Student engagement in academic work is critical for learning and scholastic achievement. Fortunately, an abundance of empirical evidence and engagement theories recommend what educational contexts are most likely to engage students in learning. Yet the epidemic of adolescent disengagement in schools suggests there is a gap, even a chasm, between student engagement research and practice. This study addresses this critical void in the literature; to understand how education theory can inform practice to improve the quality of student engagement in learning. I approached my research question, “How do secondary social studies teachers promote and sustain student engagement in academic work?” through the lens of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2002). Self-determination theory suggests that teachers’ support of students’ psychological needs for autonomy (e.g. by minimizing coercion, maximizing student voices and choices, providing meaningful rationales for learning), competence (e.g. by providing challenging work along with structures and feedback to promote self-efficacy), and relatedness (e.g. by developing warm and caring relationships in the classroom) facilitates and promotes student engagement. Using a multiple case study design, rich and varied data collection processes, and directed qualitative content analysis, I explored how social studies teachers may support (or thwart) their students’ needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. The students in this study confirmed their needs for autonomy, to engage in “real discussions” with their peers and make decisions about important problems. They shared that they engage in learning when activities are meaningful, real world and worth their effort. I found that social studies teachers support autonomy by developing students’ emotional, personal, social, conceptual and authentic connections to the content. In addition, I confirmed that warm and trusting classroom relationships, coupled with challenging, organized and structured learning experiences that promote student efficacy, support students’ needs for relatedness and competency in the classroom. Accordingly, engaging students in academic work necessitates that teachers meet all three of these basic needs. By exploring engagement through the experiences of teachers and students in real classroom settings, I provide social studies educators with a rich and user-friendly understanding of how student engagement can be developed and sustained.

The aim of this study is to examine (from a didactic perspective) how two social studies teachers who work in two different elementary schools, grade three, pursue their oral instructions with subject terms. We have selected these four following questions as main evaluation points throughout the study, basing our conclusion upon the information composed from the answers: Which of the five “conceptions of high order thinking” do the teachers value as the purpose for the teaching content? How do the teachers in their use of notions relate to the needs of second language students and how do they reflect on it? How do the teachers use subject-specific notions in their teachings practices? How are students given the opportunity to use, communicate and integrate around notions and how are the teachers reflecting on it? In this study we applied two types of qualitative methods. Six observations combined with interviews in the form of four short unstructured interviews and an in-depth interview with each teacher. Previous research shows that great linguistic skills are a common factor for success in all subjects. Our investigation has been made from a sociocultural theory that promotes learning through interaction with others as well as by receiving support from the teacher, through scaffolding. Our result indicates, in conclusion that the number of second language learners in the class has an impact on how actively the teachers work to concretize abstract notions. The student population determines how they in teaching practices use notions. Social issues also decided how the teachers gave students room to use notions. For teacher no. 2 who worked in an environment where the second language students were a majority, a second language perspective was an obvious matter, whereas teacher no. 1 considered it to be a management issue and a collective responsibility.

<p>This survey is a text analysis of 4 teaching books during a ten years period in Social studies from a multicultural and intercultural perspective. Taking as a starting point that society and the school in today’s Sweden are multicultural and in need of more intercultural teaching I explore teaching books in social science to se how they relate to Sweden as a multicultural society and their way of relating to intercultural teachings and compare them. The questions asked are: How do the different books describe the multicultural society in Sweden? What kind of intercultural tools are found in the books? And are there any similarities or differences among these books? The theories used as a starting point are reformulated by the author after theories of Von Wright and Lahdenperä to fit in to the context of a text analysis of teaching books and the method used is a content analysis with its purpose of describing how the books are constructed. I have found that two older books from ten years ago are not describing Sweden as a multicultural society and are not including people with different origin as a natural part of the society. I have also found that there are not much intercultural tools used for increasing the reader’s intercultural understanding. In two older books from 1994 there is a tendency to stereotype people with different origins in and to not describe them as participant members of society. The newer books from 2004 and 2005 are more describing Sweden as a multicultural society both directly and indirectly and they are including people with different origins to be a participant part of the society. It is also reflected that there is always a risk for stereotyping different groups in society by discussing problems but that there are different ways considered to avoid that. The books from today are both using more intercultural tools to increase the reader’s intercultural understanding in different ways.</p>

