Over recent decades there has been significant progress towards gender equality in the workplace and at home. Transformations in work and childcare domains have occurred for families in Western societies, including de-gendered parenting, in which childcare responsibilities are shared equally or assumed primarily by the father. Although these arrangements constitute a recent and rare phenomenon, this increase in proportion has been matched by an academic interest. Using quantitative data from traditional and role-reversed couples, this research aims to explore the social psychological mechanisms underlying non-normative behavioural choices, as well as the consequences for couples' relationship quality, well-being and life satisfaction. Traditional couples are those in which the mother bears primary responsibility for child care while the father is the main breadwinner. In non-traditional role-reversed couples the opposite occurs. A sample of 242 individual parents with children from birth to 12 years old, completed an extensive questionnaire. Involvement in work and childcare, social psychological variables, relationship and life satisfaction, perceptions of their division of responsibilities and socio-demographic characteristics were examined. Results show how social prescriptions and structural characteristics are limiting the intersection between the mother and the father role, and help us understand how both roles can be more similar than different. The findings also disclose how by being involved men are assisting women’s career and help make a distinction between traditional and role reversed women’s views of the appropriate parental role for men and women. Furthermore, the results contribute for a better understanding of how gender ideologies and non-essentialist perceptions differ between couples in different arrangements and how they relate to involvement in childcare and well-being, as well as the role of choice in well-being, life and marital satisfaction.

abstract: The purpose of this action research study was to explore the impact instructional choices had on student participation in the classroom learning environment, growth of knowledge in social studies, and self-efficacy in the learning process. The instructional choices implemented through a flipped learning instructional approach were designed to target motivation and participation in the learning process via individualized student-learning opportunities. This action research study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of collaborative student-centered learning environments to traditional instructional style learning environments. This study provided students with opportunities to analyze, think critically of, and apply studied content in a Participation in Government course to their personal lives through experiential out-of-class assignments and collaborative hands-on in-class activities. The theoretical foundations for this study include social cognitive theory, theory of self-efficacy, and social constructivism. Participants included 32 high school seniors from the High School of Fashion Industries in New York, NY. Participants completed a pre-/post-self-efficacy survey, pre/posttest measuring their knowledge of government, and several short interviews. Eight participants, four from the Treatment group and four from the Control group, completed a semi-structured interview at the conclusion of the study. Results showed participants experienced an increase in self-efficacy and participation in the learning process. Participants from the Treatment group outperformed the participants from the Control group with regards to knowledge of government. In the discussion, outcomes related to the theoretical frameworks and the problem of practice were discussed. Finally, limitations and a discussion regarding future iterations of the action research in a larger context were outlined. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2018

As ciências sociais e humanas historicamente desconsideraram as perspectivas das crianças na produção de conhecimento. Estas, quando ouvidas, tiveram suas vozes interpretadas à luz de uma suposta incompetência para fazerem julgamentos ou para informarem adequadamente pesquisadores. Os estudos sociais da infância, no entanto, vêm se constituindo com força em contexto internacional tendo como importante eixo temático o abafamento da voz de crianças na produção acadêmica e nas demais práticas sociais, bem como a tentativa contrária de dar-lhe realce. Temse assistido, assim, a ampliação do espaço outorgado à voz e à participação das crianças nas pesquisas. Este trabalho se propôs investigar como tal participação vem sendo incorporada em contexto brasileiro. Para dar conta de seus objetivos, a pesquisa se apoiou nos aportes dos estudos sociais da infância. No plano metodológico, buscou articular o referencial da hermenêutica de profundidade, tal como proposto por John B. Thompson, às técnicas de análise de conteúdo. Foram analisados 179 artigos das áreas de antropologia, educação, psicologia e sociologia, que relatam pesquisas com o envolvimento de crianças e que foram publicados entre os anos de 2000 e 2012 em periódicos classificados como A1 ou A2 pela CAPES. Diferentemente do que tem sido visto em contexto internacional, observouse que a escuta de crianças na produção acadêmica brasileira em ciências sociais e humanas restringe-se ainda à psicologia e, em menor grau, à educação. Há predominância da perspectiva da criança como sujeito entre os trabalhos analisados, ainda que também tenham sido identificados trabalhos que abordam as crianças como objetos e outros que as reconhecem como atores sociais. Ressaltam-se ainda, entre os resultados, lacunas referentes à caracterização das crianças que participam das pesquisas nessas áreas: crianças pequenas, crianças que vivem em áreas não urbanas e as que se localizam nas regiões Norte, Nordeste e Centro-Oeste do país permanecem silenciadas nas pesquisas / Social and human sciences have historically disregarded childrens perspective in the production of knowledge. When children were heard they had their voices interpreted in the light of a supposedly inability to make judgments or properly inform researchers. However, social studies of childhood in the international context have constructed a critique of the silencing of childrens voices in the academic literature and in other social practices as one of the fields strand, as well as the opposing attempt to give their voices emphasis. Therefore, we have witnessed an expansion of the space granted to the voice and participation of children in research. This study aimed to investigate how such participation has been incorporated into the Brazilian context. In order to achieve that goal the research used contributions from social studies of childhood. Methodologically, it articulates John Thompsons depth hermeneutics with content analysis techniques. We have analyzed 179 research reports articles in the fields of anthropology, education, psychology and sociology with the involvement of children that was published between the years 2000 and 2012 in journals classified as A1 or A2 by CAPES. Differently from the international context it was observed that the hearing of children in Brazilian academic production in social and human sciences is still restricted to psychology and to a lesser degree, to education. Among the articles analyzed children as subjects is the predominant perspective, although papers that address children as objects or recognize them as social actors have also been identified. It is worth to mention that we also identified gaps among the results regarding the characterization of children who participate in research in the following areas: small children, children living in non-urban areas and those located in the North, Northeast and Midwest regions of the country. Those still remain silenced in the studies

