Preservice teachers’ perceptions of teaching news media literacy

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-113
Author(s):  
Joseph McAnulty
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Media Literacy ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
News Media ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Social Studies Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Civil Sphere

PurposeThis study explores social studies preservice teacher’s orientation toward teaching news media literacy in the era of fake news. Previous literature indicates that many social studies teachers express a desire to maintain neutrality in the classroom. As such, this study focuses on the preservice teachers’ articulated pedagogical practices around news media literacy, as well as the described forces and factors that influence their described stances.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses work from the field of political communication to analyze course assignments, semi-structured interviews and survey responses in order to consider the ways 39 preservice social studies teachers articulated their anticipated and enacted pedagogical practices around news media literacy.FindingsFindings suggest a prevalent desire among the participants to pursue neutrality by presenting “both sides,” echoing traditional journalistic pursuits of objectivity. The possible consequences of this desire are also explored. Additionally, the study suggests that parents, administrators and the content standards are viewed as forces, which will constrain their practices.Practical implicationsUsing theorizing about the civil sphere, this paper considers implications for teacher educators. The civil sphere may provide a lens with which to analyze news media and may help preservice teachers adopt practices they view as risky.Originality/valueThis study aims to extend conversations around the teaching of news media, controversial political and social issues and the preparation of social studies teachers in the current social and political ecology by working to align the field with growing conversations in the field of political communication and journalism.

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.

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.

Preservice teachers’ visions of themselves: powerful teachers or powerful social studies teachers?

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-126
Author(s):  
Alicia R. Crowe ◽  
Evan Mooney ◽  
Todd S. Hawley
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Social Studies Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Social Studies Teacher ◽  
The Common ◽  
Social Studies Teaching

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share findings from research on preservice social studies teachers’ visions of themselves as they prepare to enter their student teaching experience. Design/methodology/approach The guiding research question for this study asked, “How do preservice social studies teachers articulate their visions of themselves as powerful social studies teachers just before their student teaching experience?” Findings The authors found that their visions of themselves emphasized aspects of powerful teaching, yet lacked explicit and important connections to social studies teaching. In their discussion and conclusions, they share the implications of these findings for their social studies teacher education program and other social studies education programs generally. Originality/value The authors contend that while powerful teaching is important, without an emphasis on powerful social studies teaching, they may struggle to achieve social studies teaching goals and purposes, such as teaching for democratic living, the common good, or citizenship. The distinction between powerful teaching and powerful social studies teaching, the authors believe, should be of concern for social studies teacher educators interested in positioning student teachers to create classroom spaces focused on the common good, national and global societies, or the deepening of democracy.

Paradigm flip? Investigating technology-integrated history pedagogies

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh DeSantis ◽  
Ryan Boyd ◽  
Kyle Marks ◽  
Jake Putsch ◽  
Terrance Shepler
Keyword(s):  
Technology Integration ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
First Century ◽  
Social Studies Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Asynchronous Instruction ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Synchronous Technology

Purpose Successful technology integration into the teaching of social studies is imperative in the twenty-first century classroom. This study sought to answer the following questions: do synchronous and asynchronous technology integration increase a student’s understanding of social studies content? Are synchronous technology-integrated social studies lessons more effective than asynchronous technology-integrated social studies lessons? How do students perceive the effectiveness of a synchronous technology-integrated lesson vs the effectiveness of an asynchronous technology-integrated lesson? The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental research project comparing the learning outcomes of students who participated in synchronous and asynchronous technology-augmented lessons. Findings The results of this study found that synchronous and asynchronous technology-enhanced lessons are both viable pedagogies for increasing a student’s understanding of social studies content. The results also yielded no statistical significance between the effectiveness of the synchronous instruction vs asynchronous instruction. However, a statistical significance exists when analyzing a student’s perception of their own learning. Students participating in synchronous technology-integrated instruction reported a higher confidence in the lesson’s ability to teach them, when compared to that of the asynchronous population. Originality/value By continuing to seek new ways to integrate technology effectively into classrooms, social studies teachers can design lessons more effectively to meet the needs of today’s social studies students. The need to understand the learning outcomes of various technology-integrated approaches will continue to grow as more technologies become available to social studies teachers.

Social studies and beyond: attending to informal citizenship education in schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-300
Author(s):  
Mark T. Kissling
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Studies Education ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Social Studies Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Daily Interactions

Purpose Although social studies teachers are charged with explicitly teaching about citizenship, all teachers in a school implicitly teach about citizenship. That is, in their daily interactions with students, whether specific to subject area content or not, teachers impart lessons to their students about what citizenship is and what it means to be a citizen. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Examining the “powerful” stories of three teachers, only one of whom teaches social studies, this paper focuses on “informal citizenship education” across schools. Findings It concludes with implications for workers in and beyond the field of social studies education. Originality/value Ultimately, it suggests that as notions of citizenship education expand to include informal citizenship education, teachers will better teach students to be effective citizens.

