Why don’t we teach social studies? Preservice teachers’ social studies self-efficacy

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-257
Author(s):  
Heather Rogers Haverback
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Social Studies Education ◽  
Efficacy Beliefs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sense Of Efficacy ◽  
Mastery Experiences

Purpose The majority of states and school systems within the USA have implemented the Common Core State Standards, but with this implementation and focus on language arts and mathematics, many believe that social studies education has lagged. The purpose of this paper is to investigate preservice teachers’ social studies self-efficacy, experiences, and beliefs. Participants were preservice teachers in a required education course. During this course, preservice teachers were required to complete a 20-hour practicum within a school. Participants completed a teacher social studies self-efficacy scale, as well as a reflection questionnaire and course discussions. Results showed that preservice teachers reported that they did not have social studies experiences within the practicum. Implications of this study support preservice teachers having additional social studies education and C3 Framework mastery experiences. Design/methodology/approach With regard to the teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations) were calculated. Following qualitative tradition (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Miles and Huberman, 1994), the author used a constant comparative method to code the reflection questionnaire and group discussions. This included calculating answers and coding themes across the sources. These data gleaned insight into the participants’ experiences within the course and practicum regarding the domain of social studies education. Findings To answer research question 1, means and standard deviations were calculated. Using the social studies teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, participants reported M=6.4, SD=1.25. Research question 2 concerned whether or not participants were given a mastery experience (practicum/tutoring) in social studies. Moreover, if they were not given such an experience, in what domain did they work? Results indicated that a few participants (19 percent) stated that they had an opportunity to tutor in social studies. Most reported that the majority of their tutoring is in reading (58 percent) or mathematics (24 percent). Research limitations/implications The findings from this study inform social studies research as it focuses on teacher social studies self-efficacy and mastery experiences within a practicum. First, preservice teachers in this study had relatively low self-efficacy beliefs in the domain of social studies. Second, the participants had very few mastery experiences in social studies. Finally, preservice teachers seem to feel that they will enjoy teaching social studies, and they did learn social studies within their schools. Practical implications Teacher educators are constrained in the time that they have to impart knowledge, pedagogy, and efficacy beliefs on preservice teachers. While evolving legislative mandates are at the forefront of many aspects of teaching, a teacher’s belief in his or her ability to teach may be what leads to perseverance in the classroom. Experiences within social studies classrooms and a use of the C3 Framework will help to highlight teachers’ and students’ growth within the domain of social studies. This study highlights the need for more mastery experiences in social studies as a way of strengthening new teachers’ content knowledge. Social implications The future of social studies education within the classroom seems to be a dire situation. The consequence of the marginalization of social studies within the classroom is twofold. First, students to do have direct social studies instruction. Second, preservice teachers do not have an opportunity to observe or teach within this domain. As stated earlier, legislation is guiding classroom instruction. However, if teachers and schools are informed, social studies education does not have to disappear from student’s classroom time. School systems and teachers who have not yet done so should begin to consider using the C3 Framework. Originality/value The need to understand preservice teachers’ social studies self-efficacy beliefs is of importance given the constraints that they will most likely be facing once they enter the classroom. In other words, if preservice teachers are expected to teach children social studies, teacher educators should understand their learning of and beliefs about teaching in this domain. This study focused on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and social studies beliefs. This study highlights the need for more mastery experiences in social studies as a way of strengthening new teachers’ content knowledge. Today, there are limitations wherein preservice teachers do not have many experiences with social studies. Future approaches should focus on offering more mastery experiences to preservice teachers.

