would facilitate our…

A study investigated the effects of actively involving students in a social studies methods class on instructor evaluations given by students. Subjects were 30 undergraduates who were all elementary education majors except for one special education major. Subjects (27 female and 3 male) ranged in age from 21 to 53 years old. The experimental…

Comparison of pre-service social studies teachers in field and non-field based methods courses indicated no significant differences with regard to teaching skills, attitudes, or behaviors teachers should exhibit in the classroom. (Author/DB)

In response to numerous criticisms of technocratic models of social studies curricula this paper describes a critical approach to curriculum design. Major areas of criticism related to knowledge, learning and evaluation, and teaching are explored as they relate to issues of curriculum planning and implementation and a critical approach to…

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…

Results of a survey are presented concerning the status of social studies methods courses at undergraduate institutions in Arkansas. There are 16 colleges which provide teaching certificates at the secondary level in Arkansas; all include the social studies as one of their certification areas. All 16 responded to the author's questionnaire. It was…