In 2010 the Texas Education Agency adopted newly rewritten curriculum standards for the state's social studies courses K-12. The period leading up to the adoption of the standards proved contentious as the new standards moved out of the writing committees and into the public realm. The issues brought forth from initial readings of the standards appeared in the national spotlight as educators and the general public from around the country voiced their concerns. Many concerns centered on the belief that the Texas State Board of Education had rewritten the standards to reflect a more politically conservative world view along with an emphasis on traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs. Members of the state board argued that the previous standards reflected a politically liberal world view and that the board needed to bring balance to the standards. Because of national criticism changes were made but on a limited scale. The purpose of this study was to assess if the rewritten standards demonstrated a politically conservative preference as well as an emphasis on Judeo-Christian beliefs. During the analysis I included information regarding a preference for capitalism, a focus on Texas and U.S. history while minimizing world history and a focus on memorization rather than critical thinking. The analysis revealed that the rewritten standards demonstrate a politically conservative leaning while promoting traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs. Analysis and research further revealed that the standards promote capitalism while limiting the study of other economic systems in the world. In regards to the preference for Texas and U.S. history versus world history my analysis confirmed a limited presence of world history; however, research also revealed that this issue is not limited to the state of Texas, but a number of other states in the U.S. Finally, my analysis demonstrated that many of the standards' objectives begin with verbs found on verb lists from Bloom's Taxonomy. By using Bloom's Taxonomy I learned that a majority of objectives throughout the K-12 standards operate in the lower half of the Taxonomy rather than the upper half meaning that there is an emphasis on lower order thinking skills rather than higher order thinking skills.

Mutual Support is an in depth exploration of the role and impact of peer support by people with learning difficulties. Built on one of the seven aims of Centres for Independent Living, the project has constructed a model of peer support based on accounts of direct experiences from people with learning difficulties. The overall aim of the research was to construct and critique the Mutual Support model of peer support and people with learning difficulties. This thesis reflects the process of that construction. The overall aim was met through a research situation in which knowledge was constructed in the interaction between the researcher and participants. This provided an opportunity for people with learning difficulties to reflect upon their relationships with one another, and the emancipatory potential of that support. The focus of the research was two pre-existing settings involving people with learning difficulties supporting one another: a Theatre Company using Forum Drama to facilitate changes in attitudes and policy, and a course facilitated by people with learning difficulties who mentored small groups. Methods used within the research were based on an Inclusive Research process which prioritises meaningful research interaction that is accessible and guided by participants. The research process intertwined meetings with advisory groups, and contact with other local groups of people with learning difficulties, with formal data collection within the two main settings. One to one experienced-based narrative interviews with people from the two main settings provided multiple opportunities for participants to speak about their experiences of peer support. These interviews formed the data used in formal analysis, which was a continual process, with subsequent interviews being based on views previously expressed. A further comprehensive descriptive content analysis of data, using the tools of Nvivo8 and mind-mapping, took place prior to the outputs of the whole project being evaluated during group sessions with those who had taken part. The emerging model is one of collective support which challenges assumptions about the role and impact of people with learning difficulties supporting one another and their capacity to engage in insightful interpersonal interaction. Mutual Support has the potential to break down barriers to inclusion. Mutual Support also demonstrates the value that people with learning difficulties place on giving and receiving support from one another. The outputs of Mutual Support include contribution to current debate in the areas of service user involvement, inclusive research, and the academic field of Disability Studies.

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

The major purpose of this study was to determine what differences exist among groups of social studies student-teachers, instructors, and administrators in eight teachers colleges in Northern Thailand regarding their perceptions of the importance of selected social studies teaching competencies.

