The purpose of this study was to trace the development of the content of the disciplines in the social studies curriculum in the public secondary schools of Utah from 1847 to 1967. The factors considered in dealing with the development of the social studies curriculum were: textbooks, courses of study, and associated teacher materials used by the students in the public secondary schools of the Utah territory and state. The school subjects within the social studies curriculum included: history, geography, civics, economics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. These school subjects were examined chronologically for the period, 1847-1967, to determine events that reflected major educational changes in the school curriculum of Utah. From the findings of the study, it was concluded that: 1. History as a subject in the public secondary schools of Utah from 1847 to 1967 was characterized by growth and development. This was through the greater availability of textbooks and the appearance of the subject at different grade levels. National committees in the United States have prominently influenced the instructional content of history in Utah through textbooks and courses of study. 2 . Geography was taught as a separate subject of study in the public secondary schools of Utah. As one of the first of the social studies offered it received major emphasis during the territorial period. Efforts in the nineteenth century to improve the geography textbooks in American education brought forth materials that included maps, globes, drawings of the earth's physical features, and study of the pupil's home region, Present-day practices traced to national developments came from the Committee of Ten, 1892, and the 1916 report of the Committee of Social Studies by the National Education Association which exerted influences on geography instruction in the secondary schools of Utah. 3 . Civics and other associated materials in the political science field including law and constitution owe their greatest debt of existence in the Utah territorial schools to the teaching of American history, The first evidence of a separate offering of materials from the study of civics in Utah's public schools was in 1892. On the national level various committee reports since 1892 by the American Political Science Association, American Historical Association, and the National Education Association have materially shaped school courses in Utah in the great task of citizenship training. 4. Economics, formerly known as political economy, never enjoyed a prominent position in the schools of Utah. During the first three decades of the present cenmry the subject of economics gained a foothold in the program of studies of Utah schools, Since the 1960's implementation of economic materials have assisted in promoting greater economic understanding. S. Psychology as a school study was found in other subject-matter textbooks used in Utah secondary schools before psychology became an independent and separate subject in 1921. A very limited number of high school textbooks in psychology on state approved textbook listings, over the years, may be evidence that this subject has not been a strong, separate and independent subject in Utah schools. 6. Sociology prior to 1913 was not an independent subject of study in Utah schools. Since 1913 it has been taught on a limited basis. The emerging in 1930 of the course in present-day problems in American democracy contained then as it presently does, elements of sociology, economics, and political science. 7. Anthropology in Utah schools had been taught from the behavioral content of history, geography, sociology etc., but there has been little effort to identify the anthropological concepts. Anthropology has not yet become firmly established as a separate and independent subject in Utah schools.

Teacher education remains a significant issue affecting the quality of geography instruction in the United States. Teachers’ self-efficacy has been identified as a crucial factor for improving teacher education and promoting educational reform. This study intended to develop a better understanding of the relationships between teacher education programs and secondary history/social studies teachers’ self-efficacy regarding teaching geography, and other demographic factors that could be a possible influence on geography teachers’ self-efficacy. A quantitative research methodology was employed to measure geography teacher efficacy and to explore factors that influence geography teachers’ efficacy in order to identify ways in which preservice and in-service education might better prepare geography teachers. The instrument, the Geography Teaching Belief Instrument (GTEBI), used for data collection was an online survey that was modified from a Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI_A) to assess secondary history/social studies teachers’ perceptions of their self-efficacy in geography teaching. Data were gathered from secondary history/social teachers in Virginia. Critical influential factors, geography-related conferences (p<.014), approved teacher licensure education programs (p<.038), and years of teaching experience in geography (p<.004) were found to have a statistically significant relationship with personal geography teaching efficacy. Only the factor, years of teaching experience in geography (p<.002), was found to have a significant relationship with geography teaching outcome expectancy. Findings could result in better teacher education programs for secondary history/social studies teachers in geography teaching and lead to more effective curriculum and instructional practices in teaching geography, thus benefiting student achievement.

The present study used Nardi and O’Day’s (1999) information ecology theory, along with activity theory (Wertsch, 1998), social learning theory (Wenger, 1998), and situated learning theory (Lave, 2009; Lave & Wenger, 1991) to examine the informal professional learning of a high school social studies department. Existing literature is just beginning to attend to the potential of informal professional learning, so this exploratory study used a single-case study of a high school social studies department made up of 12 teachers. Data included observations of scheduled and spontaneous collaborative learning activities, department meetings, and in-service meetings; semi-structured interviews; and relevant documents to consider how high school social studies teacher participants navigate their own informal professional learning. Supporting research questions included: (1) How do high school social studies teacher participants choose what to do to individually and collectively meet their professional learning needs? (2) What actions do participants take to meet their professional learning needs individually and collectively? (3) How do participants evaluate their professional learning growth individually and collectively? (4) How do participants interact with one another and with the environment as they navigate their own professional learning? Results indicated that participants valued their informal professional learning experiences, engaged in reflection throughout their informal professional learning, were influenced by departmental leadership, and experienced successes and failures in their informal professional learning goals. The department’s informal professional learning was important but also imperfect. Further consideration of teachers’ informal professional learning may offer new ways to support teacher growth.