The purpose of this study was to identify elementary teacher education programs within the State of Utah, to describe those parts of each program specifically designed to prepare prospective elementary school teachers for teaching social studies, and to determine the attitudes and opinions of various groups concerning the adequacy of the programs. This study was of descriptive research design. The subjects were selected to include all prospective 1967 graduates in elementary education in the state of Utah (a total of 603), all 1966-67 first-year elementary school teachers who had graduated from a Utah university or college (a total of 511), and a faculty respondent from each Utah university and college preparing elementary school teachers (a total of 6). The questionnaire was selected as the instrument to be used in the collection of basic data in this descriptive research. A preliminary questionnaire was constructed utilizing Guidelines for the Preparation of Elementary Social Studies Teachers (National Council for the SocialStudies, 1965) as the basic document for the identification of the several items. The questionnaire was submitted to experts in the field of social studies and teacher education for their comments and suggestions. The preliminary questionnaire was subsequently expanded to its final form. Appropriate mailing and follow-up techniques were used in administering the questionnaire. Three follow-up contacts yielded the following total respondent returns: prospective graduates, 305 respondents, 58 per cent; first-year elementary school teachers, 345 respondents, 68 per cent; and faculty representatives of the universities and colleges, 6 respondents, 100 per cent. Two different techniques were used to substantiate the data received in this study. One technique utilized a randomly selected population of 21 non-respondents in a follow-up survey 9 months after the initial contact. A second technique was concerned with respondent and nonrespondent stratification analysis. Both of these techniques and their resultant findings supported the utilization of data gathered on the original questionnaire return. Findings indicate that programs of Utah universities and colleges preparing elementary school teachers for teaching social studies are varied and different. There is little uniformity among the universities and colleges regarding these programs. Other important findings suggest that (1) sixty per cent of the graduates completing programs of preparation in elementary education within the state of Utah enroll in a social studies methods course; (2) most students enrolling in a social studies methods course rate their preparation for teaching elementary school social studies as "moderate" or '' little" preparation ; (3) university and college faculty representatives largely believe the methods courses are "very greatly" or "greatly"preparing their graduates to teach elementary school social studies; (4) students and former students report areas emphasized in the social studies methods courses as centering around "Unit Structure'' and related areas, they also reported "Critical Thinking" as an area of emphasis; (5) in the social sciences, prospective elementary school teachers are completing the greatest number of hours of course work in history, psychology, and geography, with the average student completing less than 1.5 hours of course work in any one of the following disciplines of anthropology, philosophy, general social science, and economics; and (6) students and former students believe courses best preparing them for teaching social studies to be those social science courses in which they complete the most hours of course work. It is concluded that the staff of the department or division of elementary education at each of the six institutions of higher learning within the state is primarily responsible for determining the program for preparing elementary school teachers for teaching social studies. Such changes as determined desirable by these groups would therefore seem possible with little opposition or difficulty in implementation.