ABSTRACT The passage of Act 77 in June 2013 and the Educational Quality Standards passed in April 2014 are significantly changing the way education is being conceptualized in Vermont. These two policy mandates called for all Vermont high schools to shift to proficiency-based learning (PBL), also known as standards-based, competency-based or mastery-based learning, by 2020. Yet scant research exists on how to implement PBL. This qualitative study addresses this need by examining the perspectives of three exemplary high school social studies teachers who were early adopters of proficiency- based instruction and learning in their classrooms. The research centered on questions about the teachers' perspectives on the curricular, instructional, and assessment shifts accompanying and supporting the implementation of PBL. The theoretical framework that informed this study was constructivist theory and the notion that knowledge is socially constructed through the learner's interaction with the world (Brooks & Brooks, 1999). The study focused on teachers' perspectives on and understandings of these shifts in order to capture innovative tools, strategies, and instructional approaches they developed as they implemented PBL. The findings may inform the thinking of social studies educators, administrators, policy makers, students, and other stakeholders interested in implementing PBL. The major findings that emerged in this study included several key components the teachers identified as vital to PBL implementation in a classroom including the need to: 1) identify key skills and concepts required to meet proficiencies, 2) use targeted and ongoing feedback with learners, 3) enact a curricular design that situates proficiencies in authentic experiences that provide multiple opportunities for practice, 4) support the emergence of new structures in high schools such as larger chunks of time with students, high school teaming, and flexible grouping of students, and 5) teach students explicitly about the learning process. The study also identified several broader policy considerations related to the implementation of PBL including a need for: 1) targeted professional development, 2) restructured school schedules to accommodate collaborative learning conversations among educators, administrators, and students, 3) collaboratively designed (including student voice) learning proficiencies that create a coherent experience from grades 9 to 12 (Fullan, 2016), and 4) redesigned preservice teacher training so that newly credentialed teachers are prepared to teach in proficiency-based centered learning environments.

This thesis sets out to explore the processes involved when family therapists decide to introduce an action method into a therapy session. Action methods are defined as therapist led physical activities which are introduced into the session for the purpose of enabling the healing of relationships. The literature is examined in relation to connections between family therapy approaches using action and psychodrama psychotherapy relation to work with families and couples. Literature which integrates the two approaches is identified. The core of the study is composed of five interviews with experienced and senior family therapists about how they use action with clients in sessions. It focuses on the beliefs, behaviours and actions which are present at the moment the therapists decide to use action. The interviews examine the therapists’ training and current practice culture, their guiding beliefs and principles about the use of action and the theories on which they have drawn in considering the implementation of action methods. Participants were asked to describe an episode of action by giving a verbal account as well as undertaking a sculpt of the episode using ‘small world’ figures. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using a unique approach blending psychodramatic role analysis (Williams 1989) with the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) (Cronen and Pearce 1985) a communication theory approach used by systemic psychotherapists. The findings indicate that systemic therapists do not have one overarching theoretical approach to using action in therapy, but draw on a range of different models which may be derived from different systemic approaches. The findings further indicate that theories of action which include neurobiological information processing and embodiment are introduced into systemic trainings as important in understanding how action methods impact on individuals and families. A format for therapists to evaluate their use of action methods is proposed for use in supervision or training. It follows the format that is used in the analysis, using psychodramatic role analysis and a CMM hierarchical structure which proposes opening space, spontaneity and playfulness as markers for the culture, identity and relationship levels of the analysis.

Social studies, or citizenship education, seems to be a hot topic when it comes to questions regarding the school. Research shows that social studies, as a school subject, is hard to define and at the same time, defined by many. The aim of this study is to examine which aspects of social studies is emphasized in the national curriculum. The focus is primary school. Furthermore, the purpose is also to examine how a selected number of municipalities, in their own policy documents, address these sections in national curriculum. Following questions have been answered with discourse analysis: What relevant discourses regarding social studies can be found in the national curriculum and how is the relationship between them? Which educational purposes are formulated within these discourses? Is it possible to see reflections of these discourses in the municipal steering documents, and if so, how are they expressed? The result shows that discourses surround the word knowledge, and that one aspect of knowledge is dominating. This aspect is even more dominating in the municipalities own steering documents and other aspects are beeing supressed.