The present quasi-naturalistic study used socio-cultural theory (Wertsch, 1998), picture theory (Mitchell, 1994) and the use of historical agency as a second-order concept (Lee & Ashby, 2000; Seixas & Morton, 2013) as a way of examining the historical thinking of high school seniors as they investigated second-wave feminism. Existing literature reflects the ways in which students understand historical agency (Barton, 1997; Winter, 2001; Peck, Poyntz, & Seixas, 2011), but has yet to examine its use as a conceptual tool to dissect controversial issues in history, such as feminism. The main research question was: in what ways do high school seniors employ historical agency as an analytical lens in examining second wave feminism? Supporting research questions included: (1) In what ways do high school seniors make sense of historical agency as a tool for taking informed action? (2) How do high school seniors use historical context to evaluate individual, collective or institutional choices and their consequences? (3) How do high school seniors define gender and feminism in the context of examining the struggle for women’s political, social and/or economic equality? Data included students’ responses to a questionnaire, notes and audio-recording transcripts from a historical thinking exercise that used historic photographs, and audio-recordings and transcripts of semi-structured interviews. Results indicated that participants understand the complexities surrounding historical agency including an actor’s choice and their challenges. Participants were also able to use historical agency as a conceptual tool to investigate gender, controversial issues, and change over time. Still, participants struggled with historical context and causation and relied heavily upon a narrative of progress. Further consideration of students’ use of historical agency might offer new insight into supporting a more inclusive history curriculum that highlights historical agency and women’s history in more authentic ways.

No description available.

Students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) typically learn less history content than their peers without disabilities and show fewer learning gains. Even when they are provided with the same instructional strategies, many students with SLD struggle to grasp complex historical concepts and content area vocabulary. Many strategies involving technology have been used in the past to enhance learning for students with SLD in history classrooms. However, very few studies have explored the effectiveness of emerging mobile technology in K-12 history classrooms. This study investigated the effects of mobile devices (iPads) as an active student response (ASR) system on the acquisition of U.S. history content of middle school students with SLD. An alternating treatments single subject design was used to compare the effects of two interventions. There were two conditions and a series of pretest probesin this study. The conditions were: (a) direct instruction and studying from handwritten notes using the interactive notebook strategy and (b) direct instruction and studying using the Quizlet App on the iPad. There were three dependent variables in this study: (a) percent correct on tests, (b) rate of correct responses per minute, and (c) rate of errors per minute. A comparative analysis suggested that both interventions (studying from interactive notes and studying using Quizlet on the iPad) had varying degrees of effectiveness in increasing the learning gains of students with SLD. In most cases, both interventions were equally effective. During both interventions, all of the participants increased their percentage correct and increased their rate of correct responses. Most of the participants decreased their rate of errors. The results of this study suggest that teachers of students with SLD should consider a post lesson review in the form of mobile devices as an ASR system or studying from handwritten notes paired with existing evidence-based practices to facilitate students’ knowledge in U.S. history. Future research should focus on the use of other interactive applications on various mobile operating platforms, on other social studies subjects, and should explore various testing formats such as oral question-answer and multiple choice.

No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction / F. Todd Goodson / In the past, literacy was viewed solely as the basic, functional skills of reading and writing. However, with the New London Group’s (1996) proposal of multiliteracies and the more recent push for a plurality of literacies (NCTE, 2011), teachers have been urged to expand their definitions of literacy. This qualitative study explores how secondary-level social studies and science teachers perceive literacies and identifies their instructional literacies practices. Data were collected through a pre- and post-questionnaire, three focus group sessions, classroom observations, field notes, and artifacts. This study solicited nearly one hundred secondary social studies and science teachers from three Midwestern school districts. Eight educators (four social studies and four science) participated in the study that took place in the spring of 2015. Furthermore, a generous grant from a local chapter of Phi Delta Kappa partially funded this research. After applying initial and holistic codes to the data, nine themes emerged: conventional, progressive, hesitant/emerging, collaborate, calibrate, perform, practice, interdisciplinary, and intradisciplinary. The nine themes were further classified by how they appeared in the data: dispositional themes, behavioral themes, and bridge themes. Throughout the data analysis, contemporary genre theory guided the study (Devitt, 2004). Descriptive codes, derived from contemporary genre theory, further revealed that the situational, social, historical, and individual aspects of genre influence teachers’ pedagogical practices related to multiple literacies across disciplines. Therefore, the ways in which teachers perceived multiple literacies and implemented them into classroom instruction are multifaceted and vary depending on grade level, content area, and teaching location. However, teachers’ dispositions regarding literacy move beyond a traditional mindset of functional reading and writing as they engage in professional learning opportunities and collaborate within and across disciplines and grade levels. This study provides secondary educators insight into the prominence of multiple literacies present across content areas while also revealing the teaching methods and instructional strategies that foster multiple literacies.