The purpose of this study is to determine the possibilities of visual aids as an aid to the learning process in the social studies of the intermediate grades of the Denton public schools, with particular emphasis on the moving picture films and film strips available for use as visual aids in the social studies subjects.

The problem undertaken in this investigation is to determine the value of using audio-visual aids in the fifth-grade social studies program of the Austin Elementary School, Wichita Falls, Texas.

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Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since 1994 South Africa has been characterized by transformation inter alia in the field of education. A process characterized by preparation and development of a new, extended curriculum evolved between 1994 and 1997. On 24 March 1997 Curriculum 2005 with an outcomes-based approach was introduced. Curriculum 2005 strives to bridge the imbalances of the past. Owing to the complexity of this curriculum and the problems encountered in practice, Curriculum 2005 was revised between January and July 2001 in order to address the problem areas. A change in curriculum necessitates a change in teaching-instruction strategies, learning programmes, assessment strategies and the method of recording and reporting. As educators are directly affected by the process of change in curricula, it is essential that educators are curriculum-competent to understand and implement the changes. In this regard, Evans (1996:55) states: "One of the necessary ingredients of such a restructuring is empowering the players, the teachers." An essential condition for successful implementation of change is the empowerment of educators to manage the change. The essential questions addressed in this study are: • To what degree are educators trained to manage these changes? • What does the successful implementation of change, entail specifically within the Social Sciences Learning Area? • What are the educators' needs and experience regarding change? The main focus of this study is to make a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the current changes with a view to developing a theoretical framework for the training of educators for Outcomes-based Education (OBE) within the Social Sciences Learning Area. To achieve the main focus of this study, the following specific aims have been formulated: • executing of a literature study, with regard to appropriate curriculum theory, curriculum practice and development of educators; • making a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the training process of educators within the Social Sciences Learning Area; and • developing a theoretical framework to address the problems that have been identified, regarding educator development. The contribution of this study is located not only in the appropriate literature study, but also in the fact that the outcome of this research can contribute to the development of a relevant, effective and contextualised dissemination process. It is clear that ineffective dissemination is the root cause of ineffective curriculum development, as educator development cannot be optimalised in such conditions. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrika word sedert 1994 deur transformasie gekenmerk, onder meer op onderwysgebied. Tussen 1994 en 1997 is 'n proses aan die gang gesit om 'n nuwe, breë kurrikulum voor te berei en te ontwikkel. Op 24 Maart 1997 is Kurrikulum 2005 bekend gestel. Met Kurrikulum 2005 se uitkomsgebaseerde benadering word daarna gestreef om die ongelykhede van die verlede te oorbrug. As gevolg van die kompleksiteit van die kurrikulum en probleme wat in die praktyk ervaar is, is Kurrikulum 2005 tussen Januarie en Julie 2001 hersien ten einde probleemareas aan te spreek. Kurrikulumverandering beteken uiteraard dat daar ook In verandering in onderrigstrategieë, leerprogramme, assesseringstrategieë en wyses van optekening en rapportering sal wees. Aangesien opvoeders direk deur die veranderingsproses van kurrikula geraak word, is dit noodsaaklik dat opvoeders kurrikulumbekwaam is om die verandering te verstaan en te implementeer. In die lig hiervan verklaar Evans (1996: 5): "One of the neccesary ingredients of such a restructuring is empowering the players - the teachers." 'n Kernvoorwaarde vir suksesvolle implementering van verandering is die bemagtiging van opvoeders om hierdie verandering te hanteer. Die kernvrae wat in hierdie studie aangespreek word, is: • In watter mate word opvoeders voorberei om sodanige veranderinge te kan hanteer? • Wat behels effektiewe opvoedervoorbereiding met die oog op die suksesvolle implementering van verandering, spesifiek binne die leerarea Sosiale Wetenskappe? • Wat is opvoeders se behoeftes en ervaring van verandering? Die hooffokus van die studie is die maak van 'n kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe evaluering van huidige verandering met die oog op die ontwikkeling van 'n teoretiesee raamwerk vir die voorbereiding van opvoeders vir Uitkomsgebaseerde Onderwys (UGO) binne die Leerarea Sosiale Wetenskappe. Om die hooffokus van hierdie studie te realiseer, is die volgende besondere doelstellings geformuleer: • die uitvoer van 'n literatuurstudie ten opsigte van toepaslike kurrikulumteorie, kurrikulumpraktyke en opvoederontwikkeling. • die maak van 'n kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe evaluering van die voorbereidingsproses van opvoeders binne die Leerarea Sosiale Wetenskap; en • die ontwikkeling van 'n teoretiese kurrikulumraamwerk vir die aanspreek van die geïdentifiseerde probleme met betrekking tot opvoederontwikkeling. Die bydrae van hierdie studie is nie net in die toepaslike literatuurstudie geleë nie, maar ook daarin dat die uitkoms van hierdie navorsing kan bydra tot die ontwikkeling van relevante, doelmatige en gekontekstualiseerde disseminasieprosesse. Dit blyk duidelik dat oneffektiewe disseminasie 'n grondoorsaak van oneffektiewe opvoederontwikkeling is, juis omdat opvoederontwikkeling nie tot sy reg kom nie.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

The problem of the study was to develop an instrument to measure achievement in social studies in the primary grades.