Only 1% of students scored in the exceeding range on the Eighth Grade Writing Assessment in a rural Southeastern school district. The purpose of this program evaluation was to explore the effectiveness of the Document-Based Question (DBQ) project in improving student writing. Using interview protocols, work artifacts, and archival student data, a decision-based program evaluation of the DBQ project was conducted using the CIPP model. Administrators and teachers from elementary and middle schools who attended district DBQ project training were invited to participate in this study. One elementary and 1 middle school administrator, 5 elementary teachers, and 7 middle school teachers were selected to participate to create a balanced representation across grade levels. Using the Coding Analysis Toolkit (CAT), interview responses about context, input, process, and product evaluation were analyzed. Analysis of patterns in the data identified 10 strengths and 10 opportunities for improvement of the DBQ project, and led to 6 suggested recommendations to create a more customized fit for its implementation in the school system under study. Overall, it was determined that the DBQ project is an effective program for improving student-constructed responses in writing; it was also determined that expository writing skills of students in Grades 3 through 8 can be improved with explicit instruction in thesis development and text citation supporting ideas. Impacts on social change include students' improvements in formulation, justification, and communication of opinions and the ability to revise positions or demonstrate tolerance for ideas opposing their own. School officials and teachers will benefit from the study results as they continue seeking and refining ways to improve student writing through the use of the DBQ project.

This study investigates the effectiveness of two computer games as learning tools in comparison to established learning tools teaching two different topics in the course Social Studies 1b of the Swedish Upper Secondary School Curriculum. The use of computer games in education is placed in the context of changing ideas of the aims for education systems in the 21st Century with regard to student skills rather than content, including digital skills. The findings indicated that using these particular computer games as learning tools for these topics was at least as effective as the alternative, more established, lessons. Focus group discussions with students after the study lesson indicated a preference for variation in teaching methods and the desire for learning activities that require active student participation.

The purpose of the research aims to integrate Big6 skills into critical thinking instruction for elementary school sixth grade social studies, cultivate the students the basic capability of information literacy, lead the students an usage the Big6 skills step to integrate the critical thinking meaning of the Ennis as the teaching mode, promote the student to learn the theme learning research in the social studies. The main teaching mode includes four stages: (1)the valuation stage;(2)the investigation stage;(3)the development new look stage;(4)the integration stage. The researcher of this research teach in grade six of primary school, with class student for research object, the data collection pays emphasis to qualitative and quantification analysis , the quantification analysis with Chiu-Ching Chen method which draws up of the critical thinking capability test, researcher learns the theme questionnaire, basic information literacy questionnaire, the qualitative data collection includes the social work sheets, topic research achievement report, student learning portfolio, carrying the teaching diaries, the classroom observation record, consulting with students, parent feedback opinion and teacher¡¦s own inspection and feeling. The results of the data collection and the analysis are as follows: 1. Big6 skills integrate the social studies critical thinking teaching to carry on a two-stage theme learning action research through giving something back to,examining oneself and revising the teaching process, can be used as the basis of the teaching project implementation. 2. Big6 skills integrate the social studies critical thinking teaching project, which is not able to promote the student's critical thinking cognition and skills immediately and effectively, for critical thinking disposition is obviously helpful. 3. The students who have experienced the Big6 skills integrated the social studies critical thinking teaching, emerge from self-directed learning to active learning capability. 4. Parent and teachers and students study the theme and life of the social studies as well as the relevant linking of the teaching project, apply the information science and technology and the group cooperate learning, all embrace encouraging and forward-direction of the viewpoint, affirm the student's performance. Researcher's comprehensive implementation comes to a conclusion that the action research of integrating Big6 skills into critical thinking instruction for elementary school social studies, willing to have the following suggestions to the researcher in the future: The suggestions are: 1. Expanding the Big6 skills implementation information integrates each subject teaching. 2. The social studies teacher should value the critical thinking teaching, carry on a related research of topic. 3. Encouraging teachers and students to participate into the action research together, constructing networking learning mode. 4. Learning to use the qualitative analysis method flexibly. 5. Networking action teaching strategy. 6. Improveing techniques and ways in monthly examination, setting-up social studies item pull.

The main goal of this study was to analyze the economic concepts materials of Social Studies Learning Areas textbooks of the junior high school in Taiwan for researching the distributive conditions and the content of economic concepts materials in the Social Studies Learning Areas textbooks. The purposes of this study were¡G(1)to explore the meanings of economic education and the relationship between economic education and Social Studies Learning Areas¡F(2)to analyze the differences of economic concepts on all the four editions¡F(3)to analyze the differences of economic competence indicators on all the four editions¡F(4)to induct and research discovery, as references in achievement junior high school textbooks related economic concepts copy editor. This study applied content analysis approach, and the study targets were the Grade 7-9 Social Studies Learning Areas of Grade 1-9 Curriculum textbooks (Nani textbooks¡BRenlin textbooks¡BHannlin textbooks¡BKnsh textbooks )published in 2004. It totaled up to 4 volumes. First of all, the researcher inquired into the references to set up the economic concepts categories and the Economic Competence Indicators translate economic concepts categories, and then, analyzed the economic concepts materials from the words and the illustrations and supplementary materials in the Social Studies Learning Areas textbooks. The conclusions of this study were as follows: 1.Economic education must contain cognitive¡Battitude and skill goals, and has its importance in Social Studies Learning Areas . 2.Speaking of the economic concept analysis, in various editions textbooks all emphasize microeconomic concepts primarily, the proportion which occupies surpasses one half, next is the macroeconomic concepts. 3.Speaking of the economic Competence Indicators analysis, the majority of textbooks all have conform to the economic concepts which the economic Competence Indicators explain, only has partially has not little tallied, demonstrated various editions textbooks¡¦ explanations were not the same , or show up in other subjects and the examination system was not rigorous. 4.Speaking of the supplementary materials analysis, teaching material and so on graph, explanation nouns, mostly can display the supplement assistance text contents ,extend activities as well as the student exercise that all can give dual attention to the diversification, only must consider the arrangement of the time. In accordance with the main discovery and conclusion of this research, suggestions concerning aspects of education organizations, conscientious system of textbooks examination needs to be established were put forward. Follow-up studies were also proposed.

