A causal-comparative, mixed methods design was used to study a partnership between a university and school district formed with the goal of improving history teachers' United States history content knowledge to raise student engagement and achievement. Data were collected from middle and high school history teachers including teacher interviews,…

Using data from a six-month qualitative study, this article examines how four secondary Social Studies teachers made meaning of music, and how those perspectives informed their pedagogical choices regarding music in their classrooms. Specifically, this article analyzes three ways the teachers talked about, viewed and incorporated music in their…

This collective case study examined how three educators (a high school social studies teacher, a university social studies teacher educator, and minister teaching an adult population) used a multimedia based curriculum guide, "Teaching the Levees", to teach about climate change to examine public priorities in relation to the environment.…

This study examined three teachers' responses to professional development initiatives designed to support them in integrating literacy strategies with their social studies curriculum. Data from participant observation, interviews, archival records, and email exchanges provided insights regarding participants' efforts to weave together literacy…

Numerous studies have shown how elementary social studies instruction has been constrained or curtailed in states that do not test social studies as part of their mandated accountability system. South Carolina is a state that tests social studies as well as English, mathematics, and science in grades three through eight as part of its…

Using Kelly's (1986) four perspectives on teacher disclosure, I analyze the quality of instruction present in the classrooms of six high school government teachers during their coverage of the 2008 Presidential Election, an event that received widespread media attention and elicited strong feelings on both sides of the political spectrum. Four of…

Ernest Horn was a curriculum professor at The University of Iowa in the early to mid-twentieth century. Predominantly known at the time for his spelling research, Horn also made important contributions to the field of social studies education. This historical inquiry illuminates one of Horn's contributions to social studies education by examining…

This study examined the attitudes of high school social studies teachers toward the training they received to teach English language learners (ELLs) in their social studies classrooms. This issue is important because the number of ELLs in American schools increases each year and high school social studies classes are the one place for ELLs to…

This article examines how three secondary social studies teachers made meaning of global education, and how those perspectives informed their pedagogy in regards to teaching a range of topics around global education. Using data from a 9 month qualitative study, this article also analyzes the societal discourses that influenced the teachers'…

This study examined an 11th grade high school class as they played the game Civilization III. Over nine class sessions students played the game in support of other activities related to several predetermined and emergent topics in U. S. history. Gameplay was whole-class oriented and involved students taking turns at the computer controlling…

This study questions the belief that little or no social studies is being taught in regular elementary education classrooms. That belief is based on time studies and a body of research that looks at curriculum and teacher interviews and concludes that the social studies time block has been decreased in elementary classrooms, therefore little or no…

Determining how to teach about rescue during the Holocaust presents many dilemmas to teachers as they plan Holocaust curricula. Rescue is often overemphasized, and faulty perspectives about rescuers and their actions may cause students to develop distorted views about this aspect of Holocaust history. This article explores several factors that…

The large percentages of teachers in the United States are white, middle class people who may not understand or identify their own cultural connections within the American culture, let alone elaborate their own ancestral cultural elements. Educators are expected to teach a diverse student population, and preservice teachers should be prepared to…

A study of how middle and high school American history teachers adopted and maintained the use of research-based instructional practices is described as a model of professional development for social studies teachers. The teachers participated in a three-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Teaching American History grant…

Thus, this study examines two beginning teachers' perceptions of a high-stakes test in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Data analysis revealed that the teachers' perceptions towards the test had changed during their first year of teaching. This issue is important because how first-year history teachers perceive and respond to the high stakes tests…