This research explores my social studies teacher educator practice and my attempts to teach about environmental sustainability. The research questions were: How can I get involved in the environmental sustainability movement on my campus as a teacher educator? What obstacles do I face? What actions do I take? Two differing cultural paradigms, with…

This pilot study investigates the role of anxiety for early childhood pre-service social studies teachers as they learn methods to teach curriculum on slavery and associated issues such as racism or White privilege. The findings indicate that a variety of aspects cause pre-service teachers to experience anxiety around the thought of having to…

Gerard Leonard maps the child's increasingly global environment and sense of citizenship from elementary to adolescence. For the elementary child, an orientation to the local history and geography of their surroundings provides a framework for understanding geography. In Leonard's words, "We have to know and understand a lot about many…

Over the past decade many social studies educators have called for teachers to engage their students in historical interpretation. This case study examined the beliefs and practices related to engaging students in historical interpretation of four secondary social studies teachers from their teacher preparation through their first year in the…

This paper examines implicit curricula which consist of the messages imparted by the classroom and school environment. Among the outcomes that have been attributed to implicit curricula are individual and societal effects that foster conformity to national ideals and social conventions while maintaining socioeconomic and cultural inequalities.…

This paper is part of a larger study, conducted as part of a Christa McAuliffe Fellowship research project, "A Comparative Geography of Three Ecologically Similar Regions." The study compared the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland with the Murray River region of South Australia and the Rio de la Plata region of Uruguay. The project was…

This paper shows comparisons among the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland, the Murray River region of South Australia, and the Rio de la Plata region of Uruguay. Through comparative geography, students are to draw their own conclusions about the similarities and differences of the three regions. Teachers are encouraged to use other resources to aid…

Results of a study using a theoretical model to measure student attitudes toward social studies are reported. Attitudes were measured as they related to five constructs: (1) teacher attitudes, including support and reinforcement for the student and enthusiasm for subject; (2) student self-concept, scholastic attitude, peer acceptance, and…

This study, which examined the curricular decision making of student teachers, links research on the socialization of preservice teacher education with work focusing on socialization in the workplace. Interviews were conducted with four student teachers during their student teaching experience and 1 year after it. Curriculum materials used by the…

This paper explores the impact of the hidden curriculum on students. The hidden curriculum refers to the social relations and school climate of the schools. Two theories are presented as the basis for studying the relationship between school climate and students' social beliefs and actions. The generalization theory states that students view the…

Threats to the freedom to teach and to learn are examined; what can be done to counter these threats is discussed. The threats or problems are of two kinds: (1) internal, i.e., self-censorship of professional educators; and (2) external pressure from individuals and groups outside the schools, e.g., book banning. (RM)

This research measured the effects of students' perceptions of classroom social climate in middle school social studies classes on academic self-concept in social studies. The 185 subjects, consisting of 95 females and 90 males, were eighth graders enrolled in U.S. history courses. Students' perceptions of classroom social climate were measured by…

The purpose of this study was to extend the research of the first-named author into the effect of teachers' use of conditional language on students' growth in logical thinking. Verbal behaviors of nine mathematics teachers and four social studies teachers were coded and correlated with the gain scores of their eighth-grade students on the Cornell…

For her sabbatical a professor of teacher education at Emporia State University returned to the elementary classroom after a 20-year absence to teach in a third/fourth combination classroom in the Emporia, Kansas Public Schools. The return to elementary classroom teaching provided the professor with the opportunity to utilize some of the social…

This report presents a research project in which three high school civics classes composed of a total of 85 students were studied in order to assess the importance of classroom climate in the development of high school students' political attitudes. The differences in climate were expressed in daily teaching procedures and students' perceptions of…