The goal of this research is to investigate the common properties of the transformation of the social studies area competence indicator into teaching objectives for elementary school. The competence indicators for the first, second, and third learning stage in the area of ¡§person-space¡¨ were considered in this research. The method of content analysis was used to compare the corresponding teaching objectives amongst a collection of textbook for these competence indicators. A number of surveys were conducted using a Delphi based questionnaire to gather the opinions of elementary school curriculum developers, textbook publishers and reviewers, and the field teachers on the transformation of the competence indicators for the first, second, and third learning stage in the area of ¡§person-space¡¨ into the corresponding teaching objectives contained in these textbook. The main findings of this research are following: 1.The transformation are usually made by first analyzing the level of competence and the core concept aspects of the competence indicator and then followed by the actual construction of the feasible teaching objectives derived based on the results of such analysis. 2.For the elementary school social studies area of ¡§person-space¡¨, the transformations of the competence indicator for the area subject axis made by the various editor groups of these textbook were different not only in the number but also in the feasibility and concept of the resulting teaching objectives. The different might be resulted from the various approaches took by the editor groups to analyze and interpret the indicators. 3. Three survey, each using a Delphi based questionnaire, were conducted to gather opinions on the transformations made for the social studies area of ¡§person-space¡¨ from the curriculum expert and scholars, textbook editors and publishers, textbook reviewers, and elementary school field teachers. The result indicated that the four groups gradually gained the consensus on the transformations made for a total of 20 competence indicators and the resulting teaching objectives. For the analysis of competence indicators, all four groups achieved the agreement in the aspect of competence; and in the aspect of core concept, all four groups achieve the mutual agreement in all but three core concepts. As for the analysis of teaching objectives, all four groups obtained the consensus in all but eight of the objectives. 4. Additional analyses using the ANOVA method were performed for those core concepts and teaching objectives that the agreement was not reached. The results of comparison indicated that the group of curriculum experts and scholars and the group of elementary school field teachers were significantly different in the approval degree aspect. The group of curriculum experts and scholars and the elementary school field teachers were significantly different in the teaching objectives aspect. Finally, based on the findings of this research, some suggestions on the transformation of the competence indicators for the first, second, and third learning stage in the elementary school social studies area of ¡§person-space¡¨ will be proposed and made available to the field teachers, curriculum developers, textbook publishers and the reviewers, and the later researchers for their reference.

African American history and how it is taught in classroom spaces have been a point of contention with activists, historians, and educators for decades. In it current form, African American history narratives often are ambiguous and truncated, leaving students with a disjointed construction about U.S. history. Additionally, the pedagogical decisions made by teachers regarding African American history are sometimes problematic. To fix this problem, critical scholars have surmised that both pre- and in-service teachers need to be more knowledgeable about African American history. This knowledge will help teachers move past simplistic constructions of the past and provide a transformative educational experience. In essence, these scholars believe that teachers cannot teach [African American history] because they do not know it. This study, however, examines what if they do know [African American history], will they teach it? The purpose of this study was to investigate how knowledge influences teachers’ pedagogical decisions. Using the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of cultural memory and knowledge construction, this qualitative case study explores how four pre-service teachers interpreted African American history after engaging in a summer reading program and how that knowledge was implemented in their classroom during their student teaching semester. The reader, entitled A Winding River, was a collection of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and primary and secondary source documents. Data collection measures included three classroom observations, reflective journals, three interviews, and other classroom documents related to the participant’s student teaching experience. Findings indicate that knowledge acquisition is complex and the process to teach is a generative process. Although knowledge is an important component in teaching, sociocultural factors also influenced the divergent ways African American history was interpreted and taught. The study indicates that the access of African American history is not always a prerequisite in teaching the subject in transformative ways. / text