This Handbook outlines the current state of research in social studies education – a complex, dynamic, challenging field with competing perspectives about appropriate goals, and on-going conflict over the content of the curriculum. Equally important, it encourages new research in order to advance the field and foster civic competence; long maintained by advocates for the social studies as a fundamental goal.
In considering how to organize the Handbook, the editors searched out definitions of social studies, statements of purpose, and themes that linked (or divided) theory, research, and practices and established criteria for topics to include. Each chapter meets one or more of these criteria: research activity since the last Handbook that warrants a new analysis, topics representing a major emphasis in the NCSS standards, and topics reflecting an emerging or reemerging field within the social studies. The volume is organized around seven themes:
- Change and Continuity in Social Studies
- Civic Competence in Pluralist Democracies
- Social Justice and the Social Studies
- Assessment and Accountability
- Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines
- Information Ecologies: Technology in the Social Studies
- Teacher Preparation and Development
The Handbook of Research in Social Studies is a must-have resource for all beginning and experienced researchers in the field.
Linda S. Levstik is Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Kentucky. Her research on children’s and adolescents’ historical thinking in the United States, New Zealand, and Ghana appears in a number of journals, including Theory and Research in Social Education, Teachers College Record, The American Educational Research Journal, and The International Review of History Education as well as books. She is co-author with Keith C. Barton of Doing History: Investigating with Children in Elementary and Middle Schools 3rd Edition (Erlbaum, 2005) and Teaching History for the Common Good (Erlbaum, 2004). Prior to earning a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University she taught in public and private elementary and middle schools.
Cynthia A. Tyson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the School of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University and a former elementary school teacher. Her research interests focus on the development of cultural competence and socio political consciousness in early childhood social studies education, and the use of children's literature in civic education. The historical and political underpinnings of race and ethnicity are also at the core of her teaching and research agendas. She has worked as an educational consultant (social studies and literacy) within the state of Ohio extensively and has begun collaborative research initiatives both nationally and internationally exploring frameworks for teaching for social justice. She has presented numerous papers at national meetings and conferences including NCSS and the affiliate College University Faculty Assembly (CUFA). Dr.Tyson has served as Chair of CUFA, served on the Carter G. Woodson Committee and is currently the chair of the recently formed NCSS Social Justice Community. She has participated in a special series of presentations at NCSS entitled, Theory to Practice: Teaching in Urban Schools, published articles in Theory and Research in Social Education, Social Education, Social Studies and the Young Learner, Educational Researcher, other books and journals.