The Study of Relationship Between Pre-Service Teachers' Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Attitudes Towards the Teaching Profession

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Şenol Şen
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Efficacy Beliefs ◽  
Attitude Scale ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Sense Of Efficacy ◽  
Correlational Research ◽  
Teachers Attitudes ◽  
The Relationship

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between preservice teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession (ATP) and teachers' self-efficacy beliefs (TSEB). In particular, the study aimed to understand the effect of preservice teachers' self-efficacy beliefs (TSEB), age, gender and discipline on their attitudes towards the teaching profession (ATP). The study was conducted with a correlational research design. Sample for the study comprised 157 preservice teachers attending a public university. Attitude Scale towards the Profession of Teaching (ASPT) and the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) were used as tools for data collection. The data were analyzed using correlation and multiple regression analysis techniques. The results showed that there were positive and significant relations between the variables selected for the study. Regression analysis revealed that preservice teachers' selfefficacy beliefs (TSEB) have a positive and significant effect on their attitudes towards teaching profession (ATP).

Meeting the demands of the C3 framework in elementary social studies methods

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Alan Neel ◽  
Amy Palmeri
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Social Studies Education ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Social Studies Methods ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Elementary Social Studies ◽  
Social Studies Teacher ◽  
Social Studies Teacher Education

Purpose In both elementary schools and elementary teacher education programs, social studies is marginalized while standards require increasingly more ambitious reasoning, reading, and writing in social studies than has historically been documented in American elementary schools. The purpose of this paper is to explain the challenges that elementary social studies teacher educators face in preparing elementary school teachers to facilitate the kind of ambitious social studies envisioned in the NCSS’s C3 Framework and advocate an approach to successfully address these challenges. Design/methodology/approach This paper articulates a targeted and ambitious approach to elementary social studies teacher education. The authors describe five recommendations from the teacher education literature for supporting preservice teachers in learning disciplinary-oriented social studies teaching, recommendations that guided the redesign of the social studies methods course. The authors then highlight key aspects of the redesigned methods course and demonstrate how the authors engaged the challenges inherent in the work of elementary social studies teacher education. Findings Although this paper is not arranged in such a way as to substantiate empirical findings, the purpose of the paper is to demonstrate an approach to elementary social studies education aligned with extant literature on preparing teachers to engage in reform teaching practices, specifically those disciplinary oriented practices suggested in NCSS’s C3 Framework. As such, the paper should be read as a perspective on practice. Research limitations/implications The type of disciplinary-oriented approach described here is increasingly under investigation in secondary teacher education research and similar approaches are under investigation in elementary math and science education research. To the authors’ knowledge, the approach is novel in elementary social studies education. Furthermore, the authors believe it offers a direction for researchers interested in gaps in the literature related to practice based teacher education and disciplinary-oriented social studies teacher education. Practical implications The approach described here offers specific guidance and resources for teacher educators who are struggling with the challenges of the contemporary social studies education landscape and/or who wish to focus methods courses in disciplinary ways. Social implications Research in social studied education has demonstrated that when students are exposed to disciplinary practices in social studies, their literacy skills improve and they learn analytical skills that support their development as citizens (consumption of media, participation in public discourse, ability to discern arguments). Originality/value As noted above, the approach described here is novel in elementary social studies education. Combining a disciplinary approach with a practice-based frame in elementary social studies represents an opportunity for empirical research and offers new approaches to the practice of teacher education and early career professional development.

Preparing the next generation of global educators: an imperative in teacher education

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bárbara C. Cruz ◽  
Cristina M. Viera
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Global Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Globalized World

PurposeIn addition to imparting pedagogical content knowledge, teacher educators have the special responsibility to help future practitioners understand critical, contemporary social issues in our ever-globalized world. The purpose of this article is to describe one teacher education effort that heeds calls from learned societies and accreditation agencies to prepare preservice teachers for their inevitably global classrooms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors – both instructors of a semester-long, required course in a social studies teacher education program – reflect on their practice, outline guiding principles and provide pedagogical examples that encourage preservice teachers to consider complex topics found within global education, while simultaneously helping them reflect on their own positionality.FindingsMost preservice teachers embrace global perspectives in education if provided with opportunities to identify curricular relevance, acknowledge multiple viewpoints, practice continuous reflection, explore global awareness and citizenship, and understand the imperative of accepting responsibility to prepare global citizens.Practical implicationsThis manuscript shares successful classroom strategies and learning exercises that have resulted in preservice teacher growth. Teacher educators can and should “globalize” course curricula, equipping social studies teachers with the knowledge, aptitude and skills necessary to teach the next generation of global citizens.Originality/valueThe teacher education course described herein offers a practical approach for preparing a cadre of educators ready to teach in our globalized world.