This mixed-methods study investigated the relationship between Advanced Placement (AP) social studies teachers' utilization of academic course blogs and student achievement. Simultaneously, the study examined the participating teachers' perceptions on the use of course blogs and other social media as supplemental learning resources. The study further explored a possible moderating effect of the social studies subject on student achievement and a possible moderating effect of students' previous academic blog usage on student achievement within the study. Quantitative data were collected from students' pre-tests and unit tests scores and analyzed for statistical significance. Qualitative data were collected through teacher-generated notes during the blogs, individual interviews, and a follow-up focus group interview. The results of this study indicated that there was no overall significant difference in student achievement between the blogging and non-blogging groups. On the contrary , a significant interaction between the social studies subject area and the use of academic course blogs was found when examining student achievement. However, this practical interaction was revealed to be a weak one. Further findings indicated that there was no significant interaction between students' previous blog usage and academic achievement during the study. From the qualitative data, participating teachers perceived the course blogs to be potentially advantageous for students and themselves, yet expressed frustration when implementing the course blogs with their students. Instead, they endorsed the academic use of Facebook, a resource that some students from two participating courses separately utilized instead of (or in addition to) the course blogs during the study. Teachers further expressed concern about relinquishing their subject knowledge and AP expertise to readily available course content on the Internet. Implications and suggestions for future f or AP social studi / teachers' promising use of Facebook and for researchers investigating the use of socail media at the high school level. / by Seth Alper. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This mixed methods study investigates the relationship between fifth-grade teachers' social studies knowledge and beliefs and their relationship to classroom practices. Quantitative data were collected through a beliefs and classroom practices survey and 60-item knowledge test covering the areas of American History, America and the World, Political Philosophy and American Government, and The Market Economy, in order to provide a comprehensive picture of fifth-grade teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and self-reported classroom practices relating to social studies. Additionally, qualitative data were collected through individual and focus group interviews. These data were used to provide an in-depth look that expanded on fifth-grade teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and self-reported classroom practices relating to social studies. The findings of this study indicate that there is a relationship between teachers' beliefs and their self-reported classroom practices in the areas of resources, best practice, time, the Sunshine State Standards, and personal interest. While there were no significant relationships between teachers' knowledge of social studies as a whole and their self-reported classroom practices, there were several significant correlations found in the areas of American History and Political Philosophy and American Government. Further findings indicate that teaching experience and demographic variables, such as age, gender, and education level moderate some of these relationships. Implications and suggestions for further research are offered for elementary education, teacher education, and the field of social studies. / by Michele Harcarik. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This dissertation explores the work-based language education practices of undocumented Latino and Korean immigrants employed in Korean supermarkets and restaurants of Koreatown, New York City. The primary goal of this dissertation is to understand how immigrants educate each other about the communication strategies necessary for accomplishing work together. In Koreatown, Latinos and Koreans engage in cooperative sense-making in workplace "communities of practice" where they participate in joint activities, build new ways of using language together, and learn to dominate language. Interviews, handwritten glossaries, and audio-recorded multilingual workplace conversations reveal how immigrants' engage in sense-making together and learn about the rules, norms, and expectations of their new environments. Analysis of everyday labor practices shows how kitchen assistants, dishwashers, and supermarket workers transform their social positions through evolving language practices. This study also shows how experienced immigrants actively participate as teachers, translators, and guides for immigrant newcomers in Koreatown, transcending cultural and linguistic boundaries in the process.

This dissertation study explored the literacies and socialization practices that middle school youth used while engaging in a school-wide Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) class. The primary aims of the dissertation were to contribute to literature on YPAR and to examine the literacy and socialization practices that young people drew upon as resources in developing agentive identities. Relying on what is named as an agentive ecological approach, this study built upon sociocultural theories of literacy and learning to emphasize young people’s development of agency through their shared participation in a YPAR class that was shaped not only by the multiple identities they carried with them into the classroom, but also by factors such as the pedagogy of the teacher, the philosophies of school administrators, and the sociopolitical context of school. This study also relied on the ongoing traditions of critical literacy and critical pedagogy to highlight the ways that YPAR served as a mediator of important critical literacies that allowed students to learn about and directly respond to the social, historical, and cultural contexts of inequality that they encountered. Situated in one of New York City’s most ethnically diverse middle schools, this critical ethnographic study used multimodal and ethnographic methodologies to excavate the experiences of 7th and 8th grade students enrolled in a newly implemented YPAR course at their school. In this year-long course, students were apprenticed as critical social researchers of educational issues while simultaneously provided with opportunities to utilize digital media tools toward civic ends. Methods for this study included 112 hours of participant observation where the researcher captured field notes, weekly memos, and photographs of classroom life across six months of the course; three semi-structured interviews each with six randomly selected students enrolled in 13 sections of YPAR; and multimodal literacy artifacts that included YPAR film materials, Google Classroom assignments, photographs, and digital stories. Three focus group interviews were also conducted with a group of students selected for enrollment in a “YPAR filmmaking course”, where they were tasked with creating a film about the impact of YPAR on the school. This group had a unique vantage point in that that they participated in iterations of YPAR across all three years of their middle school experiences, affording a much needed phenomenological perspective. Finally, two semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teacher of the course, who also provided curriculum and planning documents for analysis. Constant comparative method and Critical Discourse Analysis were the primary methodological tools used to analyze the data in the study. Major findings revealed how the cultivation of critical literacies in the YPAR course afforded youth the opportunity to identify and respond to barriers in their educational contexts, allowing them to assert more humanizing portraits of themselves and their communities. Moreover, students’ leveraging of digital media tools toward civic ends permitted them space to offer perspectives concerning issues like Islamophobia and global violence, assisting them in the brokering of sociopolitical identities that changed the way they saw themselves, others, and the world surrounding them. Findings from the YPAR filmmaking class revealed the ways that youth constructed stories about imagined futures and their perceived role in shaping those futures, signaling new ways that critical digital literacy practices might be cultivated in service of healthy social, civic, and academic identities.