Media discourse in a hyper connected society: a comparison between media frame and Twitter discourse during media strike

Info ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seong Eun Cho ◽  
Dong-Hee Shin
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
News Frames ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – This study aims to examine the impact of news frames associated with traditional media and with Twitter discourse on social issues. Design/methodology/approach – Using semantic network analysis, it identifies the role of new alternative channels as well as discussing ways of understanding and consuming news content in the changing media environment. Additionally, it focuses on the dominant Twitter communicators who rank high in betweenness centrality. Findings – The results confirmed that traditional news media tend to superficially describe main events and media strikes without comment. They tended to consciously or unconsciously favor media corporations by engendering anxiety and conflict or by restraining reports on the rationales of the strike. Twitter discourse, on the contrary, positively represents the striker's arguments and frequently reveals support of the strike. Research limitations/implications – The data set of this study was specialized, not generalized. However, the findings extend literature relating to the role of journalism and alternative channel. For example, this study indicated that the change of media environment has reinforced partiality of news, including both traditional and alternative channels. Practical implications – The findings imply that the advent of new media does not purely represent a laymen's voice and rather tends to strengthen the partiality of media, including both traditional and new media, beyond selective exposure on content of the receiver. Originality/value – By clarifying the influence of alternative channels, this study suggests the counterpart of traditional journalism in the near future.

scholarly journals Social Studies Teacher Perceptions of News Source Credibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 262-272
Author(s):  
Christopher H. Clark ◽  
Mardi Schmeichel ◽  
H. James Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Teacher Perceptions ◽  
News Media ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Source Credibility ◽  
Social Studies Teachers ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Secondary Social Studies ◽  
News Source ◽  
News Credibility

Politically tumultuous times have created a problematic space for teachers who include the news in their classrooms. Few studies have explored perceptions of news credibility among secondary social studies teachers, the educators most likely to regularly incorporate news media into their classrooms. We investigated teachers’ operational definitions of credibility and the relationships between political ideology and assessments of news source credibility. Most teachers in this study used either static or dynamic definitions to describe news media sources’ credibility. Further, teachers’ conceptualizations of credibility and perceived ideological differences with news sources were associated with how credible teachers found each source. These results indicate potential inconsistencies in how news credibility is defined and possible political bias in which sources social studies teachers use as exemplars of credibility.

scholarly journals Preservice Social Studies Teachers’ Views on Middle School Students’ Levels of Historical Literacy

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Samet Çiçek ◽  
Osman Akhan
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Social Studies Teachers ◽  
School Students ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Historical Series ◽  
Historical Literacy

This research aimed to present reasons and solutions that soon-to-graduate preservice social studies teachers expressed in relation to middle school students’ low level of historical literacy as reported in the literature. To this end, we used a basic qualitative research design. The sample consisted of 30 soon-to-graduate preservice teachers (17 women and 13 men) who were studying social studies teaching at the faculty of education of a state university in the 2019-2020 academic year and already served their teaching internship. The data were collected using the semi-structured “Interview form” developed by Keçe (2013). The data were analysed using descriptive analysis. According to the analysis results, the preservice social studies teachers stated that middle school students’ low level of historical literacy was generally due to the methods and techniques used by teachers in teaching historical topics, students’ lack of interest in historical topics, and the lack of parental encouragement. The preservice teachers also highlighted that students should be encouraged to use social media tools properly and the content of historical series, films, documentaries, and television shows should be adjusted to students.

Secondary-level social studies pedagogical planning to inclusive practices : how prepared are our teacher candidates to work in today's 21st century inclusive high school classroom

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kari A. Muente
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
Social Studies Teachers ◽  
School Classroom ◽  
High School Classroom

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This research study looked at how three high school preservice social studies teachers, from three different teacher training programs, were prepared to teach in today's 21st century inclusive high school classroom. As today's high school classroom becomes more academically and culturally diverse, social studies teachers need to deliberate on questions of content (what to teach?), method (how to teach?), and value (what is important to teach?) towards reaching all students, both with and without disabilities. The study's results indicated high school social studies preservice teachers are unprepared to engage students with various academic levels, especially students with disabilities. As the high school social studies content becomes more complex, social studies preservice teachers struggle to meet the needs of all their students when engaging them in high order thinking or historical reasoning skills, like contextualizing primary sources or engaging in inquiry-based activities. The finding also indicated the need for social studies education programs to incorporating more inclusive practices and collaboration with special education. Secondary-level social studies teachers need to learn how to teach their content lessons from a more proactive universal design approach, like the Universal Design for Learning framework. When learning barriers are recognized and addressed within the curriculum design, students become more motivated towards engaging in the content and becoming self-determined learners. As the 21st-century high school classroom become more academically diverse, social studies education programs must provide their teacher candidates with the necessary tools to develop lesson plans where all students engage in a barrierfree learning environment.

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