Artifical intelligence is a part of the progress of the digitalization in the society. Language models such as ChatGPT have the ability to answer questions posed by the user as well as to produce texts that resemble human writing. However, the use of language models is not without risk. They can be used as a tool to encourage cheating on school assignments or to contribute to disinformation. A consequence of the development of AI is that knowledge is obtained in different ways compared to the past, which has to come to transform the traditional teaching methods in schools. The purpose of the study is to investigate how AI affects the tuition in social studies and also what experience social studies teachers have of AI in connection with teaching. The study focuses in upper secondary school in Sweden. The empirical material has been collected through semi-structured interviews. The results of the study show that the teachers see both opportunities and challenges with AI in teaching. AI can be used as a resource by both teachers and students according to the teachers participating in this study. However the result shows that AI also can have an negative impact on the students learning process. Regardless, teachers have been forced to make changes in their teaching.

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Increasing significance of social studies: A multi-dimensional contextual analysis of social studies engagement and achievement during high school The social studies data of the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) highlighted some alarming results. These results highlight a trend in the learning of social studies related content within today’s secondary schools. Students are mastering and retaining less social studies knowledge while other content areas are slowly improving. Prior research within the field of school engagement postulates that low levels of student academic engagement negatively influence academic student achievement. This study explored the relationship between social studies engagement and social studies academic achievement throughout the semester within the context of a social studies classroom. In particular, measures of students’ levels of engagement included behavioral, cognitive, and emotional aspects. The study utilized quantitative data from a 27-question longitudinal semester survey of 75 students from a central Pennsylvania high school. The study included demographic information ranging from prior social studies achievement, overall school academic achievement, to gender and age. The assumptions were that the distinct components of engagement are bi-directionally related and share reciprocal relationships. Additionally, the type of class and the students’ year of schooling were investigated to amplify these relationships. The results indicated that engagement has only a weak relationship to academic achievement in the social studies classrooms used for the research. As might be expected, the strongest predictor of grades was the student’s cumulative GPA, including past grades in social studies. The implications for this finding in terms of engagement theory and educational practices were discussed. Once researchers can ascertain the intensity and directional relationship between social studies engagement and social studies achievement, teachers will be able to focus on the component(s) of engagement that fosters social studies academic achievement. / Educational Psychology

The Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV) project was established as a partnership between C&P Telephone of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and the town of Blacksburg. In this thesis, I describe the formation of this partnership and the evolution of the project from early 1991 to the spring of 1996. The focus of this thesis is on the technical and policy decisions made in building BEV and on the involvement of the Blacksburg community. Several understandings, or visions, shaped and influenced how builders designed BEV and how the local community learned about it. These visions were described in the press conferences and media descriptions of the BEV project. The BEV Vision Statement included images of the project as a new marketplace, a place for electronic collaboration, a futuristic town, and a way for citizens to reconnect to their community. While the partnership is no longer the defining aspect of the project, the original partners were able to generate enthusiasm for the project and to create a market for information services in Blacksburg. They created the electronic village first and then asked residents to come rather than involving the villagers initially in the construction. The BEV project has now entered a new phase where villagers, volunteers and local companies play a greater role in BEV’s direction. This story of the BEV project provides some observations about envisioning, building, and participating in an electronic village. / Master of Science

This study looks at social studies teachers' perceptions of Malawi's national identity as it is promoted through Malawi's primary school social studies education. The following research questions were posed: 1) What are teachers' perceptions of national identity in Malawi? 2) What are teachers' perceptions of Malawi's primary school social studies curriculum? and 3) What are teachers' perceptions of the practice of constructing national identity through primary school social studies curriculum in Malawi? The recent revision of Malawi's social studies curriculum allows for a new analysis on the relationship between Western neocolonialism and its affect on the shaping of Malawian national identity, as exampled by Malawi's social studies program. This study will therefore contribute to existing literature regarding the role of social studies education and the construction of national identity as well as the impact the West has on the maintenance of African national identity. Using semi-structured interviews with ten practicing primary school social studies teachers and one social studies curriculum specialist in the Domasi district, Southern Region of Malawi, I found that Malawi's social studies currciulum is promoting Malawian national identity as perceived by the interviewees. However, the interviewees illuminated contextual factors that hinder the implementation of the new curriculum. / Master of Science

Recently, many college administrators have attempted to create a climate on their campuses which emphasizes the importance of valuing all members of the campus community, encouraging diversity of the student population, and educating those who are intolerant of diversity. As a result, many students on our college campuses are resentful and angered by attempts to "force feed" them information regarding issues of diversity. Such resistance must be considered when planning a curriculum that emphasizes diversity education. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of an educational game lessens student resistance toward diversity education while increasing content, behavioral, and attitudinal change. Eighteen participants, a selected group of college students and facilitators, played the game for a 90-minute period, exploring racism and heterosexism during the playing of the game. Pre- and postgame interviews and two follow-up interviews (one week and four to six weeks later) were conducted with each participant. Participants were asked two broad questions: How did participants experience playing the game? This was based on participants' perceptions, my observations during the playing of the game, interviews, and participants' journals. Did playing the game influence the participants' knowledge, awareness, or actions regarding racism and heterosexism, and if so, how?

This study involves the examination of the major approaches to the social sciences in order to discover whether they are so arranged as to insure democratic practices that are implied or expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the Constitution, and the Constitution. It involves the study of the philosophy underlying American democracy of "the yesterdays" and today. A further exploration is made to determine whether the various approaches are based on what psychology has discovered as to the way in which effective learning takes place.