Examining preservice teachers’ thinking about teaching first grade economics through inquiry

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-164
Author(s):  
Michelle Bauml
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Latent Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Inquiry Curriculum

Purpose In recent years, the field of social studies education has seen renewed interest in using inquiry to teach intradisciplinary concepts and skills. However, prospective primary grade teachers may have few (if any) opportunities to observe classroom teachers modeling inquiry during field placements. Methods courses provide fitting contexts in which to introduce preservice teachers (PSTs) to inquiry as a basis for intellectually challenging, meaningful social studies instruction. The purpose of this paper is to utilize a published inquiry curriculum developed for the New York Social Studies Toolkit (NYSST) Project as a tool to explore PSTs’ thinking about teaching first grade economics. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study utilized focus groups with two groups of early childhood PSTs enrolled in a social studies methods course (n=28). Secondary data sources included PSTs’ handwritten comments on hard copies of the inquiry curriculum and the researcher’s analytic memos. Findings In the process of critiquing curriculum during focus group interviews, PSTs concentrated on the proposed tasks, evaluated those tasks for their potential to affect children’s understanding, and suggested new activities that would promote more active student engagement. Participants recognized the significance of children’s prior knowledge and were sensitive to students’ family values, although they underestimated young children’s capacity for robust discussion and intellectually challenging content. Originality/value This study is unique in its use of a published NYSST Project inquiry to explore how PSTs make sense of new curriculum. Its attention to PST education for primary grades contributes to elementary social studies literature. Additionally, this study addresses a general concern in teacher education about the need for PSTs to develop skills in interpreting and adapting curriculum materials. Findings suggest that engaging PSTs in discussions about social studies curriculum can help teacher educators identify latent learning goals for their courses that may be overlooked or assumed unnecessary.

The Sources and Maintenance of Professional Golfers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gio Valiante ◽  
David B. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Outcome Expectations ◽  
Efficacy Beliefs ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Thought Patterns ◽  
Mastery Experiences ◽  
Professional Golfers ◽  
Over Time

The purpose of this study was to explore the self-efficacy beliefs of male professional golfers (N = 12). Three themes emerged from the qualitative analysis of interview responses. First, enactive mastery experiences were the most powerful source of self-efficacy. Second, golfers maintained high self-efficacy over time by recalling prior success, strategically framing experiences, and enlisting supportive verbal persuasions from themselves and from others. Finally, self-efficacy influenced professional golfers’ thought patterns, outcome expectations, and emotional states. Findings support and refine the theoretical tenets of Bandura’s social cognitive theory.

Rhetorically speaking: on white preservice teachers’ failure to imagine an anti-racist English education

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
S.R. Toliver ◽  
Heidi Hadley
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
English Education ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to identify how white preservice teachers’ inability to imagine an equitable space for Black and Brown children contributes to the ubiquity of whiteness in English education. Further, the authors contend that the preservice teachers’ responses mirror how the larger field of English education fails to imagine Black and Brown life. Design/methodology/approach Using abolitionist teaching as a guide, the authors use reflexive thematic analysis to examine the rhetorical moves their preservice teachers made to defer responsibility for anti-racist teaching. Findings The findings show preservice teachers’ rhetorical moves across three themes: failure to imagine Black and Brown humanity, failure to imagine a connection between theory and practice, and failure to imagine curriculum and schooling beyond whiteness. Originality/value By highlighting how preservice teachers fail to imagine spaces for Black and Brown youth, this study offers another pathway through which teacher educators, teachers and English education programs can assist their faculty and students in activating their imaginations in the pursuit of anti-racist, abolitionist teaching.

Supporting quality social studies instruction: the social studies practices continuum

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Erickson ◽  
Kerry A. Dunne ◽  
Christopher C. Martell
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Inservice Teachers ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Instructional Coaches ◽  
College Career ◽  
The Social ◽  
Improving Instruction

PurposeThis article presents the social studies practices continuum, which is a tool that supports social studies teachers in implementing inquiry-based practices in their classrooms. It was designed by the authors based on similar instruments found in science education and informed by the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies Standards.Design/methodology/approachThe article describes the instrument's creation and describes its use with preservice teachers in teacher preparation programs, inservice teachers during district-based professional development.FindingsThe continuum has been used as a reflective tool for teachers and curriculum developers, and as a tool for instructional coaches and administrators to improve teaching practices.Originality/valueThis article offers a new tool for teachers and supervisors to use in improving instruction.

scholarly journals Media and sustainable apparel buying intention

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orpha de Lenne ◽  
Laura Vandenbosch
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Efficacy Beliefs ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Actual Behavior ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Using the theory of planned behavior, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between different types of media and the intention to buy sustainable apparel and test whether attitudes, social norms, and self-efficacy beliefs may explain these relationships. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey study was conducted among 681 young adults (18-26 years old). Findings Exposure to social media content of sustainable organizations, eco-activists, and sustainable apparel brands, and social media content of fashion bloggers and fast fashion brands predicted respondents’ attitudes, descriptive and subjective norms, and self-efficacy beliefs regarding buying sustainable apparel. In turn, attitudes, descriptive norms, and self-efficacy beliefs predicted the intention to buy sustainable apparel. Fashion magazines predicted the intention through self-efficacy. Specialized magazines did not predict the intention to buy sustainable apparel. Research limitations/implications Results should be generalized with caution as the current study relied on a convenience sample of young adults. The cross-sectional study design limits the ability to draw conclusions regarding causality. Actual behavior was not addressed and needs to be included in further research. Practical implications The present study hints at the importance of social media to affect young consumers’ intentions to buy sustainable apparel. Sustainable apparel brands should consider attracting more young social media users to their social media pages. Originality/value This study is one of the first to examine the potential of different media to promote sustainable apparel buying intention.

Factors impacting on accounting academics’ motivation and capacity to adapt in challenging times

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Beatson ◽  
Paul de Lange ◽  
Brendan O'Connell ◽  
Meredith Tharapos ◽  
Jeffrey K. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Student Motivation ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
International Student ◽  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Efficacy Beliefs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Technologies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider what factors influence the ability of academic staff to remain motivated and to persist in their work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tinto’s (2017) model of student motivation and persistence is reconceptualised to apply to the academic staff by considering their self-efficacy beliefs, sense of belonging and perceptions of career relevance on their motivation levels and adaption to a new environment. Design/methodology/approach Utilising Tinto’s (2017) reconceptualised model for academics, this study provides insights into motivation and capacity to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents observations and reflections from five academics from three universities across two countries in relation to self-efficacy, sense of belonging and perception of career relevance. Findings The findings of this study state that self-efficacy beliefs, a sense of belonging and perceptions of career relevance combine to drive both academics’ motivation levels and their ability to adapt to the changing landscape. Self-efficacy was influenced by factors such as struggles with adaptation to new online technologies and researching and teaching in a virtual environment. Academics’ sense of belonging was found to be challenged in unprecedented ways because of physical isolation and sometimes unfavourable home working environments. Perceptions of career relevance were found to be challenged by adverse developments such as reduced promotional opportunities, cuts in resourcing and job insecurity. Originality/value This paper makes three important contributions. First, Tinto’s (2017) model of student motivation and persistence is extended to examine academic motivation, adaption and persistence. Second, the model is applied to a crisis where staff face greater strain in maintaining connection to their colleagues and their university. Third, the influence of the COVID-19 crisis is examined by using the reconceptualised Tinto (2017) model in the context of accounting, as accounting international student enrolments and associated revenue streams have been impacted significantly more than those of many other disciplines.

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